A Tale of Two Spin-Offs: Ace Combat Cross Rumble and Ace Combat Assault Horizon

As someone whose childhood was defined by repeated viewings of Top Gun, it should be no surprise that I love the Ace Combat series. For the uninitiated, Ace Combat is basically an arcade-style flight action game, mixing an accessible flight model with plenty of missiles, melodrama, and music that results in a truly unique and enjoyable experience. However, after the release of Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, Namco saw fit to try and liven up the series by changing a number of the franchise's established concepts. After numerous sequels and spin-offs, evolving the series' formula was to be expected - one of the few criticisms that was leveled at Fires of Liberation from nearly all reviewers was that the game brought very little new to the table compared to the last 7+ games in the series, especially since most dogfights effectively boiled down to "do high-G turns until you can shoot a QAAM at the other guy."

Ace Combat Assault Horizon was to be the rebirth of the series, introducing a number of new features and concepts to the formula. Sadly, Assault Horizon may ultimately have done more harm than good to the series. But, before one can discuss what AH did wrong, it's important to understand what previous Ace Combat games did right that gained Project Aces both immense respect and the undying adoration of a legion of fans (myself included).

Ace Combat has always had a very simple gameplay formula, trading realism for fun as much as possible without trying to ruin the fantasy of being an elite fighter pilot. Every game since the original Air Combat on the PS1 has featured a wide variety of modern fighter jets from all over the world, and armed players with scores of missiles or bombs that "reloaded" after being launched, giving players reason to concern themselves with ammunition consumption without forcing them to return to base once all their hardpoints were empty. Flight was simple but enjoyable, with most fights coming down to "knife-fight" range where you could visually track your bogey and confirm your kills, unlike modern flight simulators where beyond visual range (BVR) combat is the norm. Enemies presented themselves in vast numbers and varieties, creating epic air and ground battles for every mission. After each mission, players would receive points which could be used to purchase bigger and better airframes - you had to earn your F-22A Raptor or Su-47 Firkin, it wasn't simply given to you.

Ace Combat also featured an alternate-reality world, known collectively as "Strangereal," which allowed the stories of the series to form a cohesive, comprehensive universe. Strangereal has scores of unique nations that have obvious parallels (like Yuktobania and the Soviet Union or the Principality of Belka and Germany), but there was always enough variation to make them unique. This fictional setting is what made the politics of the series, the wide variation in aircraft, as well as the signature melodrama and superweapons acceptable within the constraints of the universe.

I'm pretty sure Germany hasn't ever built a giant laser cannon.

Perhaps most importantly, by having the games take place in Strangereal rather than the real world, it allowed for Project Aces' writers to pen grand tales of near-legendary heroism in the face of all odds. In keeping with the goal of the series - to make the player feel like an ace pilot - Ace Combat treated the player with respect that eventually gave way to sheer awe and borderline hero worship, only giving them a callsign and never any characterization to encourage players to treat their character as a self-insert. 

There's an old joke in the aviation community that asks, "What's the difference between a fighter pilot and God? God doesn't think he's a fighter pilot." Ace Combat takes this "big hero" mindset to its absolute extreme, and it paid off, with many players' fondest memories of the series being the moments where your allies regained hope and your enemies began to panic on the radio simply because they heard you had shown up. It was a consistent theme within the series, and despite being a very small part of the narrative in each game, there was simply nothing like hearing NPCs cheer on the "Demon of the Round Table" (you) or "The Ghosts of Razgriz" (you and your wingmen) before the final showdown, which was naturally set to equally epic music. Ace Combat games are essentially modern fantasy tales, like stories of Arthurian legend, with fighter jets and flying aircraft carriers in place of horses and dragons, and the player was the star of the show.

With each and every one of these things being part of the established Ace Combat formula, it's not just puzzling, but downright shocking that many of them were simply thrown out in Assault Horizon. The missile count and plane variation was still there, but almost nothing else was, at least not in a large enough quantity to matter. Plane buying? Gone. Strangereal? Gone. Melodrama? Gone. Superweapons? Gone (nukes do NOT count, as far as I'm concerned). Heroism and that empowering sense of invincibility? Gone. Even the free-form dogfighting was mostly stripped out in favor of a new, often-scripted gameplay mechanic.

So, why exactly was Assault Horizon changed so much from the original formula? Well...

WARWOLF BLOW UP THAT TRINITY WITH YOUR LANDING GEAR

As much as Namco insists it isn't true, it's evident that Namco's executives decided that having a loyal, mid-sized fanbase wasn't enough. They, like BioWare and DICE, wanted the Call of Duty audience (which, to date, has never resulted in good things, much less commercial success - I'll touch on this in a later post). From the moment it was announced, both myself and the Ace Combat community as a whole noticed the parallels to Activision's Call of Duty series. The color palette was suddenly subdued compared to the game's predecessors, the setting was now generic "evil Russian ultranationalist" modern warfare tripe, and the scripted events appropriately Michael Bay-ish.

