Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown | |
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Developer(s) | Bandai Namco Studios |
Publisher(s) | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
Director(s) |
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Producer(s) |
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Designer(s) | Shinya Hirota |
Programmer(s) | Masaki Iwabuchi |
Artist(s) | Masato Kanno |
Writer(s) | Sunao Katabuchi |
Composer(s) |
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Series | Ace Combat |
Engine | Unreal Engine 4 |
Platform(s) | |
Release |
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Genre(s) | Air combat simulation |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown[a] is an arcade-style combat flight simulation video game developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. An entry in the Ace Combat series, it was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in January 2019, and for Microsoft Windows the following month. The game features support for virtual reality, offering a set of missions developed for the PlayStation VR headset, as well as several downloadable content packs offering new missions.
Gameplay
Like the rest of the Ace Combat series, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown forgoes a realistic flight model in favor of faster, arcade-like gameplay to increase its accessibility to newer players. The player can also choose Novice or Expert control settings; the latter enables the player to execute realistic aircraft maneuvers such as rolls and high-g turns. The game features 28 different aircraft, with an additional nine as downloadable content and the F-4E Phantom II offered as a pre-order bonus. As with previous entries in the series, most of the aircraft are licensed from the real-world, although a set of fictional superplanes are also included. Several aircraft in the game make their series debut such as various members of the Su-30 family as well as upgraded versions of older aircraft like the Gripen E and A-10C Thunderbolt II.
Players earn an in-game currency, "Military Result Points," via gameplay to purchase additional aircraft and equipment through a tech tree. The player begins the game with the F-16C, and is able to unlock the MiG-21 and F-104C Starfighter after the fourth single-player mission without using MRP, with the F-22A Raptor, Su-57 and the fictional X-02S Strike Wyvern as top-tier aircraft in the tech tree. Each aircraft is equipped with standard missiles for both air-to-air and air-to-ground warfare, as well as another special weapon. Special weapons are used to boost an aircraft's ability to carry out air-to-air or air-to-ground attacks. Equipment purchased may also be used to boost the performance of the aircraft beyond its base performance, such as improved engine parts or airframe parts to enhance its speed and survivability respectively. Only eight upgrades may be applied at any time, weight limitations limit the number of a specific type of upgrade that can be applied (e.g. limit to number of simultaneous applicable airframe parts) and certain upgrades are only usable in multi-player modes.
For the first time in the series, clouds interfere with aircraft, hindering the player's vision and targeting systems when passing through them, also rendering laser weapons ineffective due to light refraction. In addition, aircraft briefly stall after staying in a cloud for too long and lightning strikes temporarily disrupt controls and sensors. Each aircraft also carries a limited supply of flares that can be deployed to evade missiles in critical situations.
During the single-player campaign, players complete a series of combat missions that tell the in-game story. Players are given an in-game briefing prior to a combat mission, where they are informed of success parameters, expected opposition, terrain features and weather conditions using a 3D map display. Players complete missions by destroying various air and surface targets, as well as accomplishing specific mission targets (e.g. destroying in-flight IRBMs). AI-controlled wingmen accompany the player through the mission, providing exposition and potentially shooting down enemy planes for the player. Over the course of the single-player campaign, the player may choose to engage in additional minigames, such as in-flight refueling or landing on an aircraft carrier. These minigames can be skipped, but confer additional points to players.
Multiplayer
The player may choose to play in the multi-player mode regardless of any progress made in the single-player campaign. The multi-player mode comprises the Team Deathmatch and Battle Royale modes. Both modes are PvP, where players shoot down enemy aircraft to earn points against a timer. The two modes differ in that Team Deathmatch involves two teams of four players each whereas Battle Royale has no teams. Shooting down top-scoring and players using expensive aircraft confers more points than shooting down worse-performing or lower-tier players. After a player's aircraft has been destroyed, he is respawned in the map after a few seconds. When the time limit is reached, the team or player with the greatest score is declared the winner.
