Aces High

I've been a big fan of Namco's Ace Combat series ever since I quite randomly saw a trailer for the fifth entry behind the counter of the Gamestation in Edinburgh. So much so that, when they announced that they were making the sixth one (or rather, seventh) a 360 exclusive, I knew I had found my Killer App. Oh sure, the 360 has a number of games that interested me, but nothing that jumped out and said Must Buy! - but with Ace6, the existing number of interesting games already on the shelf, and many more on the horizon, there was finally enough reason to grit my teeth, pick a side and head into the trenches of Next Gen Format War VII.

It's been a very long time since I've spent so long on a single game that I've unlocked everything (I think the last was the first Guitar Hero), but here was a game that I couldn't put down. I fully planned to sit and play through Mass Effect during my three weeks holiday - and yet, with just a week left, it's still sitting there, sealed. Instead, I've been beavering away at getting all the planes, all the colours, the special gamerpic that unlocks when you finish the game on the hardest difficulty, and all the medals - some of which are utterly insane. Among them, you have to finish the campaign using only the machine gun, get S ranks in all missions on the hardest difficulty, and (my personal favourite for sadism) finish the campaign without taking any damage. But, it's the first game in ages that I've genuinely enjoyed playing through these six/seven/ten times, because no playthough need be the same, thanks to the dynamic mission structure (I'm not going to preach the virtues of this game here; if you're interested, go read one of the many reviews online, or try the demo on Live).

It's not perfect, though, and there are a great many things I'd like to see done differently in the inevitable Ace7, particularly around multiplayer. For one, include more than two co-op multiplayer missions! While the missions in question are tremendous fun, even with complete strangers, there's no question in my mind that this is one area that Project Aces really could have expanded on. No doubt we'll see DLC in future, but as it stands, it's just laziness. Likewise, the Vs modes (particularly Team Battle) are immense fun, especially with a full 16-players going at it - but problems arise in not only finding a game, but waiting until enough players have joined. The interface is cumbersome, hosts can't change settings after setting up a match, and the online Achievements are utterly insane (win each mode 200 times!).

I'd be interested in seeing just how many people are still playing this in six months time, but as it stands, it's not bad for a first attempt. Let's just hope Project Aces take a few things on board when making Ace Combat 7. When I'll have to get a PS3.