I want to preface this by saying that this is the first Ace Combat game that I've ever played. After completing the campaign almost twice, I can safely say this is the best story driven game I've played in 2020 (so far). The game is incredible because it manages to attract both arcade and sim flyers alike. However, the game is not without fault

Pros:
Extensive Vehicle collection
There are a wide assortment of vehicles to chose from, everything from the F-35 to the Mirage to the Su-47. All vehicles look and feel unique. You can also buy DLC vehicles that wont cost you an arm and a leg if that suits your fancy. I bought myself the ADF-11F, and its cool to just fly around at near mach 2 speeds with a drone indiscriminately destroying every aircraft and ground based vehicle that dares to enter your airspace. The one fault that I see with a lot of the aircraft is that you can destroy tanks and ships with guns. While I understand that this is supposed to be an arcade experience, I wish that the developers would at least have it so that on hard, only aircraft like the A-10 can even put a dent in tanks and ships, while all other aircraft would have to use missiles, bombs, lasers, or UAVs.

Engaging gameplay
The gameplay is really fun, especially once you get used to the controls of the aircraft, You have just enough plot armor to make yourself feel badass as you destroy waves of enemy fighters or bombers but its still challenging enough that if you're not careful enough you can get shot down by SAMs, XSAMs, or enemy fighters.

Easy-to-get-used-to Mouse and keyboard controls
After my controller broke, I was forced to play this game with mouse and keyboard. At first, the experience was jarring, considering that I play a lot of war thunder on PC, I expected it to be some what similar, and to a certain extent, it was. But there were aspects that took some time to get used to. At first I found myself hitting the very edge of my desk space and my keyboard in order to make maneuvers and evade missiles (This was mainly in part due to the fact that if you play war thunder, you know that mouse controls are probably the best in the dog fighting game scene, since the nose of your aircraft follows your mouse. Here on the other hand, Your mouse is the nose of your aircraft if that makes sense). But after some tweaking, I was able to get adjusted to it.

A story that makes you actually care about the characters
The story is really awesome. Every death leaves an impact on you and it just keeps you engaged the entire way through. The cutscenes look phenomenal and looks more like an animated movie then an actual game. There are shots and scenes that just make you go "Wow, this is how far gaming has come." But I want to make clear that the story isn't everything. The game is very good on its own and if you just want a fun dogfighting game to wind down or relax with, this is your game. However, I do highly recommend playing for the story because it is very good.

Cons:
DOA multiplayer
When I found out this game had a multiplayer mode, I was happy, I thought that once I finished the campaign, I would be able to sharpen my dog-fighting skills and maybe learn a thing or two from other players. But when I checked the multiplayer, I was shocked to find only 2 servers with two people in each of them. It was sad to see because up to that point I really enjoyed the game and was looking forward to playing against other players and not just AI.

Low replayablity value
After my getting half way through my second play-through, I found myself getting bored. And this is due in part because this game is very linear. You have to play the game the way the developers wanted you to play and thats that. There is no room for experimenting with different play styles or doing parts of the story differently.

--I'm going to enter spoiler territory here, so If you want to play the game for the story don't read this part--


In the 3rd or 4th mission (I don't remember exactly) you have to save the Ex-President stranded on the space elevator. In order to do so, you must first evade radar detection and then destroy ground units. There are 2 alternative paths to evade radar but there is really no challenge in it. The corridor between the two radar sites is just slightly smaller. When President Harling gets rescued and begins exiting the AO, his craft gets damaged. I would be okay with it if it were simply done through a cutscene, for example if an aircraft that wasnt tagged by the AWACs system got through and launched a missile at the craft or something like that, but its done in such a way that there is no way for the player to control it. Even if you destroy all the aircraft in the area around the ex-president, the helicopter still gets damaged and Harling takes over. Later, the aircraft gets shot down by an unknown source and you get accused of launching a missile at the craft. I played this segment, and made sure to use only laser weapons or my guns, But I was still accused of launching a missile at the Ex-President's aircraft. AWACS is able to see when aircraft launch missiles and from what aircraft they're being launched from (This is prevalent any time AWACS calls out "callsign" and then Fox 2 or 3 depending on what you launch) , so I feel like this was just a lazy way of progressing the story.

-- Spoilers over --

Despite its flaws, this is a game that I would highly recommend. its a game for almost everyone, and it something that I'll probably continue playing into the future.

