Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy
North American box art
Developer(s)	Access Games
Publisher(s)	Namco Bandai Games
Composer(s)	Go Shiina Tetsukazu Nakanishi Ryo Watanabe Rio Hamamoto Tetsuya Uchida Kazuhiro Nakamura Akihiko Ishikawa Wataru Hokoyama
Series	Ace Combat
Platform(s)	Nintendo 3DS
Release	Original version NA: November 15, 2011 EU: December 2, 2011 JP: January 12, 2012 Plus version JP: January 29, 2015 NA: February 10, 2015 EU: February 13, 2015
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Single-player

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy, released as Ace Combat 3D: Cross Rumble (エースコンバット 3D クロスランブル, Ēsu Konbatto Surī Dī Kurosu Ranburu) in Japan, is an action video game for the Nintendo 3DS, developed by Access Games and published by Namco Bandai Games and a remake of Ace Combat 2. First impressions of the game were released by the Official Nintendo Magazine in July 2011 and were also leaked by IGN in the same month. Despite the game's international title outside Japan, it is not a direct sequel to the Ace Combat: Assault Horizon and has little relation to that game. The original Japanese version features compatibility with the Circle Pad Pro accessory.

The enhanced version, Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy + (エースコンバット 3D クロスランブル ＋) was released in Japan on January 29, 2015, with added support for Amiibo figures, as well as updated control handling for the New Nintendo 3DS. It was also released in North America and Europe in February 2015.

Plot

The plot is fleshed out from Ace Combat 2. Fearful of being caught in the saber rattling between the Osean Federation and Union of Yuktobanian Republics four years after the events of the Belkan War, the nations of the Usean continent agree to unite and form a third-force alliance. However, countries in southern Usea consider joining the Osean Federation after it offers to sign a military treaty with them. The other countries in Usea object to this move, but the southern nations press ahead with the treaty. Conservative military personnel in these countries engineer a coup on the day of the treaty signing, and even military forces in the other Usean nations join the rebellion. In danger of total collapse, the Usean government executes an offensive codenamed Operation Fighter's Honor, with the Special Tactical Fighter Squadron Scarface leading the attack.

Since the game is a remake, it features additional aircraft not previously seen in Ace Combat 2 such as the Boeing F-15SE Silent Eagle and fifth-generation jet fighters like the Sukhoi PAK FA, the latter of which previously appeared in Assault Horizon.

Reception

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy received generally positive reviews, with Metacritic tallying up to a 71 out of 100 (from 37 reviews) and GameRankings 72.28% out of 25 reviews. Nintendo Power awarded the game a score of 7.5 out of 10, stating "Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy may not be a beefy adventure, but because virtually everything that's great about Namco Bandai's long-running series is present here, it's well worth playing." IGN awarded it an 8.0, praising it for "beautiful environments" and impressive 3D effects, but criticized it for a short campaign and lack of multiplayer.