Steamworks support is in

The PC version of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is no longer tied to Games for Windows Live as of an update released today. According to Namco, existing saves and achievements can be transferred between now and April 1, which is when Steamworks support becomes the default.

One more down, a bunch left to go. Owners will need to take a moment to prepare their game for the switch and while the process is slightly different depending on where you bought Assault Horizon, keeping your data should be straightforward based on these instructions.

Games for Windows Live wasn't doing Assault Horizon any favors, but even with it gone, this isn't a game I was likely going to ??play. It's nice to see Namco didn't abandon players, though.

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PC users get to play with 'Enhanced Edition'

It's been quite the wait, but fans are now able to experience Ace Combat on their PCs with the release of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon: Enhanced Edition.

What warrants the 'enhanced edition' tag at the end, you may ask? Well, according to Namco Bandai, the the PC version will come with "controls and graphics that have been optimized specifically for PC users" as well as "many of the DLC items released on the console ve??rsions of the game."

You can pick the Enhanced Edition up from multiple online retailers including Steam for $34.99/€29.99. Personally, I look forward to seeing how Assault Horizon's most emotional quick-time event looks on PC; I mean, that thin??g ?deserves an award. 

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Also releasing for consoles digitally

Originally released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in October of last year, Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is now schedu??led to get a PC release in Q1 2013 by way of Steam. Unfortunately, this version will rely on Games for Windows for its multiplayer, but at least "many" of t?he DLC items from the prior versions will be included, according to Namco Bandai. It'll cost $34.99 when it launches barring any first-week promotional pricing.

In the more immediate future, on December 18, 2012, the game? will see digital releases on both PlayStation Network and Xbox 360's Games on Demand. These are priced at $19.99 each, though PSN users will also have the option to get the title bundled with DLC (the Tokyo and Honolulu maps plus six extra aircraft) for $29.99.

Truth be told, I was most excited to cover this news because it was an opportunity to share that simultaneously stupid and awesome quick-time event from Assault Horizon. Give it a watch below -- it??'s p??ractically required viewing.

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And now for the latest report from your Namco Bandai crossover collaboration DLC expert, me. Thankfully for you people sick of Idolm@ster-themed DLC*, the latest update for Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is for an anime property non-creepers might actually like: Macross (aka Robotech). In celebration of the seminal transforming mecha anime's 30th anniversary, Namco Bandai are releasing two skins for the F-14 Tomcat match the color ??schemes of the legendary VF-1 Valkyrie Variable Fighters (aka Veritechs). Check out some pics of it below.

As nerds know, the VF-1 series' design is based heavily on the F-14 Tomcat, what with the swinging wings and all. The VF-1S version of the skin even includes the Skull Squadron logo on the tail, for all you would-be Roy Focker-types. Sadly, the skins do not add the ability to transform your jet into GERWALK or Battroid (aka Guardian or Battloid mode to westernized fans) modes. Even more sadly, the skins will not be available outside Japan, due to the licensing-rights maelstrom that swallows any attempt to bring Macross to the west. You m?ay now begin shaking angry fists at the gods of trademar?king and copyright.

_{*Actually there is some new Idolm@ster DLC, namely skins for Yayoi, Makoto and Yukiho. And those will make it across! Pics are also below.}

Namco Bandai Celebrates Macro??ss 30th Anniversary with Ace Combat Assault Horizon Jets [Andriasang]

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This feel-good moment of the day is brought to you by Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, which features one of the best QTEs I've had the pleasure of seeing. Spider-Man arguably still holds the top spot, but this is some ?damn fine interactive entertai?nment.

If only all of life's problems could?? be fixed wit?h a raise of the fist.

This Is It. This Is The Greatest QTE. [GameSetWatch]

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The combat flight sim genre is in a pretty good state these days. While PC owners can enjoy the IL-2 Sturmovik games for that excellent ful?l sim experience, console owners have still seen a slow but steady flow of arcade?? air combat games in recent years.

Yet most games of the arcade console variety -- Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation included -- tend to focus on just locking onto enemy targets at range and letting loose a volley of missiles. Ace Combat: Assault Horizon has been said to attempt to Call of Duty-fy t??he genre in order to revitalize it, which has left a fair share of fans with gian??t question marks floating around their heads.