Synopsis
Setting and characters
The game takes place in 2019 Strangereal,[1] the same fictional setting shared by other games in the series. Following the events of Ace Combat 04 and Ace Combat 5, the Osean Federation (Osea) brokered a peace treaty between the military powers of the Kingdom of Erusea and the rest of the Usean continent. The International Union Peace Keeping Force (IUN-PKF) was formed to maintain peace across the Usean continent, while former Osean President Vincent Harling orders the construction of a space elevator off the Erusean coast in order to revitalize the continent's economy, known as the International Space Elevator (ISEV). Meant to be a symbol of peace between all nations, the ISEV is protected by two massive Osean airborne aircraft carrier drones known as Arsenal Birds. Named Liberty and Justice, the Arsenal Birds carry a large number of combat drones, advanced weaponry and force fields, and receive their power via microwave transmission from the ISEV. Despite Harling's intentions, the ISEV creates resentment among the Eruseans, who see it as Osean intrusion in their sphere of influence. This resentment eventually leads to the war depicted in-game, colloquially referred to as the "Lighthouse War" after the ISEV's nickname.
The players control the game's silent protagonist, an Osean fighter pilot with the callsign "Trigger". The game's frame story is told through pre-rendered cutscenes played between missions, primarily from the point of view of three characters: Avril Mead, an Osean civilian aircraft mechanic who broke wartime aviation laws and is forced to work in an Osean penal military unit, Princess Rosa Cossette D'Elise, a member of the Erusean royal family who believes the war will end Osean interference on the continent, and Doctor Schroeder, a Belkan scientist who developed combat drone technology for the Erusean military.
Plot
Rising tensions between Osea and Erusea culminate when Erusea launches a surprise attack on Osea with a massive number of combat drones. Erusea captures much of the Usean continent, including the ISEV and both Arsenal Birds, with former Osean President Vincent Harling still in the ISEV. Consequently, war breaks out between Erusea and Osea, the latter supported by the IUN-PKF. Avril Mead, who was flying a refurbished F-104C Starfighter when the war began, is shot down in the crossfire and arrested for breaching wartime aviation laws. Avril is transferred to the Osean 444th Air Base as a mechanic, where a penal fighter squadron known as the Spare Squadron is maintained.
The IUN-PKF suffers a series of setbacks; they are unable to stop the destruction of an entire air squadron and are repelled by an Arsenal Bird, and lose a rookie member to Erusean ace Mihaly A. Shilage, who provides flight data to the Erusean drone program headed by the Belkan scientist Dr. Schroeder. Later, a mission to extract Harling from the ISEV goes awry when a missile strikes Harling's escaping aircraft, killing him. Osean pilot Trigger is accused of firing the missile, found guilty by court-martial, and transferred to Spare Squadron. Considered expendable, Spare Squadron is sent on highly dangerous missions with minimal support, to probe Erusea's drone defense network for weak points. Trigger encounters Mihaly again and dogfights him to a standstill, impressing Mihaly before both are forced to retreat due to inclement weather.
For their commendable performance, all members of Spare Squadron are pardoned and transferred to a base on Tyler Island off the coast of Usea. Trigger and his wingman Count are recruited by the elite Long Range Strategic Strike Group (LRSSG). Assisted by the LRSSG, Osea and its allies mount a series of devastating counter-offensives, including the destruction of one of the Arsenal Birds with a refurbished Stonehenge artillery array,[b] culminating in a large-scale operation to capture the Erusean capital, Farbanti.
Trigger encounters Mihaly again, but their duel is interrupted when Osea and Erusea use anti-satellite weapons to destroy each other's satellite network, causing a collisional cascade that breaks down satellite communication networks worldwide. Mihaly escapes Farbanti in the confusion; Erusea loses control over its AI-controlled drone fleet and collapses into a civil war between conservative and radical factions looking to end and prolong the war respectively, and multiple Erusean states declare independence. With the network down, Dr. Schroeder personally travels to the ISEV to transmit the latest flight data gathered from Mihaly into a new generation of Erusean combat drones, manufactured in automated drone factories across the continent.
Operating independently, the LRSSG attempts to extract the leader of the Erusean conservative faction and Osean informant in an effort to end the war decisively. The informant reveals that Harling was killed by an Erusean drone that spoofed Osean IFF signals, but he is accidentally killed by other Osean forces after his extraction. In the same battle, Dr. Schroeder and Mihaly's granddaughters are attacked by other Erusean forces and are saved by the LRSSG.
