Smooth graphics and cheap gimmicks do not a good game make.
The game does get off to a decent start. The opening nightmare sequence makes for a unique introduction, and right from the word go the game lets you know what it's all about: explosions, explosions and more explosions. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and everything looks pretty enough. Unfortunately, the visual spectacle lasts all of about twenty minutes, and then you start to realise you are just doing the same thing over and over again.
The biggest feature advertised during Assault Horizon's development was Dogfight Mode, or DFM, which allows you to get up close and personal and watch your guns and missiles take the enemy plane apart piece by piece. In theory, it sounds great. In practice, not so much. Once you initiate DFM, the game takes control of the plane; all you have to do is input a little bit of stick, adjust your speed every now and then, and fire missiles when instructed. The game rewards you for your good behaviour with the occasional close-up of the enemy plane falling to pieces, but this gets real old, real fast. Pretty soon you will begin to realise that one exploding MiG looks about the same as the next, at which point the combat loses any sense of excitement.
In fact, not only does DFM fail to make its intended impact, it actively sucks enjoyment out of the game. One of the best feelings you can get in a combat flight sim is the joy of out-flying your opponent, keeping him firmly in your sights through sheer skill while he tries every trick he can think of to lose you. DFM eliminates this feeling altogether. It also eliminates the thrill of aerial acrobatics. For example, there are a couple of moments in the opening sequence which have you DFM-chasing an enemy plane through a city as it explodes around you. Demonstrating your skill by bringing your plane through these low-altitude obstacle courses in one piece would feel amazing, but simply getting to watch while the autopilot does it for you is… anticlimactic, at best.
Another new feature for this version of Ace Combat is the introduction of helicopters and other aircraft aside from the usual assortment of air superiority and ground assault fighters. Unfortunately, these side additions suffer from the same dull game-play as the fighter-based missions. Manning the door gun on the Black Hawk is just plain boring. The chopper hovers into position, you blow stuff up, take a little bit of return fire (which is just for show; you're chopper is invincible) and then move on. The Apache gunship feels twitchy and underpowered, and no expense has been spared to make the whole affair as idiot proof as possible, no matter how it cripples the game-play. The chopper simply bounces off anything you might run into, allowing you to be as sloppy and plain stupid with your flying as you want. After all of these failures, an opportunity to pilot the mammoth AC-130 is fear inducing, fear which is quickly turned into nauseating boredom once the mission actually begins.
All of these horrific game-play elements come together to create a game that is more watched than played and is an insult to the combat flight sim genre. If you are chasing a thrilling aerial combat experience, save yourself some money and rent a copy of Top Gun for the evening. I guarantee you it will be more entertaining that this catastrophe.