The jump to Xbox exclusivity will always leave a sour taste in my mouth regarding this game as a loyal fan since the PS2, but while the game is not nearly as bad as it sometimes comes off, it lacks much to really make it stand out in a franchise of truly great heights. The visuals are impressive being the only mainline title of the series of 7th gen hardware, and the music maintains the high bar of quality the series is known for. Probably AC6's greatest mark on the franchise is the strength of the gameplay, with mechanics designed around actually using the vast amount of allies and support that make the climactic moments of this game feel truly epic.
Unfortunately, a lot of that praise ends up feeling moot when so much of what makes this game good is done better in other Ace Combat games (minus the actually useful allies), and those games support all that with more engaging stories, an area where AC6 sadly falls short. The story of this game tries to replicate a bit of the magic of how AC4 told its story: following civilians and characters not shown directly in the gameplay, barring some moments of contact with the larger narrative. This disconnect worked for AC4 by keeping the story personal and on-message with the game's themes, but here, most of the cutscene narrative just feels half-baked, and at worst it just feels a bit juvenile. The fact that the in-game narrative also lacks any real engagement, outside of a few standout moments of gameplay, leads to a game that overall fails to engage with what has made Ace Combat such a beloved franchise: a strong, thematically appropriate narrative about the nature of conflict.
In the end, AC6 is a decent game in its own right, with strong gameplay and some standout missions, but it fails to create a strong personality for itself, and that ends up making the game feel much more hollow than it otherwise would. Anybody looking to get into the series for the first time would be served well by this entry, especially being one of the more modern titles, but I doubt it would create as many lifelong fans of the franchise as some of the games that came before or after.
Unfortunately, a lot of that praise ends up feeling moot when so much of what makes this game good is done better in other Ace Combat games (minus the actually useful allies), and those games support all that with more engaging stories, an area where AC6 sadly falls short. The story of this game tries to replicate a bit of the magic of how AC4 told its story: following civilians and characters not shown directly in the gameplay, barring some moments of contact with the larger narrative. This disconnect worked for AC4 by keeping the story personal and on-message with the game's themes, but here, most of the cutscene narrative just feels half-baked, and at worst it just feels a bit juvenile. The fact that the in-game narrative also lacks any real engagement, outside of a few standout moments of gameplay, leads to a game that overall fails to engage with what has made Ace Combat such a beloved franchise: a strong, thematically appropriate narrative about the nature of conflict.
In the end, AC6 is a decent game in its own right, with strong gameplay and some standout missions, but it fails to create a strong personality for itself, and that ends up making the game feel much more hollow than it otherwise would. Anybody looking to get into the series for the first time would be served well by this entry, especially being one of the more modern titles, but I doubt it would create as many lifelong fans of the franchise as some of the games that came before or after.
I still think this game holds up.
Though the story can be a mess, it still does not fail to make me patriotic for a functional country.
But as flawed as the story is, the gameplay was the true highlight. Not only is this the point where the flying system was updated, giving us a even smoother experience than the ps2 games, but the ground combat is just wow.
The fact the game requires us to assist ground forces and actually makes us cares about them makes me so much more annoyed that Ace Combat 7 never implemented this system. It is actually such a good feature and I really hope ac8 will have it, whenever that game comes out.
But as flawed as the story is, the gameplay was the true highlight. Not only is this the point where the flying system was updated, giving us a even smoother experience than the ps2 games, but the ground combat is just wow.
The fact the game requires us to assist ground forces and actually makes us cares about them makes me so much more annoyed that Ace Combat 7 never implemented this system. It is actually such a good feature and I really hope ac8 will have it, whenever that game comes out.
Amazing how such a good ace combat game came out for the xbox 360. This game alone made me happy that I had a 360 console in that console generation.
"Go Dance with the Angels!" Despite how overly cheesy this one is compared to its predecessors, I can't help but feel AC6 manages to come across as just that much more sincere for it, which is an achievement in a series so already dripping in sincerity as it is. The large scale of the battlefields encouraging different approaches to missions, as well as your hyper-competent allies results in an experience that has yet to be truly replicated by the series since.