Meanwhile, Avril and the 444th, isolated, try to survive on a chaotic Tyler Island, where rogue Osean penal units clash with Eruseans and other Osean forces. They find Erusean Princess Rosa Cossette D'Elise, whose liaison aircraft was shot down by Erusean radicals. Avril and Rosa aid the LRSSG in evacuating both friendly military units and refugees from the island, and head to the ISEV to seek aid. The LRSSG arrives at the seceded state of Shilage in search of supplies, where Trigger duels and defeats Mihaly; after the battle, Mihaly asks Trigger to end the drone threat.
Schroeder and Avril's group both arrive at the ISEV. When Schroeder prepares to upload Mihaly's flight data, Ionela destroys the data upon learning of his intentions. It is revealed that Schroeder was a Belkan, once part of a powerful country whose leaders destroyed their own infrastructure with nuclear weapons rather than admit defeat. Schroeder was part of a long-standing legacy of Belkans who wanted revenge for the loss of their country and did this by forcing the nations that defeated them into needless conflicts, using his own drone program and Mihaly's combat data to create a force capable of crushing Osea.[c] Disillusioned by the destruction his program had caused, Schroeder agrees to help Avril in taking down the factories but reveals that the data had already been uploaded to two advanced drones, nicknamed Hugin and Munin.
An Osean-Erusean coalition assaults the ISEV with the intention of seizing it from Erusean radicals. Rosa and Avril sabotage the ISEV and disable its microwave power transmissions, allowing Trigger to attack and destroy the remaining Arsenal Bird. However, Hugin and Munin suddenly arrive and repel the coalition, intending to complete the data transmission and prolong the war. The next morning, Trigger leads a counterattack on the ISEV and shoots down one of the drones, but the other escapes into an undersea tunnel. Trigger and Count follow the drone into the tunnel, and Trigger manages to destroy it and the signal repeaters to prevent the broadcast and end the war. A later cutscene reveals that peace has returned to Usea, with Cossette leading the post-war peace movement.
In the DLC missions, set in-between an attack on Erusean missile bases and the Battle of Farbanti, the LRSSG is assigned to capture the Alicorn, a massive Erusean submersible aviation cruiser armed with a rail cannon firing nuclear artillery shells, and its commander, Captain Matias Torres. After failing to apprehend the submarine, the LRSSG discovers that the Alicorn has defected from the Erusean Navy, and Torres intends to attack the Osean capital with nuclear shells smuggled onto the Alicorn, killing millions and terrorizing Osea into ending the war. After utilizing sonobuoys and a magnetic anomaly detector to locate the Alicorn, the LRSSG forces it to the surface and engages it in a protracted battle, eventually destroying the submarine and killing Torres, ending their threat to Osea.
In the VR mode of the game, Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies's protagonist, Mobius 1, engages in combat against the Free Erusea terrorist group in 2014, five years prior to the events of the main game. This storyline occurs separately from the main plot.
Development and release
Despite lackluster reviews, Ace Combat Infinity for the PlayStation 3 was a surprise hit for the veteran fans, commercial interest in the series by Namco Bandai was renewed and prompted internal development team Project Aces to develop a true sequel for the first time since Ace Combat 6 for the Xbox 360. Originally set to be released in 2017,[2][3] Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on January 18, 2019, and was released for Microsoft Windows on February 1.[4] The game also features special missions in virtual reality, which is exclusive to PlayStation VR. Two-player local multiplayer was rumored to have been included, but was not present in the final game. The game is the first of the series to use Unreal Engine 4.[5] Pre-orders for the game came with digital copies of Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War for the PlayStation 4, and Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation on the Xbox One.[6] The game also features post-release downloadable content that adds new aircraft and missions.[7]
Reception
Aggregator | Score |
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Metacritic | (PC) 78/100[8] (PS4) 80/100[9] (XONE) 79/100[10] |
Publication | Score |
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Eurogamer | 8/10[11] |
Famitsu | 35/40[12] |
Game Informer | 8/10[13] |
GameRevolution | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
GameSpot | 8/10[15] |
IGN | 7/10[16] |
Forbes | 9/10[17] |
Ace Combat 7 received "generally favorable reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic.[8][9][10]
In Japan, the game sold 202,379 copies for the PlayStation 4 during its first week,[18] and has sold 286,570 units as of March 2019.[19] In Southeast Asia, the game sold over 500,000 units within a month.[20] In the United Kingdom, it had the highest debut sales in the series, entering the charts second overall.[21] By July 2020, Ace Combat 7 had sold over two million units, marking a major commercial milestone for the franchise since Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies in 2002.[22] As of January 2021[update], the game had sold over 2.5 million units worldwide,[23] surpassing Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies to become the franchise's best-selling title.[24] As of August 2021, the game has sold over 3 million units in total.[25]
Awards
Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
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2019 | CEDEC Awards | Sound | Won | [26] |
2019 Golden Joystick Awards | Best VR/AR Game | Nominated | [27] |
Notes
- ^ Japanese: エースコンバット7 スカイズ アンノウン, Hepburn: Ēsu Konbatto Sebun: Sukaizu An'nōn
- ^ A railgun array previously featured in Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies, built to disintegrate incoming asteroids.
