Ace Combat 6: Fires of LIberation

So, I had an interesting experience with this game. I started it on Hard, my first time doing that for an Ace Combat game. It's also been my first time playing in the crap planes for awhile, as all my recent Ace Combat has been on New Game +. So, getting used to planes that can't turn worth crap was interesting. I didn't breeze through the game, but I also didn't have that hard of a time, even on hard. Well, okay, that's not true. Before I got entirely used to the new engine (Which was halfway through the game. >_>) I was having a bit of a tough time.

The Flight Engine engine is a bit tighter, and the graphics in air are beautiful. The biggest addition to the game is the High G turns, though. Hold brake and accelerate at the same time while turning and you turn on a dime. It's sorta crazy. However, it kills your speed and you stall out pretty quickly on planes with low stability. So, it's something to use in dogfights and dodging missiles. I found it out during the first Superweapon mission, which made it sorta much easier.

Other changes/additions:

• Flak cannons are SCARY. Holy crap. Instead of just a bit of a shake when you're hit and some damage, it's explosions all around you in air, and when you're hit, you shake for awhile after. It throws off your mobility a bit, too. It's great.
  
  
• ESM. It's an area of effect where your RADAR works a bit better/Enemy RADAR is worse and your missiles do more damage. Your enemy has it, too. It's done by planes or groundbased RADAR stations, which you can destroy. The effect isn't huge, but it was noticeable on hard.
  
  
• Allied Support options. So, you only have a wingman, who you can control in the form of cover or attack. Cover means he'll cover you, attack means he'll attack a target. Now, that's normal. However, you can also do Allied Attack/Allied Cover. This controls *all* allied planes in the area.If you want a certain something destroyed? Allied Attack and whatever is in front of you *dies*. Allied Cover and all the planes attacking you and annoying you and causing you to be in constant Missile Alert? Good bye. Your allies are actually not that bad in this game. It's kinda crazy. You only have a certain amount you can do this, based on how much you've destroyed.
  
  
• Missile/Plane changes: You get a buttload more. You start with around 100 normal missiles on the weakest plane, going to 250 on F-22A. Specials get the same treatment. The F22-A has 72 XMA6 or 40 QAAMs. Speaking of QAAMs, they got nerfed. They're normal missile range with a bit better handling. The enemy aces dodge them pretty regularly. Still, pretty effective, but not UBERHOMINGDEATH like they used to be. Also, much limited amount of planes. You only get about 18 total in the game, 2 of them only unlocking after you beat the game. And you can't change planes for the first 3 or 4 missions. So, yeah, sorta lame.
  
  
• Certain missions are structured differently. Huge missions are now broken up into objectives, where you have to complete X objectives out of Y total objectives. You can choose to only highlight targets for one objective, choose what type of combat you want (air or ground), etc. They're always something like 'Assist in doing X'. It's pretty cool. Though, it stretches you kinda thin, as you can fail objectives and none of them will succeed without you. So, yeah, standard Ace Combat where your entire military relies on you being awesome. Long missions also tend to have checkpoints at objective changes, too, which is nice. So, long mission, then, all of the sudden, OH GOD ENEMY ACES ... That's a checkpoint. It's so nice.
  

Now, my opinion on all this? I dislike how the missions are larger scale. It takes away from the feeling of you being awesome, somewhat. The first Superweapon mission involves 5 Aerial Battleships bedecked with AA/Flak and then the enemy Ace squadron. Kill em all. See, this sounds insane. However, really, your allies end up blowing up more than you do. It'd be impossible to do on your own (... I tried), so it's just kinda... Meh. I ended up only downing like 2 of the enemy Aces, which is sorta lame. This happens a few times, where the mission was impossible to do without Allied , but using those make it less AWESOME! Meeeh.

The story is ... Well, okay. I didn't pay attention to the story after the first few missions. But, see, that's because I got bored. The story, in this game, is about the people affected by the war. It's not about you (AC:Zero), it's not about your squadron (5), it's not about the rival squadron (4), it's about ... civilians. I found it to be boring, so after about mission 3 I just spammed start through the cutscenes. It got preachy. Bugger that. Though, the radio dialogue was pretty cool, but that's a given. No one as standout as Chopper, but... Eh. No one's been as cool as Chopper.

A final, amused note: The final mission has 2 trench run situations. Did the first one in one attempted, the second in 2. I'm getting better at them, apparently. Wait, one more thing. The plane you get for beating the game is sorta absolutely insane. CFA-44, Nosferatu. It turns on a dime even without High G turns, but it can't High G turn for very long due to low stability. The Nosferatu's also got a missile, the ADMM, that targets 12 targets. 12. 12. Each of those 12 parts tracks better than a QAAM, too. It has a Railgun and an electronic warfare thing for making missiles miss, but the ADMM is the clear weapon of choice here. I actually sorta prefer the F-22A over it, aside from Bullsiht missiles, though. Go figure.

Overall? Not as good as 5 or Zero. A bit better than 4. Really, it was the story and shortness of it. The game is only 15 missions. The missions are longer, overall, than previous games, tho. Still, my game completed save clocks in at about 4 hours. Maybe, maaaaybe double that if you include time spent on all failed attempts. That sounds a bit high, though.