Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown

War is bad but planes are rad

Top Gun: Maverick brought me here!

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STALL WARNING
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CAUTION - PULL UP
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AMMUNITION ZERO
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10/10

So Ace Combat 7
As you can probably guess already, it's the seventh main line title of the Ace Combat franchise and the first numbered game to release on PC.
So first things first, if you expect a realistic depiction of flying a fighter, look somewhere else, this is an arcade flight game.
The most accurate comparison i can think of (and this is not by coincidence) imagine the Topgun movies, in a different universe that is somewhat based on earth, but as a game.
The graphics are absolutely stunning, while the plane models might look low res at first, there are guides to get high res textures. The weather effects are absolutely beautiful.
Regarding the music/sounddesign: It is AMAZING, the OST is among the best i've ever heard in a game (as is kinda expected from Ace Combat).
The singleplayer is fun and provides a range of difficulties for every skill level, the missions offer a wide range of variety and some even unique (and annoying) mechanics. Apart from the main campaign there are a ton of challenges to complete.
Regarding the multiplayer - uhrg, how to put this mildly - it's "interesting". Don't get me wrong you can have a blast in multiplayer but it lacks one major thing in my opinion and that is skill based matchmaking. The skill differences in the lobbies can be massive (ranging from a guy that literally just started the game to a veteran with 300+ hours of experience). The multiplayer has a high skill ceiling and harsh learning curve, that being said, once you find a lobby with similar/equal to your skill level (or someone who is willing to teach you to improve) it's some of the best fun you can get.
Now for the DLC, at the time of me writing this there are 21 listed DLC according to the store page.
The thing thats important to recognize, these 21 include packs of planes that are also individually listed (so you can buy individual planes instead of buying the whole pack), there are the Season Pass and 3 plane packs with 3 planes each and the topgun dlc with 6 (but really only 4) planes.
The first one i want to talk about is the season pass: its a definite by in my opinion, since it comes with 3 planes (raven, falken, morgan) and the 3 DLC missions (which are among the best missions in the whole game).
The next are the Aircraft sets:
- The first set of 3 planes i want to talk about is included in the season pass and includes the ADFX-01 Morgan (known from Ace Combat Zero), the ADF-01 Falken and the ADF-11F Raven. Overall a solid pack, especially if you get it with the season pass.
- The Original Aircraft Set: I would like to call this the "fanservice" pack, it brings some of the most famous original aircraft designs of previous games into AC7. It contains the ASF-X Shinden II, the XFA-27 and the CFA-44 Nosferatu. While especially the CFA got nerfed compared to the AC6 version, i would still recommend at least getting the XFA-27 (its one of the most versatile planes in the game), and if you like them the CFA and Shinden (Shinden really got a bad weapons loadout for singleplayer so i would say if you want to skip one of them, skip out on the Shinden).
- The Experimental Aircraft Set: It includes the F16XL, the F15 S/MTD and the FB22. While the F15 is above average in multiplayer, i cant honestly recommend getting that pack. You dont really need bombers (ground attackers) in AC7, and esp. not worse ones than are available in basegame (looking at you f16xl), the fb22 is okey'ish, barly getting a passing mark.
- The Cutting-Edge Aircraft Set: Again a more average pack, all 3 planes are "alright", nothing stellar. Definitely not a first buy DLC.
- Now to the odd one out, the Topgun DLC (spoilers since the movie just released): As already mentioned it contains 6 Aircraft, but honestly only 4. It contains F14A (a different Tomcat version than in the basegame) and a F18E (Super Hornet), and for both of them a FAR superior "TGM" (TopGun Movie) version with better stats. These four are fine, esp the topgun versions are decent mid tier planes. The other two missing planes are the Darkstar and the "5th gen fighter" which is basically just a reskinned su57 with different weapons. The "5th gen" is nothing spectacular, as mentioned its a paper cutout of the basegame SU57, similar if not the same stats but different weapons.
NOW the Darkstar. BOOOOOI the Darkstar. Easily the most overpowered DLC plane released for AC7, and probably responsible for single handedly breaking multiplayer from this point onwards. It's the fastest plane by a HUGE margin, has a brilliant weapon loadout and is decently mobile. If you either want to totally ruin lobbies in multiplayer or make singleplayer look like a joke, get this pack for the Darkstar alone.
So after all this, would i recommend AC7? If you look for a great singleplayer game with replayabiltiy and an AMAZING soundtrack - yeah go for it. If you look for a competitive multiplayer experience, while you can find likeminded people that enjoy fighting and teaching new players, i cant honestly recommend getting AC7 only for the multiplayer aspect. It is fun for getting in a private lobby with your friends and just screwing around but open lobbies are incredibly hit or miss.

Everyone gangsta until the background starts chanting Latin.

War is bad but planes are rad

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