Review
Played on: Xbox Series XReleased: 2007 (Xbox 360)
In the early years of the Xbox 360, Namco went all-in to support the console with their famous franchises. Two noticeable releases were Ridge Racer 6, review here, and Ace Combat 6. While RR6 visually didn't stick out in the racing genre, AC6 sported some incredibly visuals for an arcade-based flight combat title and really caught my attention.
I still remember being blown away with the trailer prior to the game's release, back when downloading a trailer was a thing. There was a playable demo of it too, further building my hype. When it finally launched, I was super impressed by the visuals of the first level; blasting your jet fighter through clouds over a dense city with lots of buildings on a detailed ground texture. not to mention the sheer number of aircraft in the sky.
In hindsight, it's an overshadowed title. Partially blamed on it being an Xbox 360 exclusive, which probably dampened sales and annoyed people that only stick to Sony hardware. I feel it's heavily overlooked and unfairly so, because of this. People skipping this entry are missing out on one the best experiences in the franchise. In a way it's the PS2 masterpieces on steroids.
Let's ready up Garuda 1 and take a closer look!
As usual for the series, the story is once again an anti-war narrative. It's daringly presented in real-time with the game engine, impressive considering the rather detailed characters. As a result, the cutscenes are organically cohesive with the rest of the visuals.
The actual story though, is AC6's weakest point. It's no worse in its premise than earlier AC titles, but it's cringeworthy in its deliverance. There's a repeated line of "let's dance with the angels", first delivered by the child of the main character Melissa, and it feels forcefully put into every cutscenes thereafter. The deliverance of the voice actors isn't exactly great either with long awkward pauses, a typical trait for many Japanese releases.
That said, the story does its job and delivers some thoughtful and melancholic moments, ticking off the right boxes for the AC fanbase; Melissa is the wife of a fighter pilot, telling her story of how war arrives in her country. She becomes a refugee and must go on a journey to find her daughter, which is a strong emotional impression.
The star of the show, however, is the presentation during combat missions. With filmatic camera work and lots of effects, highlighting how detailed the graphics are. What makes it shine is the vast size of the battlefield you fly above. There's a massive jump in draw distance and target numbers from the PS2 trilogy, with individual smoke lines from aircraft and rockets flying everywhere in front of you. The sheer number of enemies and air traffic in the introduction mission alone helps ground the fact that the jump from sixth gen to seventh consoles was significant.
Furthermore, most of the missions are split in three attack approaches, key to giving the sensation of a dynamic battlefield. During the pre-flight briefings you choose which one you'd like to take part in. One part of the battlefield may be about gaining air superiority over enemy fighters, or recapturing an airbase, which neatly can be used to land on for a restock of weapons after, or another may be supporting a ground attack in a mountain area where acquiring targets can be tricky. Completing these goals results in the battlefield moving further into the map with new targets, it's a fantastic way of keeping the missions large and lengthy.
You're not stuck with the attack approach you chose at the beginning either; you can fly off to any of the other ones and help out there. It helps make the battlefield dynamic and shows progress as you push back the enemy. It's great for replay value and the way it changes your objectives if you decide to fly to another attack area feels like a massive step up from the linearity of the earlier games.
Just like Ace Combat Zero the wingmen can be tasked to aid in battle; either to battle on their own, together with the player on one specific target, cover your back or force them to use their special weapons. There's a smaller selection of aircraft this time around, but there are special weapons to buy and unlock for each one. Making it a reachable goal without too many replays to get them all. If you're fast and effective on the large battlefields, you can rack up substantial amounts of points quickly.
In addition to online multiplayer deathmatches, there's are a handful of coop missions too, which are great fun. They add a new dimension to the franchise, once again reminding me that a full campaign with coop is something the franchise desperately needs. Luckily, these missions fill some of that void. The key is to choose different aircraft types for each player; one player focuses on air targets the other the ground ones for maximum coverage to take on the enemy. They even have a cool distortion effect on the players voices, sounding like you're in an aircraft!
Visually, AC6 is stunning from the get-go, perhaps best summarised in the opening mission over a bay city, with a large bridge. The clouds are large and volumetric, allowing you to fly through and feel the lack of visibility as you pass through them. Explosions look great, spiced up with lots of small effects like fire, particles and sparks adding to the impression as you blow up an enemy aircraft close by.
With lots of 3D ground detail sticking up from the map with buildings, tons of targets to engage and smoke trails going everywhere. The whole package in visuals is massive step up from earlier releases and statement to Namco's work on the Xbox 360 hardware.
Although the series steps down from a 60fps on the PS2 to 30fps, it's asharp and responsive, regardless. Perhaps the Series X I played on does some magic to the response of the controller. I've also played AC7 on the same system, and while I always prefer 60fps, it's not a fast game or genre that explicitly feels too different with it. Plus, AC7 is heavier motion blurred wiping out some of the clarity. It's incredible to see how tall AC6 stands next to AC7, twelve years later.
Although the series steps down from a 60fps on the PS2 to 30fps, it's asharp and responsive, regardless. Perhaps the Series X I played on does some magic to the response of the controller. I've also played AC7 on the same system, and while I always prefer 60fps, it's not a fast game or genre that explicitly feels too different with it. Plus, AC7 is heavier motion blurred wiping out some of the clarity. It's incredible to see how tall AC6 stands next to AC7, twelve years later.
The downside to this older release is the 720p resolution with minimal amounts of anti-aliasing, resulting in some rough and shimmery edges that stick out, especially in the cutscenes. It's one of those titles that would've looked amazing in backwards compatibility with a 4K resolution bump!
Outside of the graphics I remember one of the things that hit me back in the day when playing this, and even more so now on a more powerful sound setup, are the impact of explosions and the sound of shattering glass when you pass by an exploding aircraft. The usage of surround and cool effects to depict aircraft sounds and explosions is excellent. Soundtrack is memorable too, albeit following the traditional sound of the franchise which I suspect the fanbase enjoys more than me.
Outside of the graphics I remember one of the things that hit me back in the day when playing this, and even more so now on a more powerful sound setup, are the impact of explosions and the sound of shattering glass when you pass by an exploding aircraft. The usage of surround and cool effects to depict aircraft sounds and explosions is excellent. Soundtrack is memorable too, albeit following the traditional sound of the franchise which I suspect the fanbase enjoys more than me.
While the story is indeed a weak side, which I don't really care about in a flight combat title, the overall package of AC6 is fantastic. It's probably my next favourite in the franchise with AC5 above it on top. The visual splendour, large dynamic battlefields and excellent usage of effects all come together as a one of the best experiences you can have in the franchise.
It's amazing to see how Namco's Project Aces team have taken all the great aspects of the PS2 "holy trinity" of AC titles and put it on steroids. On more powerful hardware it not only excels in visuals, but it also takes usage of the power to depict massive aerial battles, great visuals effects and just a crazy amount of stuff going on screen which AC7 simply doesn't match.
If you haven't played it yet, now is a time to pick up a physical copy and play it in your Xbox 360, Xbox One or Xbox Series X as it requires a disc. This one is a seriously overlooked entry to the franchise to what I'm guessing the platform of exclusivity has resulted in it. Fix that now and play it before it becomes rare!