Whether this form of change to the genre was needed or not, Assault Horizon does breathe some new life into the genre with fuel fumes that can? set your brain on fire.

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (Xbox 360 [Reviewed], PlayStation 3)
Developer: Project Aces
Publisher: Namco Bandai Games
Released: October 11, 2011
MSRP: $59.99

The changes to the Ace Combat franchise are hard to miss when playing through the first half hour. Even though he game still has its trademark ridiculous story involving superweapons, it's told through the eyes of a range of characters you actually play as, as opposed to Fires of Liberations' overly dramatic narrative that was often told from the on-the-ground "warfare isn't very fun for civilians" perspective while you were just one anonymous person in an elite squad that saved ??the day.

This first half hour shoves you into the seat of the glorious F-22 as you play through one of the prota??gonists' nightmares, fighting in the wartorn skies above a beautiful Miami landscape and pulling off scripted but amazing-looking maneuvers. After some cutscenes t?hat are aimed to make you identify with most of the characters, you'll suddenly find yourself in the gunner seat of a helicopter for a turret sequence. Yikes.

Progressing through the pretty lenghty missions in the campaign, you'll find yourself playing through proper jet combat missions followed by a helicopter missions, and even sitting in an AC-130. It might not sound like the Ace Combat you know and love, and at times it isn't.

Part of what makes Assault Horizon so different is the new "DFM" (Dog Fight Mode) system. If you approach an enemy and get close enough, a pulsing circle will indicate you can enter DFM. Doing so puts you in a close combat chase sequence, where all you can really do is try to keep the enemy plane under the reticule of your machine gun while firing missiles as they loc??k on. These sequences can occasionally take you through breathtaking chases between skyscrapers, through refineries, or simply through G-force ignoring aerial dances of death.

DFM is there to make the game look great, which is does well thanks to the cin??????????????????????????ematic style and heart-pounding action you'll find yourself irresistable to enjoy, but it also serves to remove the boring gameplay of eternally turning your plane to keep your target reticule slightly in front of an enemy at close range.

As a result, the game's design does tend to overly focus on close range combat. If you're a fan of turning on stealth, circling wide behind an enemy strike group, and letting loose a volley of AMRAAMs from miles away -- as you perhaps once did in F-22: Total Air War -- you can forget about that in Assault Horizon. It's hard enough to let a missile hit any of t?he more skilled AI fighters in any mission, let alone the aces that will use flares and fly all over the place. If you insist on not using DFM at all for simulation's sake, you might as well not play the game altogether.

Having said that, the system does do a great job at giving you the sense that you are balancing on the edge of control with your bird of prey. Everything moves so fast that anyone who is prone to motion sickness in games should be warned, and once you destroy a plane you'll get a nice Burnout-esque view of your opponent as pieces of his plan??e rip apart from it in mid-air. Sometimes you'll even see the pilot being f?lung out of the plane; it never gets old.

DFM does have its share of problems, however. An enemy can get rea?dy to do a counter-maneuver that is indicated by a tiny indicator in the UI, which you're likely to miss every single time since so much is continuously going on on-screen. You can counter this counter-maneuver and ravage the enemy jet as it tries to loop over you in slow motion, but it's more a matter of luck than skill.

Likewise, you can do such a counter??-maneuver yourself if an enemy is locking on to you from behind by decelerating and leveling out the plane to get two triangle indicators to overlap, which instantly puts you behind your foe if you're successful. But sometimes -- especially in multiplayer -- you won't have the time to do so before you get hit in t??he butt by a missile. It can be a bit frustrating to die just because one time the action works fine and looks fantastic, while at other times it just refuses to work because you didn't overlap the triangles well enough or didn't level out correctly. Furthermore, if you happen to drop out of DFM at the wrong moment because an enemy flies too far out of sight -- even though it's hard to tell what exactly governs the rules of staying in DFM -- you could find yourself flying into the terrain at Mach speed.

