Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy+
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Critics Recommend
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy+ Media
Critic Reviews for Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy+
If you had low expectations for this one, let them be lifted -- this is a surprising hit of a game. Namco's still got room to improve here, and hopefully a future sequel will add a greater wealth of single-player missions and some multiplayer modes to this foundation. But Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy is truly impressive just as it is, and it deserves the attention of any Nintendo fans who've either always been curious about this series or just love flying through the sky to blow stuff up.
A tidy tester for your New 3DS' excellent head-tracking 3D, but there's too little for old hands to grasp onto. Even if you're a first timer flyer it's hardly a direct hit.
Fans of the Ace Combat series are destined to be disappointed with Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy+. Aside from some small control additions and swanky new amiibo support, the aerial combat game is largely unchanged from Bandai Namco Games' initial 3DS release in 2011. The flying itself is decent, and greatly enhanced by the game's outstanding soundtrack, but ultimately Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy+ feels like nothing more than a poorly-disguised cash-grab.
Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy+ is a minor and slightly cheeky update - despite Nintendo planes and amiibo support it's certainly not worth a double dip for those with the original. It does serve as a handy reminder to those that ignored it first-time around, however, and it's an entertaining arcade experience that does its job as throwaway action fun. It's the sort of title that one can revisit every once in a while, just to fly through the skies and pretend it's the '80s and that Top Gun is cool. Often silly but always enjoyable, it's certainly worth some air miles for new recruits.
Legacy is a fun game, but it is limited and dated. The mechanics are decent, although you will come to rely on the maneuver button more than a flying game should, and it ends up taking away from the gameplay a bit. Despite the decent use of the 3D, the game does not make good use of the 3DS' hardware, and as a result Legacy feels primitive by modern standards.
Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy Plus is an enjoyable and engaging entry in the series, and in the combat flight-sim genre. For returning players however there is very little new content here to warrant a purchase, unless you're absolutely desperate to pilot a Samus Aran airplane in a fictional war. For those new to the title who are looking for something slightly different to go with their New 3DS, there's a lot to recommend here, though it sadly all feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy+ is a great way for Ace veterans to relive a classic on the go, provided that they didn't already buy the original release in 2011. There's just not enough here for entice anyone to double-dip or shell out the full price if you aren't a sim-junkie. While the publisher should be chided for releasing an iteration as rushed as this, they are lucky that the core package was already decent to begin with.
