Up & away with Ace Combat: Assault Horizon

“If the pilot leaves the plane, you leave the plane”, says Claude Gravelle in his matter of fact Gallic timbre outside one of Beauvais airport’s hangars. The heart’s of the assembled journalists each skipping a beat as he goes on to describe how such a mid-air evacuation might take place. The almost unnecessary elaboration: “Unbuckle the blue harness, stand up, jump, wait five seconds, pull the chute chord,” not particularly serving to quell the nerves of the would-be Fouga Magister passengers.

We are here as part of a preview event for the upcoming Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, an aerial combat game which continues Namco Bandai’s long running series. In the game of course there are all manner of planes and helicopters on offer; F-35B Lightning IIs, F-22 Raptors, Black Hawk helicopters, the list goes on. Thankfully the Fouga jet we’re due to go up in doesn’t go quite as fast as the supersonic jets available in-game, not that anyone here present is complaining about that.

Morale hits something of a low as the first journalist upon landing staggers from the cockpit, whiter than a sheet and with a suspiciously full looking sickbag in hand – the location of which was the main point drummed into us during Claude’s earlier instruction. “When you pull out the bag it will be upside down, remember … rotate it.” Further eyebrows are raised when this first victim runs immediately to the loo before collapsing – what have we let ourselves in for?

Thankfully, once my turn comes along, the situation has taken a turn for the better, with most others coming back shaken, but not particularly stirred. So, with a little trepidation but no major concerns, I get into the co-pilots seat and am soon hurtling through the sky.

“This is better than a videogame, huh?” I hear over the jet’s comms as the pilot dive bombs an innocent farmer’s field while screaming “ta-ta-ta, ta-ta-ta” – his impression of a machine gun run. I would have to agree, but as we climb into yet another loop-the-loop which turns into a barrel roll, the extra four Gs start to take their toll and my fingers start to tingle through a lack of circulation; I’m inclined to think that on balance the video game alternative is a less demanding alternative afer all.

We land and I stagger back to the hangar, suitably impressed with myself that I at least didn’t have to reach for the sickbag and eager to get back up into the virtual skies. Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is on sale from 14th October and is available on all major platforms. Visit acecombat.namcobandaigames.com for more information.

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