Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown has a few annoying elements, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it's exactly what the series needed for a great comeback.

The VR Mode is the big draw of Bandai Namco's new flight combat simulator, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, but it is more limited than you might have hoped.

So, there you have it. I’m very happy with my planes wot go “whoosh”. The only reason I’m not giving it a Bestest Best badge is because it doesn’t do anything particularly new. It just does everything very well. Make no mistake, if you’ve played a game about shooting missiles at tiny trucks before, this will be familiar, these skies are not unknown, they are well-charted. But they’re excellent skies anyway. Dumb, funny, exhilarating, varied and full of stupid explosions. Like the drones it summons, Ace Combat 7 is not exactly self-aware. But it is close enough, judging from the humour of its o...

Ace Combat 7 is a great time that has enough content and options to satisfy both, newbies and flight aficionados.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown goes to new heights not just for itself but for the action genre in games today.  Its sharp presentation and gameplay make for a breathtaking experience that sticks with players long after they land on the runway. We have always fantasized about flying, but Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown doesn’t fly: It soars.

Spread over 20 missions, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown puts you in the cockpit of modern, realistic fighter jets as Trigger, the game’s unseen protagonist. I’ve never played the previous titles in the Ace Combat series (it’s been around for decades) but I was able to quickly pick up the Campaign’s cliched but passable narrative basis – a fictional Earth-like world faces all-out war between the Osean, Usean and Erusian forces, and as an ace pilot, you’re sent on various missions that mostly involve aerial dogfights and taking out land-based targets.

When it’s firing on all cylinders, Ace Combat 7 absolutely soars as a return to form for a series thought dormant. It’ll be interesting to see how Bandai Namco might take things forward from here on, but for now, the series is flying high and steady once again.

That’s an issue that may arise on another day, though. At this moment in time, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is only really brought down by the occasional frustration felt upon the often unfair failure of a mission. Its campaign really is great overall, but sometimes you’ll curse when a timer imposed upon you expires when you’re just shy of meeting a score target. Or when a mission critical friendly plane gets shot down just as you’re about to dispatch the last enemy. You’ll always hit that “Retry From Checkpoint” option though and jump right back in, because Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown’s moment...

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is the best entry in the series yet and provides a near-perfect blend of action and strategy. Those looking for something to fill the void of the long-gone After Burner series will like the quicker pace offered here. Longtime AC vets will love the quicker pace and increase on craft customization. Dogfights are a rewarding challenge and every part of the presentation is impressive. Its graphics are the best ever seen for a flight-based game and the soundtrack is outstanding too.

No summary available

It's been a while since we last made a trip to Strangereal on PlayStation. The Ace Combat series has a long and relatively complicated history of releases scattered across a wide range of formats, resulting in a somewhat fragmented state. Fans largely agree, however, that the PlayStation 2 entries - 4, 5, and Zero - are the collective high point, after which things began to stall and take a bit of a nosedive. With Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, it's fair to say that Bandai Namco has brought its series back with a bang on PS4.

Flying high since ‘95, Ace Combat 7 presents a spruced-up goose.