Hope this review helps you decide on the game

I want to preface this by saying that this is the first Ace Combat game that I've ever played. After completing the campaign almost twice, I can safely say this is the best story driven game I've played in 2020 (so far). The game is incredible because it manages to attract both arcade and sim flyers alike. However, the game is not without fault Pros: Extensive Vehicle collection There are a wide assortment of vehicles to chose from, everything from the F-35 to the Mirage to the Su-47. All vehicles look and feel unique. You can also buy DLC vehicles that wont cost you an arm and a leg if that suits your fancy. I bought myself the ADF-11F, and its cool to just fly around at near mach 2 speeds with a drone indiscriminately destroying every aircraft and ground based vehicle that dares to enter your airspace. The one fault that I see with a lot of the aircraft is that you can destroy tanks and ships with guns. While I understand that this is supposed to be an arcade experience, I wish that the developers would at least have it so that on hard, only aircraft like the A-10 can even put a dent in tanks and ships, while all other aircraft would have to use missiles, bombs, lasers, or UAVs. Engaging gameplay The gameplay is really fun, especially once you get used to the controls of the aircraft, You have just enough plot armor to make yourself feel badass as you destroy waves of enemy fighters or bombers but its still challenging enough that if you're not careful enough you can get shot down by SAMs, XSAMs, or enemy fighters. Easy-to-get-used-to Mouse and keyboard controls After my controller broke, I was forced to play this game with mouse and keyboard. At first, the experience was jarring, considering that I play a lot of war thunder on PC, I expected it to be some what similar, and to a certain extent, it was. But there were aspects that took some time to get used to. At first I found myself hitting the very edge of my desk space and my keyboard in order to make maneuvers and evade missiles (This was mainly in part due to the fact that if you play war thunder, you know that mouse controls are probably the best in the dog fighting game scene, since the nose of your aircraft follows your mouse. Here on the other hand, Your mouse is the nose of your aircraft if that makes sense). But after some tweaking, I was able to get adjusted to it. A story that makes you actually care about the characters The story is really awesome. Every death leaves an impact on you and it just keeps you engaged the entire way through. The cutscenes look phenomenal and looks more like an animated movie then an actual game. There are shots and scenes that just make you go "Wow, this is how far gaming has come." But I want to make clear that the story isn't everything. The game is very good on its own and if you just want a fun dogfighting game to wind down or relax with, this is your game. However, I do highly recommend playing for the story because it is very good. Cons: DOA multiplayer When I found out this game had a multiplayer mode, I was happy, I thought that once I finished the campaign, I would be able to sharpen my dog-fighting skills and maybe learn a thing or two from other players. But when I checked the multiplayer, I was shocked to find only 2 servers with two people in each of them. It was sad to see because up to that point I really enjoyed the game and was looking forward to playing against other players and not just AI. Low replayablity value After my getting half way through my second play-through, I found myself getting bored. And this is due in part because this game is very linear. You have to play the game the way the developers wanted you to play and thats that. There is no room for experimenting with different play styles or doing parts of the story differently. --I'm going to enter spoiler territory here, so If you want to play the game for the story don't read this part-- [spoiler] In the 3rd or 4th mission (I don't remember exactly) you have to save the Ex-President stranded on the space elevator. In order to do so, you must first evade radar detection and then destroy ground units. There are 2 alternative paths to evade radar but there is really no challenge in it. The corridor between the two radar sites is just slightly smaller. When President Harling gets rescued and begins exiting the AO, his craft gets damaged. I would be okay with it if it were simply done through a cutscene, for example if an aircraft that wasnt tagged by the AWACs system got through and launched a missile at the craft or something like that, but its done in such a way that there is no way for the player to control it. Even if you destroy all the aircraft in the area around the ex-president, the helicopter still gets damaged and Harling takes over. Later, the aircraft gets shot down by an unknown source and you get accused of launching a missile at the craft. I played this segment, and made sure to use only laser weapons or my guns, But I was still accused of launching a missile at the Ex-President's aircraft. AWACS is able to see when aircraft launch missiles and from what aircraft they're being launched from (This is prevalent any time AWACS calls out "callsign" and then Fox 2 or 3 depending on what you launch) , so I feel like this was just a lazy way of progressing the story. [/spoiler] -- Spoilers over -- Despite its flaws, this is a game that I would highly recommend. its a game for almost everyone, and it something that I'll probably continue playing into the future. Hope this review helps you decide on the game