The most jarring change of all was in regards to how dogfighting was approached. Whereas the older Ace Combat games had entirely free flight for dogfighting, Project Aces attempted to add a bit of variety and flair to combat by introducing Close Range Assault, or CRA. CRA locked the player onto a semi-guided track that followed the target once CRA was engaged, and often flew them through plenty of low-altitude obstacles such as skyscrapers and cranes. 

The stated goal of CRA was to make dogfighting more personal and flashy as opposed to simply waiting for a lock tone and firing, but it often became a hindrance to personalized gameplay. Certain targets were simply invincible unless they were locked into CRA, and in some cases, they were still invincible until they passed a certain scripted event on the CRA flight path. The result was a gameplay mechanic that felt fresh and slick at first glance, but ultimately became boring and static once you knew that no matter what you did, you didn't have to actually follow the target yourself, couldn't kill him before he passed a crane, and that even if you broke off, the enemy would fly the exact same path every time until you killed him.

It's obvious that CRA was also introduced to make online play more accessible (and, hopefully, as popular as Modern Warfare 2's by making combat a matter of style over substance). Online play was plagued by unlockable skill sets that were required to stay competitive (just like Modern Warfare), overpowered combinations (also like Modern Warfare), and enough lag to drive you insane (definitely like Modern Warfare). While online play in Ace Combat has never worked well, why Project Aces decided to focus on attempting to improve adversarial combat that would likely be a laggy mess (as it ended up being anyway) rather than extending the single player campaign or co-op missions is beyond me.

Wait, nevermind, I know why they did it.

Still, perhaps the biggest reason Assault Horizon fell flat was due to something else entirely. The thing that most people remember the Ace Combat games for is the aforementioned feeling of pride in one's abilities, and the fantastic tales that the games spun with you as a protagonist. This was a consistent theme from the very first Ace Combat all the way through Ace Combat Joint Assault, which had a real-world setting like Assault Horizon, but otherwise kept all the cliches Ace Combat is normally known for. 

Assault Horizon, however, threw this out entirely, and that is perhaps its most underrated crime against the series. The pilot you play is no longer a faceless, nameless self-insert (as I mentioned previously, this worked to the benefit of the series in the past), but rather one Col. William Bishop of the United States Air Force. Let's ignore the fact that this may already be making him hard to relate to for folks outside of the U.S. and focus on other things. Col. Bishop has a voice. He has a personality. He has an appearance. He has a history. He is DEFINITELY not you. 

However, Bishop's most out-of-place characteristic is that he has fears. Compared to the cocky, can-do persona one thinks of when they think of fighter pilots, he's definitely unlike any of the other protagonists in the series. To make matters worse, the game insists on switching your perspective, forcing you to play as both a helicopter pilot and a bomber pilot - both of whom were so bland that I can't even remember their callsigns, much less their names - in missions that felt like they were forced into the game for the sake of adding another bullet point on the back of the box ("Ace Combat, now with an AC-130 mission just like that one other modern war game you like so much!").  This confusion was only exacerbated by the lack of briefings. Apparently people don't have the attention span for them, nor any interest in knowing where they're going or why, despite the fact that it might actually make them care about what they're about to do and help create a coherent plot.

Bringing our focus back to Bishop, he does one other thing that furthersets him apart from all other Ace Combat protagonists - he fails, nobody has confidence in his abilities, nor do they cheer him on, for good reason. No matter what you do against your nemesis, Markov, there is a point in the game where he will beat you, thanks to CRA. This has nothing to do with skill, and will even occur if you have enough skill to beat him under normal conditions (the first time I fought Markov, the game literally made him instantly counter and hit me after I managed to somehow break his scripted attack). This, above all else, shatters the illusion of being an ace pilot by saying that you will lose when the game tells you to, and will only win when the game lets you. You are not an ace, you're just along for the ride. It completely negates what Ace Combat is all about. 

Not all is lost, however. Shortly after the launch of Assault Horizon, a second, lesser known Ace Combat game was released. Ace Combat Cross Rumble, also known as Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy outside of Japan despite having NOTHING to do with Assault Horizon (thank god), was a much humbler game released for the Nintendo 3DS, likely as part of a contractual obligation by Namco to release an Ace Combat game on the system.

Incidentally, it is also a superior game to Assault Horizon in nearly every way.

I also happen to think that the Japanese box art is the best box art in the series, but that's probably just me.

