As a huge fan of Ace Combat and flight combat games in general, I was extremely excited to try this game. However, I was quickly disappointed. One of the major draws for me is the quasi-near future setting mixed with outlandish technology. The missions of Ace Combat are generally over the top with massive floating jet airships and unrealistic combat scenarios. Ace Combat 7 appears to do away with that and focuses on relatively realistic combat scenarios that are boring and slogs to get through. In addition, the checkpoint and mission failure systems are incredibly punishing, often resulting in losing a significant amount of progress.

Beautiful graphics, rock solid performance, and top notch production values are not enough to save this game for me and while I might pick it up again, I can't see myself slogging through the mud to get to the end of the story.