A side-effect of basically being required to use DFM is that you have no sense of place on any of the maps where you control a jet. One minute you can be here, the next you can exit DFM at an entirely different location. One of the things that makes arcade air combat games so fun is that you feel in control of a ridiculously expensive aircraft and that you can claim the skies for your own without requiring a brain wired for simulation games. It's hard to do ??that when you never really know where yo?u are nor have a sense of the aerial theater overview, so you end up just going after the closest enemy until the mission is over. It fits the live-in-the-moment style of the game, but essentially you'll be hopping from one chase event to the next.

Similar to DFM, ASM (Air Strike Mode) lets you enter a ground assault path where your machine gun will overheat less quickly, and where the camera will make it more cinematic and easier to annihilate everything on the ground. It's a bit like a more assault-oriented version of that radar-evation mode you had in Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X., clenching your contr??oller as you try to make quick decisions to get through it successfully without crashing your plane. You can even do a bit of ASM as a stealth bomber to carpet bomb the hell out of bases, which ??is of course is what mankind was born to do in the first place.

To further spruce up the variety, Assault Horizon throws a bunch of missions at you that don't necessarily belong in a game like this. Being neither novel nor necessary, the turret gunner sections are seemingly only there to draw in the Call of Duty crowd and despite b?eing fu?n enough to play (how can you mess up a turret sequence anyway?) they feels a bit forced.

The helicopter missions are simply a throwaway way to add variety. Only one camera mode actually lets you see what you are shooting at, and even though the jet controls let you switch between a super arcade "Optimum" mode -- in which you can't even rotate your plane -- and an Original mode that is more like Ace Combat, the choppers are stuck to one arcade control scheme. Players who put effort into learning the more sim controls of Apache: Air Assault can basically forget what they learned as they work their way through some drab?? helicopter action. Thankfully, there is always the AC-130 to save the day and make you forget about most of the game's failed attempts at forced variety as you rain down death from above.

While the campaign is a nice distraction on its own, with a good old Elite difficulty and different aircraft selections to make it worth replaying it a couple of times, multiplayer adds a whole other layer of life-enhancement. Eight co-op missions are there to enjoy, Deathmatch can be a bit hard on the rookie player as you're thrust into the skies with more skilled players, while nobody appears to be playing the "capture the base" Domination ?mode at all. Capital Conquest, however, is the online mode of choice.

This mode puts players into two teams who have to protect their HQ buildings while simultaneously attacking the opponent teams' buildings, supporting bomber and multirole fighters as they do so. If you have a bunch of friends who like Ace Combat, it will be a while before you get tired of playing th??is mode and destroying random online people who don't communicate at all.

Earning points in multiplayer also lets you unlock skills to put in "skill sets" (i.e., Class layouts) that provide bonuses to yourself and your team. It provides a good enough reason to keep playing the game after you finish the campaign and the Capital Conquest games only take 10 to 30 minutes -- with the ?option to fully customize any of the modes -- so it's easy enough to pick up and play without having to spend hours on the multiplayer.

Although the introduction of the DFM in Assault Horizon does change the feel of Ace Combat dramatically, it is a beautiful and heart-pounding addition to the air combat genre. As long as it works well and you have an idea what is going on, that is. When everything falls in place and works, further stimulated by the trademark Ace Combat soundtrack, there's nothing out there that can give you an experience a??nything like it.

Assault Horizon looks beautiful to boot, provided you can get over the fact that it is not Ace Combat 5, nor Ace Combat 6, etc. The cinematic style might put off some old fans, but once you accept Assault Horizon for what it is you can enjoy it immensely; there's really no arguing that the new style makes you feel more engaged with the action whether you care for Call of Duty or not. You do have to accept that this ??is a departure for the series, as evidenced by the way the Original control scheme is the more intuitive option for veterans while at th?e same time it makes you feel like the game wasn't designed to really support it.

It might not be the perfect console arcade combat flight sim experience, but Ace Combat: Assault Horizon remains a treat for any fan of the genre or fans of stupidly awesome looking air combat action. Where it breaks with tradition, it injects a shot of epinephrine straight into your heart and keeps it pumping until a mission is over. The changes have turned it into a rollercoaster version of Ace Combat, for better or worse dependi??ng on what you wanted from the franchise's latest, resulting in one of the finest examples of how to turn gracefu??l air ballet into a mosh pit of fighter jets.

The post Review: Ace Combat: Assault Horizon appeared first on Destructoid.