It's alright. Nothing special.
it was the awesome start to my ace combat adventures and loved every bit of it. its a shame we cannot get the dlc aircraft skins anymore
I like planes
Ace Combat 6 was a bit of an experimental title in the series. Much like 5 and Zero, you have a buddy flying with you, where you can choose his plane and weapons. In most missions, you have one large map with multiple objectives you can clear. Clearing an objective gets you support from a faction of your army- depending on what you can do you can get some in battle asset like an on field base to restock, radar support to increase your missile's effectiveness, and you can actually call in help in terms of sweeping through a swathe of enemies, or covering you in the air.
This game has a lot of cute touches that I really enjoy- when you get radio calls from your allies you have the option of seeing mugshots of the main department leaders or their vehicles. When you lock on to a distant enemy you can get a close up shot in a separate window- when you fire down enemies and you're up close your screen gets splashed with some oil.
The plot is nothing to write home about sadly- nothing really memorable like 4 or Zero. I feel like most of the development focus was on the gameplay itself, which I think was okay as a trade off. I did feel like there was a sense of, maybe not friendliness but camraderie with your allies? I always enjoyed it.
Unfortunately you're not able to get it digitally anymore, but physical copies aren't going for too much. If you're a fan of Ace Combat it's worth giving the game a try, in my opinion.
This game has a lot of cute touches that I really enjoy- when you get radio calls from your allies you have the option of seeing mugshots of the main department leaders or their vehicles. When you lock on to a distant enemy you can get a close up shot in a separate window- when you fire down enemies and you're up close your screen gets splashed with some oil.
The plot is nothing to write home about sadly- nothing really memorable like 4 or Zero. I feel like most of the development focus was on the gameplay itself, which I think was okay as a trade off. I did feel like there was a sense of, maybe not friendliness but camraderie with your allies? I always enjoyed it.
Unfortunately you're not able to get it digitally anymore, but physical copies aren't going for too much. If you're a fan of Ace Combat it's worth giving the game a try, in my opinion.
jogo de época, não jogaria agora. Mas aproveitei os bons momentos que ele teve
I played online a few times and kept playing against the same guy
This was a gem to revisit as I hadn't played in quite some time but had many, many fond memories of it. The game was really emblematic of the seventh generation of consoles were visuals made a substantial jump and the sense of scale fully embraced a sense of "bigger is better" to great effect. The ground would be littered with targets, so many it might obscure the mission objectives, and the skies would be full of planes, flak, and missile contrails. Even from a distance, you could see where the dogfighting was just by the contrails circling in the skies. It both is and was amazing. We had a full battlefield as a playground at last.
However, where this game gets some rightful flak (pun not intended) was its story. Even on release, it felt rather weak especially coming off the red hot 4/5/0. One thought you might get something like that but instead it was mostly focusing on a mother trying to reunite with her daughter who was in occupied territory. This was mostly at odds with the storytelling of the PS2 games. In Ace Combat 4, you were the nemesis to the Yellow Squadron the narrator looked up to. In Ace Combat 5, you were center stage as the main character instead of being ancillary to the story's presentation. In Ace Combat 0, you were the legend the journalist sought out. However, in this, your story happens almost entirely in gameplay while Melissa's story and Voychek's story takes place during the cutscenes with little intersection of the three until the end of the game. It was strange at the time and it's still strange now but I gave it some thought and suppose I finally get what was attempted.
While execution was lacking, it's very interesting that in a game where so much happens concurrently whether you're involved or not, the story was reflection of just this. The conflict was bigger than you so Talisman's story was just one of many going on at the same time. This is even reflected in the final mission. Whereas in 4/5/0, the final mission was the immediate personal thing, 6 made it a point to include a lot of radio chatter regarding how not reacting properly to the final threat led to issues miles away, back home in the city you'd spent 14 missions to retake and make safe once again. I can respect the attempt made in this game's story presentation even if I do find it of lesser quality than the other games.
