Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy

Genre: Combat Flight Simulator

Players: 1

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Review:

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy is a Combat Flight Simulator released on Nintendo 3DS in 2011 and then re-released later in 2015 as Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy+ with added Amiibo functionality, additional content, and support for the Circle Pad Pro accessory and the New Nintendo 3DS’s second analog pad. Despite the title, Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy is not directly related to the 2011 console game Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. Rather, this game is a full remake of the 1997 PlayStation game Ace Combat 2, which has players using modern aircraft in a near-future setting.

Make no mistake though – this is no mere remaster of the decades-old game. Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy features visuals that are clearly remade from the ground up, and they look stunning on the Nintendo 3DS’s small top screen, with beautiful textures, nice lighting, and some excellent atmospheric effects. Blasting away an enemy and then passing through the fiery explosion is a real treat, albeit one that is at times accompanied by some slowdown. This is backed by an excellent, intense soundtrack and some delightfully immersive aircraft noises… as well as some extremely cheesy dialogue playing out over your comms that can instantly take you out of that immersion.

The Combat Flight Simulation gameplay here is really excellent, with solid controls and good variety, although there were frequently times when it seemed like my aircraft outright refused to move the way I wanted it to, fighting against me. Perhaps this is somewhat realistic, but it was nevertheless frustrating.

I suppose because of this, the game incorporates a “maneuver” system, where the game occasionally gives players the opportunity to press a button when an enemy is in range to play a short cutscene leading to your aircraft having done some aerial maneuver to position yourself right behind them. I guess I could look at this and say that this is the game’s way of keeping the action going, but far too often it felt like telling the game “since you won’t let me move how I want, you go ahead and do it for me and I’ll watch”. Suffice it to say, this was not a fun feeling. Thankfully, these moments are not so frequent that they ruin the otherwise great gameplay here.

There is one element here I should address for those wondering how much they should worry about getting the original or “+” version of the game. Here’s what you’re missing out on if you don’t get the “+” version – in that version, select Amiibos add new paint jobs for aircraft in the game, players can opt to have ridiculous immersion-breaking Mario-style power-ups appear throughout gameplay (thankfully, you can opt to play without these too), and as mentioned before, the “+” version of the game also adds support for the second analog input if you have the Circle Pad Pro or the New Nintendo 3DS. This is used to give players the ability to look around independent of their aircraft’s movement. This is nice, but not exactly pivotal to the gameplay. In fact, pretty much all of these additions are nice to have, but don’t dramatically affect my overall assessment of the game.

That assessment is this – Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy is a solid Combat Flight Sim with superb visuals and mostly excellent sound that does a good job bringing this classic series to the Nintendo 3DS, although not without a few issues. The controls can be a bit frustrating and the “maneuver” system helps the player out at the cost of taking them out of the experience of the game. However, even with these issues, this is an excellent entry in the genre.

tl;dr – Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy is a Combat Flight Sim that’s actually a remake of Ace Combat 2, and it mostly does a good job of bringing the series to Nintendo 3DS. There are some control issues, alongside a “maneuver” system that overcompensates for those issues by occasionally removing control from the player. However, while it’s not without its flaws, this is still a solid choice for fans of the genre, as well as fans of the Ace Combat series.

Grade: B-

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