A new batch of screenshots for Ace Combat: Assault Horizon recently came out and, as you might expect, they contain some jet planes that you can expect to take for a spin yourself. They are not just any jet planes though, as these are four newly revealed jets; the F-4E "Phantom II," F-15E "Strike Eagle," F-16F "Fighting Falcon??" and FA-18F "Super Hornet" all round out the list.

They all contain various stats and ease-of-control, wi??th the Phantom II being notable because it can only be obtained by pre-ordering the game before its October 11th release date and the Super Hornet sounding like it is the end-all jet to use because of its ability to maneuver easily at any speed and seemingly having no weaknesses. I??f you would like to see extended descriptions of the planes, you can find those below. While you're at it, why not check out the gallery?

F-15E Strike Eagle
A fighter bomber with the air-to-air combat ability of the F-15C and additional air-to-ground capabilities. Able to be equipped with a di?verse array of armaments, including anti-aircraft, ground attack, multi lock-on missiles and aerial bombs, it is capable of dealing with a variety of situations. Called the "Strike Eagle," though the exterior is almost the same as the F-15C, it provides various ground attack improvements.

F-16F Fighting Falcon
The successor to the F-16C. Various improvements have been made in order to export it outside the United States. Air-to-ground battle capability has been improved by an upgrade to its gun control. Air resistance is controlled by the conformal tank system, which extends flight range and makes it adaptable to any kind of air-to-air or air-to-ground missions. It is called by the same name as the F-16C, "Fighting Falcon."

F-4E Phantom II
General purpose, extra large, carrier-based fighter. Though turning performance can be a bit problematic because of the large size of the aircraft, it boasts top class speed performance among the older generation model aircrafts, a high level of durability, and has a large amount of space for armaments. Called the "Phantom II," it is the first aircraft shared by three branches of the U.S. Armed Forces: the Navy, Marines, and Air Force.  Fans of ACE COMBAT® in North America can get the F-4E Phantom II aircraft exclusively at GameStop when you pre-order ACE COMBAT ASSAULT HORIZON for the Xbox 360 or PS3 (while supplies last).

FA-18F Super Hornet
Whether it's air-to-air or air-to-ground, this carrier-based fighter is capable of handling a wide variety of missions. An easy-to-handle aircraft that boasts stabl??e maneuverability at any speed. Equipped with long-range attack weapons, it's well-suited for preemptive attacks. Nicknamed the "Sup??er Hornet"

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Namco Bandai invited us out to their offices in Japan to see the Tokyo Game Show line-up before the show opens today. There was a lot to see, so we didn't have too much time with all the titles, which sucks since I really want to play Ace Combat: Assault Horizon again. Not because I enjoyed it, but because? I have no idea what happened in my hands-on. We were dropped into the newly revealed Capitol Conquest mode where it was basically a domination-like multiplayer gametype. The eight-player battle saw us attacking the opposing team while attempting to take over points and gain stronger weapons.

After each death, we were able to get different jets or helicopters before jumping back into the match. The airships' controls were pretty standard, and you have a new control feature that assists in dog fights when needed. My problem with the game was that the action was too fast-paced. I've played past Ace Combat? titles before and nev?er could get fully into them because of how slow they were.

So you would think I'd enjoy Assault Horizon. Nope. The action was so fast and so hectic that I really don't even know how to feel about what I played. I want to give the new Ace Combat another whirl as I'm not happy that my first hands-on experience was so jarring. Plus, I want to check out ??the standard deathmatch and co-op focused missions before completely writing this one off.

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When Namco Bandai America isn't throwing fans over 70 images of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon in a single day, they're giving them a 10 minute video "fly-through" of a campaign level, releasing a single-player demo and throwing in some more images -- whic??h has happened today.

The demo, which is available now on both Xbox 360 and PS3 sees players taking part in two missions: one that has them controlling a fighter jet and participating in dog figts, and another where they'll control a helicopter with the mission being one of a rescue. The 10 and a half minute helicopter fly-through video shows off the third mission of Assault Horizon, and those screenshots are from the demo; so you c??an look at it before you download it... or something.

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Hey, Ace Combat fans, you know how Ace Combat: Assault Horizon will be hitting the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on October 11? Well, for some of you that's quite a long time and you're probably just dying for some more information on the game.

