So, I'm not sure what reviewing this game really accomplishes, given that it's been long de-listed from public visibility on Steam. Reviewing Assault Horizon at this point feels like screaming into the ether, I guess. But for those of you who already own the game and are curious about others' opinions on it—here we are.

My journey with Ace Combat is a bit strange. The first one I ever played was Ace Combat 2 when I was a kid, but in reality, I barely touched it aside from a few hit-and-miss attempts here and there. Then Ace Combat 4 came out when I was eleven, and that game rocked my absolute ♥♥♥♥. I'm sure that's no surprise to any of you, but what's interesting is that the AC games fell back off my radar. The PS2 had such a thick library of classics, and the other two games in the "holy trinity" slipped by me. Even Ace Combat 6 came and went while I had a 360, but my eyes were more set on the PS3 and Metal Gear Solid 4, so I passed again. By the time I finally returned to Ace Combat, this was the game.

When Assault Horizon first launched on PS3, I was already deep in the post-Modern Warfare gaming landscape. So, despite this game being absolutely decked out in Call of Duty camouflage, the fact that it was a plane combat game was a breath of fresh air. Back then, the often-criticized elements pretty much flew right by me—I was just happy to get back into a series I'd put on the back burner. Mostly. I do remember being pretty annoyed at the forced DFM in the—

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
Final boss sequence against Akula over Washington, D.C.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

—but overall, I remember enjoying my experience. I even liked the story and characters enough to remember them fondly! After that, Ace Combat Infinity came and I missed the boat yet again. In the intervening years, I caught up on everything I missed, became a bigger fan of the series and its lore, and when Shattered Skies finally dropped in 2019 on PS4, I made sure to grab it. I was blown away—so much so that I pretty much forgot a lot about Assault Horizon aside from its general tone and the biggest story beats.

Now, after all this time, I've decided to revisit a good chunk of the series. Lucky for me, I managed to snag Assault Horizon on Steam back when it was still available—and very cheap. Now that I have a PC capable of running both this and Shattered Skies, I played them side by side and beat them roughly around the same time. Ooooooooh boy.

Well, Assault Horizon is NOT terrible. It’s still a fun game. If you can set aside your preference for Strangereal for a moment and accept that this is the most G.I. Joe-style entry in the series, then you can enjoy the story for what it is. Colonel Bishop, your main character, is pretty milquetoast, though, and I probably would've preferred a silent MC to project onto, as the series usually allows. The bomber missions with Spooky/Razor are actually really fun, and as plane missions, they absolutely belong in an AC game. They add a nice bit of variety to the gameplay in a positive way.

While I like Shooter 1 as a character, the various helicopter missions, on the other hand, are overly long and dull. The on-rails sections are a snooze, and the free-control helicopter missions are janky at best and frustrating at worst. There aren’t many of them, but one of Assault Horizon’s biggest problems is its pitifully small mission count. There are only 16 missions in total. Ace Combat 4 and Zero both had 18, while AC5 had almost thirty! You could argue, “Well, AC6 only had 15 missions,” sure—but ALL of those were in planes. In ACAH, you spend two missions as a door gunner and two piloting a helicopter, meaning only 12 missions are actually in planes—and only 10 of those follow the traditional Ace Combat fighter-plane formula.

I understand that BAMCO/Project Aces wanted to switch up the formula to appeal to a broader audience, but dividing the content this much should have been an obvious way to alienate longtime fans. Dropping Strangereal was risky—but realistically, it could have worked. The real problem isn’t the setting; it’s the gameplay sins that are unforgivable.

SPEAKING OF WHICH—I’ve largely ignored DFM/ASM aside from a quick mention earlier. Is it terrible? Really? No, actually. It’s fine. Or, it would be if it weren’t mandatory in certain sections. See, DFM is great for casuals who just want to feel like Maverick—but it should have been an easy-mode option. Instead, the AI difficulty and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ physics-breaking quotient were ramped up to force you into using it far more than you’d want, even as a series vet.

Worse still, anyone labeled TGT_LEAD CANNOT be taken down without it in certain scenarios—just to ensure we get a cinematic, in-engine spectacle. This becomes a huge problem when the system locks your enemy into a period of invincibility because you’ve already dealt too much damage for the sequence to properly initiate. And that’s where the aggravation kicks in—because the enemy will pull ridiculous stunts to force the sequence to trip, which can actually get you killed instead. Whether it’s ramming you into the ground, going invulnerable and getting the drop on you, or some other nonsense, it wrecks the natural combat flow that makes Ace Combat great.

What’s supposed to be peak gameplay moments end up feeling like poorly constructed QTE segments. Comparing the battle with Akula to the heights of taking on Pixy or Mister X? Frankly, it’s pretty unsatisfying.

In the end, is there something here for the hardcore Ace Combat fan curious about the series’ flavor in the thick of the Iraq War era? Maybe. I certainly had fun revisiting it, but nowhere near as much fun as I had with Ace Combat 7. And with the prices for secondhand keys now outrageous, I honestly can’t recommend dropping $50+ on this game when the seventh entry is right there... and, for that matter, so is Project Wingman!

My only real regret? Missing out on the multiplayer—I heard it was killer.