- ^ As depicted in Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War.
References
- ^ @PROJECT_ACES (5 December 2015). "Welcome back to the Strangereal! [kanno]" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Butterworth, Scott. "Ace Combat 7 Coming Exclusively to PlayStation 4". GameSpot. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- ^ Osborn, Alex (16 May 2017). "Ace Combat 7 Delayed to 2018". IGN. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- ^ Sato. "Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Takes Off On January 18 Release On PS4 And Xbox One". Siliconera. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
- ^ Palumbo, Alessio (December 8, 2015). "Ace Combat 7 Trailer Was Fully Real-time;Development At 20%". wccftech.com. WCCFTech. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
- ^ Lai, Pearl (September 18, 2018). "Ace Combat 7: Pre-Order to Get Free Ace Combat 5, PS4 Theme and More". PlayStation Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
- ^ Romano, Sal (17 July 2019). "Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown DLC 'Operation Sighthound' launches this fall". Gematsu. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
- ^ a b "Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown for PC". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
- ^ a b "Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown for PlayStation 4 reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
- ^ a b "Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown for Xbox One reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
- ^ Savino, Antonio (18 January 2019). "Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown - recensione". Eurogamer (in Italian). Retrieved 21 March 2019.
- ^ "Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1571". Gematsu. 9 January 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
- ^ Reiner, Andrew (17 January 2019). "Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Review – A Worthy Throwback". Game Informer. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
- ^ "Ace Combat 7 Review | Aces high". GameRevolution. 30 January 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
- ^ Tran, Edmond (29 January 2019). "Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Review - Smooth Flying". GameSpot. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
- ^ Epstein, Mike (17 January 2019). "Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Review". IGN. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
- ^ Barder, Ollie (26 January 2019). "'Ace Combat 7' Review: It's Time To Return To The Intense World Of Strangereal Flight Combat". Forbes. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
- ^ Ressler, Karen (23 January 2019). "Japan's Video Game Rankings, January 14–20". Anime News Network. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
- ^ "Game Search". Game Data Library (Famitsu sales data). Retrieved 21 March 2019.
- ^ Sato. "Ace Combat 7 Takes Off To Surpass 500,000 Units Shipped In Asia". Siliconera. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
- ^ Tailby, Stephen (21 January 2019). "UK Sales Charts: Ace Combat 7 Flies High with Biggest UK Launch for the Series". Push Square.
- ^ Moyse, Chris (1 July 2020). "Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown hits two million shipments and digital sales milestone". Destructoid. Enthusiast Gaming. Archived from the original on 6 July 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
- ^ "Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown '2nd Anniversary Update' launches January 19, sales top 2.5 million". Gematsu. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
- ^ "Ace Combat 7 Skies Unknown Tops 2.5 Million Sales, Is Best-Selling Game In Series". PlayStation Universe. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
Skies Unknown managed to top the previous best-selling title, Ace Combat [04]: Shattered Skies, to be crowned the series' biggest-selling title.
- ^ "New Ace Combat Game in Development as AC7 Has Shipped Over 3 Million Copies; New Content Announced". Twinfinite. 2021-08-18. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
- ^ ""CEDEC AWARDS 2019"各部門の最優秀賞が発表。ゲームデザイン部門は『Nintendo Labo』開発チームが受賞【CEDEC 2019】". Famitsu (in Japanese). 5 September 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
- ^ Tailby, Stephen (20 September 2019). "Days Gone Rides Off with Three Nominations in This Year's Golden Joystick Awards". Push Square. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
External links
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