Namco Bandai America is aware of your needs, and has decided to drop off over seventy new screenshots showing everything from new aircraft (inlcuding the B-2 Spirit and AC-130U Spooky) to a large variety of storyline s??hots. Go on, feast your eyes on 'em. 

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The new Ace Combat is not titled Ace Combat 7 for good reason; it's a big departure from the previous games in the franchise. Perhaps because the audience for these kind of games has dwindled on the consoles, Project Aces has adapted its formula to fit a more shooter-oriented audience with Ace Combat: Assault Horizon.

The new cinematic Close Range Assault system gives dogfights a more visceral feel, but don't we play these games to shoot four AMRAAMs at long range followed by a couple of AIM-9X missiles when we've? closed the distance to enemy planes?

As part of Namco Bandai's gamescom showings, a helicopter gunner section and ?a new multiplayer mode were elaborated upon. After seeing it, I honestly don't know how to feel about this new title.

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3)
Developer: Project Aces
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Release date: October 11, 2011

Assault Horizon has a different cinematic and story driven approach than Ace Combat 6. In-game cutscenes during which you?? are not in a plane can be manipulated by looking around with your head, and instead of relying on the traditional cutscene videos there is a bit of a better flow from level to level to tell the story.

Starting the game, the player sits through a Black Hawk gunner shooting gallery that could've come straight out of Call of Duty or any modern warfare FPS that has a helicopter with a gunner section. A cutscene even shows someone in a helicopter with the mask from Modern Warfare 2's Ghost. During an assault on some place in Eastern Africa, you blast hundreds of enemies into oblivion with your gatling gun. It's fun, but it's not really why people play Ace Combat.

These helicopter missions don't form the bulk of the air combat, however, as indicated by the gam??e's multiplayer mode called Capital Conquest where things are a bit more traditional.

Capital Conquest is an 8 vs. 8 online multiplayer mode where both teams have to protect their HQ. This can be a carrier group, a land base, etc. Fighters have to protect their HQ from bombers, while keeping their fighter escorts at bay. It??'s a very team-based mode that rewards team play in various ways.

Players select a loadout with skills they earn (think perks) that can affect such elements like better turning rates, increased missile damage, and the like. Special team sharing skills affect an entire squad, with up to four players in a squad. This means that you'll likely have two squads fightin?g alongside each other in a match, preferably with each squad member selecting different team sharing skills that complement the squad as a whole.

You will only unlock skills online, again similar to Call of Duty's progression system. Duri??ng the match, you can score points to progres?s by destroying enemies, achieving objectives, winning matches, and even by attaining bonuses for getting a "revenge" kill on the person that shot you.

The blatant Call of Duty influence on Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is present on a lot of levels, including the more realistically grounded story and environment. Assault Horizon?? won't feature any ridic??ulous super bosses, and it's set in our world. 

You can of course customize your aircraft for online play in all the ways you'd want to, not just for weapon loadouts but also for paint jobs. If you want to fly around in a purple F-22, you can. It's an interesting approach to the combat flight sim genre, but some of the stuff like the helicopter gunner sequences don't feel like they really fit into an Ace Combat game. Then again, the multiplayer co??mbat is a bit more traditional and all the jets and real world weapons are there for your enjoyment.

When asked if this new, more realistic and shooter-style version of Ace Combat would be the new direction for Project Aces, or if they would make a proper Ace Combat 7 down the line, producer Kazutoki Kono responded that the team is pretty small and that they'd see where things will go after Ace Combat: Assault Horizon ships in October.

The post Impressions: Ace Combat: Assault Horizon appeared first on Destructoid.

Are you hankering to get yourself into a fighter jet and shoot down some bandits? I sure am, but if you are too, we're both going to have to wait a little bit, because Ace Combat Assault Horizon features attack chopper sequences alongside its fighter jet sections.

That's not a bad thing, mind you. We haven't had anything resembling a dedicated chopper game in a long time, and attaching it to a dedicated fighter jet game is good enough for me, especially when it's got the Ace Combat name to go with it. Now, will there be some flying fortre??sses or painfully earnest musings on the nature of war? C'mon, Project Aces, don't let me down!

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