So, I'm not sure what reviewing this game really accomplishes, given that it's been long de-listed from public visibility on Steam. Reviewing [i]Assault Horizon[/i] at this point feels like screaming into the ether, I guess. But for those of you who already own the game and are curious about others' opinions on it—here we are. My journey with [i]Ace Combat[/i] is a bit strange. The first one I ever played was [i]Ace Combat 2[/i] when I was a kid, but in reality, I barely touched it aside from a few hit-and-miss attempts here and there. Then [i]Ace Combat 4[/i] came out when I was eleven, and that game rocked my absolute shit. I'm sure that's no surprise to any of you, but what's interesting is that the [i]AC[/i] games fell back off my radar. The PS2 had such a thick library of classics, and the other two games in the "holy trinity" slipped by me. Even [i]Ace Combat 6[/i] came and went while I had a 360, but my eyes were more set on the PS3 and [i]Metal Gear Solid 4[/i], so I passed again. By the time I finally returned to [i]Ace Combat[/i], this was the game. When [i]Assault Horizon[/i] first launched on PS3, I was already deep in the post-[i]Modern Warfare[/i] gaming landscape. So, despite this game being absolutely decked out in [i]Call of Duty[/i] camouflage, the fact that it was a plane combat game was a breath of fresh air. Back then, the often-criticized elements pretty much flew right by me—I was just happy to get back into a series I'd put on the back burner. Mostly. I do remember being pretty annoyed at the forced DFM in the— [b]SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS[/b] [strike]Final boss sequence against Akula over Washington, D.C.[/strike] [b]SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS[/b] —but overall, I remember enjoying my experience. I even liked the story and characters enough to remember them fondly! After that, [i]Ace Combat Infinity[/i] came and I missed the boat yet again. In the intervening years, I caught up on everything I missed, became a bigger fan of the series and its lore, and when [i]Shattered Skies[/i] finally dropped in 2019 on PS4, I made sure to grab it. I was blown away—so much so that I pretty much forgot a lot about [i]Assault Horizon[/i] aside from its general tone and the biggest story beats. Now, after all this time, I've decided to revisit a good chunk of the series. Lucky for me, I managed to snag [i]Assault Horizon[/i] on Steam back when it was still available—and very cheap. Now that I have a PC capable of running both this and [i]Shattered Skies[/i], I played them side by side and beat them roughly around the same time. Ooooooooh boy. Well, [i]Assault Horizon[/i] is [b]NOT[/b] terrible. It’s still a fun game. If you can set aside your preference for Strangereal for a moment and accept that this is the most [i]G.I. Joe[/i]-style entry in the series, then you can enjoy the story for what it is. Colonel Bishop, your main character, is pretty milquetoast, though, and I probably would've preferred a silent MC to project onto, as the series usually allows. The bomber missions with Spooky/Razor are actually really fun, and as plane missions, they absolutely belong in an [i]AC[/i] game. They add a nice bit of variety to the gameplay in a positive way. While I like Shooter 1 as a character, the various helicopter missions, on the other hand, are overly long and dull. The on-rails sections are a snooze, and the free-control helicopter missions are janky at best and frustrating at worst. There aren’t many of them, but one of [i]Assault Horizon’s[/i] biggest problems is its pitifully small mission count. There are only 16 missions in total. [i]Ace Combat 4[/i] and [i]Zero[/i] both had 18, while [i]AC5[/i] had almost thirty! You could argue, “Well, [i]AC6[/i] only had 15 missions,” sure—but [b]ALL[/b] of those were in planes. In [i]ACAH[/i], you spend two missions as a door gunner and two piloting a helicopter, meaning only 12 missions are actually in planes—and only 10 of those follow the traditional [i]Ace Combat[/i] fighter-plane formula. I understand that BAMCO/Project Aces wanted to switch up the formula to appeal to a broader audience, but dividing the content this much should have been an obvious way to alienate longtime fans. Dropping Strangereal was risky—but realistically, it could have worked. The real problem isn’t the setting; it’s the gameplay sins that are unforgivable. [b]SPEAKING OF WHICH[/b]—I’ve largely ignored DFM/ASM aside from a quick mention earlier. Is it terrible? Really? No, actually. It’s fine. Or, it [i]would[/i] be if it weren’t mandatory in certain sections. See, DFM is great for casuals who just want to feel like Maverick—but it should have been an easy-mode option. Instead, the AI difficulty and [b]bullshit physics-breaking quotient[/b] were ramped up to force you into using it far more than you’d want, even as a series vet. Worse still, anyone labeled [b]TGT_LEAD[/b] [b]CANNOT[/b] be taken down without it in certain scenarios—just to ensure we get a cinematic, in-engine spectacle. This becomes a huge problem when the system locks your enemy into a period of invincibility because you’ve already dealt too much damage for the sequence to properly initiate. And that’s where the aggravation kicks in—because the enemy will pull ridiculous stunts to [i]force[/i] the sequence to trip, which can actually get you killed instead. Whether it’s ramming you into the ground, going invulnerable and getting the drop on you, or some other nonsense, it wrecks the natural combat flow that makes [i]Ace Combat[/i] great. What’s supposed to be peak gameplay moments end up feeling like poorly constructed QTE segments. Comparing the battle with Akula to the heights of taking on Pixy or Mister X? Frankly, it’s pretty unsatisfying. In the end, is there something here for the hardcore [i]Ace Combat[/i] fan curious about the series’ flavor in the thick of the Iraq War era? [i]Maybe.[/i] I certainly had fun revisiting it, but nowhere near as much fun as I had with [i]Ace Combat 7[/i]. And with the prices for secondhand keys now [i]outrageous[/i], I honestly can’t recommend dropping $50+ on this game when the seventh entry is right there... and, for that matter, so is [i]Project Wingman[/i]! My only real regret? Missing out on the multiplayer—I heard it was killer.