Digital Foundry Compares Ace Combat 7 PC and Console Versions

Thanks Alpha o7

Love me Ace Combat, few more days get to play an all new one ^.^

Hopefully in a few months it gets strapped into an all new AMD <3 system as well.

 

There's an excellent modder known as "Kaldaien" (I think - could be slightly misspelled) that is known for adding graphics and other fixes to TONS of PC games, notably those made by Japanese devs who are still sometimes locked in a console-style-settings mindset. He has a ton of tools for individual games with different names, but eventually he started releasing a unified package called "Special K" which includes fixes for everything from the Dark Souls and Tales Of series to Final Fantasy and other title.s

That said , I'm eager to check out Ace Combat 7. I have fond memories of the predecessor (and I used the ACE EDGE X360 flight stick for ages with my PC titles). It appears that 7 will be a true "mainline" series that takes place in the hypothetical nation-states of previous Ace Combat titles, as opposed to those like (Assault Horizon? The last one on PC) that were more realistic, Tom Clancy-esc knock-off in style.

Like many other Japanese developed titles, Ace Combat uses the fictitious setting to add just enough "Japanese cultural influence" (aka Japanese Weirdness, to some), to make it different from HAWX and its nice to get back to that. For instance, the storylines often use the tropes out of mecha genre ("Oh no! Its the super squadron of enemy aces that are notably better than you in every way, better run when you encounter them, for now." followed up by high-action "You did the rest of the mission perfectly, you can either go home or go after one of those guys from the Uber Squadron at huge risk to yourself and others...what will you choose?" ), you may fight a giant flying fortress, and more - its something like the same relationship between "Metal Gear series" versus "Splinter Cell" series, in tone. I can only hope they retain the Japanese audio this time, as in the past the dubs were pretty horrible, despite giving rise to memes and whatnot (ie "Go dance with the angels" )

 

Every time one of these games comes out I'm reminded that I would have made a miserable pilot.

 

Bit off topic but why does the plane "sag" to the corner of the screen in the chase view? Hoping for a more fixed AC4/5/Z style chase camera. Looks good but there is still some pop in but that is expected due to the engine being UE4. I'm amazed they were able to make it even viable. FPS/RPG engines are horrible for flight games due to the range/speed, but this doesn't look that bad. Performance seems to be pretty good as well.

 

75 percent rating from pcgamer.com fyi..........i trust there reviews imho

 

Prob gonna get for PS4 since I wanna play the VR missions.

 

I read it. Felt rushed (the review) and the reviewer seemed to complain that the story wasn't force fed to them. Complained about cut scenes and context for the stuff appearing on screen as if those are bad things. He seemed to summarize the meteor hit resulting geopolitical shifts which caused many of the conflicts in the story as a "big explosion, boring, just let me blowing something up already!!!!". Opinions and all that, but it seemed like a lazy review by a dullard who wanted non-stop Call of Duty explosions start to finish with zero thought behind the action. Ace Combat games are Japanese and they do have varying degrees of typical Japanese cheesy storytelling, but people seemed to praise Nier Automata and MGSV and those were equally bad as some previous Ace Combat games.

 

I would not necessarily make your decisions on that as it seems all consoles, especially the non-Pro variants, arent' really up to the task given the review; the PS models do seem better off than the Xbox of course. In addition, they have a season pass already scheduled and NamcoBandai has finally realized that content heavy DLC (ie DBFighterZ, Xenoverse 2 ) is worthwhile over just a bunch of crap packs. Given the demand and superior tech of VR on PC, I can imagine that the VR missions may be ported to PC to use the SteamVR style (Vive, Oculus etc..) hardwaare?

I personally wouldn't buy a title on a proprietary, lesser platform for 3 bonus missions (I may have felt different if the entire game was VR compliant) , especially with an equal or better platform should it come to PC. Then again, if you're already leaning to PS4 for other reasons it is a nice little bonus I suppose.

 

Was gonna be a day 1 purchase for me on PC, but now I’m waiting to see if we get ultrawide support. That’s an absolute deal breaker for me these days.

 

it would be a crime against humanity for this title not to support ultrawide

 

It's a pity it's delayed until the 31st on PC. Why do some developers feel the need to do this, are they that frightened of piracy? I doubt that ultrawide support will be added in the interim as nothing ever seems to get fixed.

 

To be fair most dev use Steam Survey to base their game, they test it extensively on that platform than add stuff if they want. Right now it's a 4 core CPU, 1060 and a resolution of 1080p.

 

For those interested in the game, ACG on Youtube has a thorough review as well.

 

It wasn't delayed but announced back when the release dates were finalized. Why is the PC coming later? No idea. It happens semi frequently. I suppose PC games may be a bit harder to optimize for and if you have a smaller team that isn't very experienced with PC releases they may need some extra time to polish it. I don't use ultra wide currently but hope they add support for it. I can't see how it would be difficult?

 

I don't want it just for the VR missions, that is just a plus. I do have a PS4 Pro though so it should run well.

 

Hopefullly Namco Bandai will at least patch an option for ultrawide. Though what I would love is a future patch for VR headset for multiplayer and campaign.