However, where this game gets some rightful flak (pun not intended) was its story. Even on release, it felt rather weak especially coming off the red hot 4/5/0. One thought you might get something like that but instead it was mostly focusing on a mother trying to reunite with her daughter who was in occupied territory. This was mostly at odds with the storytelling of the PS2 games. In Ace Combat 4, you were the nemesis to the Yellow Squadron the narrator looked up to. In Ace Combat 5, you were center stage as the main character instead of being ancillary to the story's presentation. In Ace Combat 0, you were the legend the journalist sought out. However, in this, your story happens almost entirely in gameplay while Melissa's story and Voychek's story takes place during the cutscenes with little intersection of the three until the end of the game. It was strange at the time and it's still strange now but I gave it some thought and suppose I finally get what was attempted.
While execution was lacking, it's very interesting that in a game where so much happens concurrently whether you're involved or not, the story was reflection of just this. The conflict was bigger than you so Talisman's story was just one of many going on at the same time. This is even reflected in the final mission. Whereas in 4/5/0, the final mission was the immediate personal thing, 6 made it a point to include a lot of radio chatter regarding how not reacting properly to the final threat led to issues miles away, back home in the city you'd spent 14 missions to retake and make safe once again. I can respect the attempt made in this game's story presentation even if I do find it of lesser quality than the other games.
I don't care to these opinions saying that this game is "bad". Like, why? I truly liked it and it's simpler storytelling actually made it more tangible than the last entry. Like, there were some cringe moments, like when that one girl starts speaking in the mic, however, It tells the story of the Emmeria-Estovakia War very well! I also loved the character of Shamrock, and the allied attacks were a great addition for the gameplay. People should play a game for themselves before they start declaring opinions online.
Also, Keiki Kobayashi works were over the top here! The Liberation of Gracemeria OST gave me goosebumps, it sounded so awesome.
Great game :)
Also, Keiki Kobayashi works were over the top here! The Liberation of Gracemeria OST gave me goosebumps, it sounded so awesome.
Great game :)
The cutscenes are hilariously bad, but still a good game.
the tech of the xbox 360 allows AC6 to simulate a million enemy and allied planes immediately behind your fighter (a multirole fighter as every mission is like 8 missions in 1), following your every move, never once shooting at each other because they all know you're the player
This is supposed to be the "bad" Ace Combat, the one everyone seems to agree that is the worst among the main titles and I really don't get why. I've been on a 30 year journey playing every mainline Ace Combat from Air Combat to Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown and I don't see what makes AC6 be so hated.
AC6 reminds me of AC4, both are the first game of its console generation, both look gorgeous, both feature a short campaign of mostly repetitive missions, and both stories are unremarkable yet Ace Combat 04 doesn't get nearly as much flak as 6 does
The core gameplay is the same, fuck the core gameplay has been the same since the first game released in 1993 with some improvements like special weaponry and better controls. So it's not the gameplay and it's not the story then what is it? And I might know the answer and its probably because it's a Xbox 360 exclusive and because it's capped at 30 fps too. To that I say just emulate it, you can play it on PC and even get it to run at 60 fps.
In conclusion, Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation is a great game and quality wise probably sits in the middle of the rest of the main games and it's totally not worth skipping if playing though all the mainline titles.
AC6 reminds me of AC4, both are the first game of its console generation, both look gorgeous, both feature a short campaign of mostly repetitive missions, and both stories are unremarkable yet Ace Combat 04 doesn't get nearly as much flak as 6 does
The core gameplay is the same, fuck the core gameplay has been the same since the first game released in 1993 with some improvements like special weaponry and better controls. So it's not the gameplay and it's not the story then what is it? And I might know the answer and its probably because it's a Xbox 360 exclusive and because it's capped at 30 fps too. To that I say just emulate it, you can play it on PC and even get it to run at 60 fps.
In conclusion, Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation is a great game and quality wise probably sits in the middle of the rest of the main games and it's totally not worth skipping if playing though all the mainline titles.