The series is most likely older than you, starting all the way back in ye golden years of 1995bombed to hell. With weighty controls
and constant peril, Skies Unknown
demands your complete attention if
you’re going to succeed. Switch off,
and the most painful of deaths await.
That’s mainly because Ace
Combat 7’s checkpoint system is
evil. Fail in any mission, and you’re
guaranteed at least five to ten
minutes of repeated tedium. In the
longest Annihilation battles, which
give you a rough 15-minute deadline
and ask you to hit a certain score,
failing at any point involves restarting
the entire level. In an objective that
may or may not have involved being
shot down with 20 seconds to go on
a 20-minute timer, I’ve come close to
putting my controller through my TV.
Yet even in its most frustrating
moments Skies Unknown gives you
opportunities at every turn. A skill
tree allows you to upgrade your
plane’s parts to improve missile
power, handling or manoeuvrability.
When defeat can be so dished out by
missing a rocket with milliseconds to
go, such in-depth customisation is as
welcome as an all-you-can-glug water
parade on the surface of the Sun.Player unknown
In spite of its supremely solid engine
and admirable tweaks, Ace Combat 7
remains a profoundly (and strangely)
boring game. While it should conjure
Tom Cruise fantasies, stuffy controls
and overly harsh penalties mean what
should be Top Fun ends up as a bit of
a Flop Gun. Decent multiplayer options
help, yet can’t distract from a game
that ultimately makes ludicrously fast
fighters more than a little bit boring.
Train Simulator Ultra Po-Faced Edition
2019 we could accept this from.
But a game intended to involve Top
Gun-rivalling action? That’s an entirely
different sad-faced story.
Unknown Skies is a decent game
in what’s a niche market. While it’snever going to do Halo or Gears Of
War numbers, at least it has made
concessions to win back lapsed fans.
If you can’t get enough cutting
through clouds and blasting enemy
bogies, there’s much to admire about
this polished flight sim. For the rest of
us terra firma-loving folk, the sky-high
thrills are a little too complicated and
cumbersome to enjoy fully. QPLANE PALS
The latest Ace
Combat features PVP
online action for the
most committed
pilots. Featuring both
team deathmatches
and a battle royale,
facing off against
human foes is even
more challenging
than the stressful
single-player
campaign. That said,
those who invest time
in the solo mode are
rewarded in
multiplayer, with your
single-player progress
carrying over to the
online action. To
ensure a level playing
field, Bandai Namco
has implemented
assigned values so
that no player gets an
unfair advantage.“Combat is
never short of
engaging, even if
some dogfights
feel unfair”
FAR LEFT Whether
it’s a tower or
an enemy, you
always have to
stay sharp-eyed,
soldier.
RIGHT The story
is overblown and
lays out the
tale between
human pilots
and drones.OXM VERDICT
Spectacular but
spotty, this
demanding sim
both fulfils and
frustrates.6
LEFT Click the
right stick and
a immediate
viewpoint awaits
you. Bring a
sick bag.More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 077REVIEW