So, what does Cross Rumble do that Assault Horizon didn't? The short answer is "pretty much everything." Cross Rumble  is a complete remake of the legendary Ace Combat 2, which means that it has a fairly well defined standard to meet. Of course, Project Aces didn't -have- to release a remake of AC2, but they did anyhow, which incidentally bodes pretty well for those currently petitioning for an Ace Combat HD Collection. What made Cross Rumble special even as a remake, however, was how much thought and effort went into making it a complete package. Not only does Cross Rumble expand on the original experience by adding in new planes, better graphics, and improved controls, it gives long-time fans of the series a reason to play by essentially revamping everything else. 

After Assault Horizon was initially announced, one of the most common complaints was that fans wanted more stories set in Strangereal. AC2 was already set in Strangereal, but Project Ace opted to go a step further and make massive additions to the plot. The original plot was fairly barebone, but the Cross Rumble version took many of the best parts of the subsequent Ace Combat games and integrated them into the experience. 

The result is arguably the best campaign in the series since Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, including multiple ace squadron dogfights (Zero), branching campaign paths (AC2, Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War), plenty of radio chatter (every AC after AC2), new characters, new subplots, improved briefings that helped you understand your part in the conflict...the list goes on. Additionally, in classic Ace Combat style, your character - who is once again nameless, voiceless, and faceless - goes from "new hire" to "legendary hero" in short order, gaining all sorts of praise and encouragement along the way. Whatever ego-stroking was taken out of Assault Horizon was definitely back for Cross Rumble. Another welcome re-addition is the ability to choose whatever aircraft you wanted for any mission. Unlike Assault Horizon, where CRA was so integral to the game that taking an attack jet like an Su-25 Frogfoot was simply not allowed, you're given the freedom to choose your weapon under any circumstances in Cross Rumble (though the game will warn you if the plane you selected isn't ideal).

That said, crushing these guys with an A-10A is beyond satisfying. Hat tip to whoever drew this.

The improvements don't end there, either. A number of other unlockables and special modes were also added to extend game time. Special challenge missions and survival modes offer experienced AC fans an extra challenge, while collectible addicts can spend hundreds of hours trying to unlock every plane and every color scheme for said planes, including AC2's signature fantasy "superplanes," which were missing from Assault Horizon. While controls and graphics are less than ideal thanks to the limitations of the 3DS, the sheer wealth of gameplay options makes it a better value than Assault Horizon ever could have hoped to be, and no development time was wasted on a multiplayer mode that would have been underutilized at best. It's also in 3D, but let's be honest, nobody really cares about that.

Additionally, Cross Rumble, like Assault Horizon, needed a special gameplay mechanic that would differentiate it from the older games and break up the monotony of "circle of death" dogfights. However, rather than utilizing CRA, Cross Rumble integrated the Tactical Maneuver (TM) system from Project Aces' sole non-Ace Combat game, The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces. The TM system works by building up a gauge the longer you're in close proximity to an enemy aircraft while in normal flight. Once the gauge is partially or completely full, you can hit one button and your plane will automatically do a fancy maneuver that should put you in a prime position to annihilate your target with either missiles or guns, with a full gauge giving you a better attack position than a half full gauge. Dodging missiles can also be done in the TM system by waiting for a prompt, then pressing the circle pad in the indicated direction while hitting the maneuver button. Best of all, this new system, while useful and satisfying to use, is entirely supplementary to old-school dogfighting. It makes things easier, but you're never railroaded into using it like Assault Horizon does with CRA.  

In summary, Cross Rumble succeeds where Assault Horizon didn't because the new gameplay mechanics didn't force the player to play a certain way, and the formula that made Ace Combat popular to start with stayed intact - once again, you were the star of the show, and you succeeded on your own terms, not just when the plot and/or gameplay mechanics allowed you to.

There's very few bad things I can think of to say about Cross Rumble, and it's because it does what Assault Horizon set out to do - update the Ace Combat formula - while refraining from throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Fan responses have been similarly positive (aside from the typical console fanboy whining about it not being on the PlayStation Vita), which is a far cry from the response to Assault Horizon. These responses should be all the proof Namco needs that fans want more Ace Combat, not "Call of Duty in the sky," as one reviewer called it. Variety has been and always will be important to the industry, and by comparing these two spinoffs, as well as the fan reaction comparing them to the legacy games, it's clear that Ace Combat is at its best when the series is allowed to sing with its own voice, rather than forced to emulate that of another. One can only hope that Namco will realize this sooner rather than later, and we'll get both an Ace Combat HD Collection and an Ace Combat 7 long before we ever have to revisit Assault Horizon.

P.S.: Go support the Ace Combat HD Collection petition. Seriously. The fans should always be in charge of getting releases green-lit, not company executives and bean counters.

The next time I get asked this question, I want it to be in 1080p.

Author's Note: I'd like to credit Chi-Chun Liu, creator of Assault Horizon's "Death Rider" F-15C Eagle skin, for pointing out the similarities between Ace Combat and fantasy myths. I knew there was something about the series I'd seen elsewhere before!