|
IGN took Namco Bandai's Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception into the skies for a check-ride during TGS 2006, and based on their hands-on, they must have been smiling when they got back to the ground. The TGS demo had more polished visuals than the prior builds they've seen and played with before (including the E3), and featured some new content and refined gameplay mechanics.
The TGS demo had three modes of play available: Campaign (featuring three missions), Free Play, and Multiplayer. As with all the console Ace Combat games, each mission starts out with a briefing video, then you're taken to the hangar to select your winged steed. IGN says that it still remains to be seen how many and which aircraft will make it to ACX's final hangar list, but we can expect to see the classics like the "F-teen" American fighters (e.g., F-14), the Su-27 family of aircraft, and of course, the superplanes.
Controls should also be familiar to any Ace Combat vet: analog controls pitch and roll, shoulder buttons control throttle, and the face buttons control weapons and targeting. Combat in X should also be familiar to anyone who's played a flight sim or arcade flight shooter - air-to-air, air-to-ground, escort, and so forth - but if the past Ace Combat games are an indicator (and they are), expect to see a few surprises thrown into the mix.
Finally, if you've noticed from the first trailer we've posted, the storytelling returns to a more anime-influenced style closer to that seen in the PS2's Ace Combat 5 (which is what IGN says; based on what he's seen in the trailer, this veteran says it's more Ace Combat 04). Ace Combat X touches down in retail September 30 in Japan, and October 17 in the US.
Buy: [Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception]
|
|
Titles
