Ace Combat: Infinity Gets New Trailer, Screenshots

[StewShearerOld]

Ace Combat: Infinity Gets New Trailer, Screenshots


With its September 25th release looming, Namco Bandai has released a new trailer for Ace Combat: Infinity.

Back in July, Namco Bandai <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126156-Ace-Combat-Infinity-Bringing-Free-to-Play-Fighter-Combat-to-PSN>announced that it would be bringing Ace Combat: Infinity, the latest iteration of its long-running fighter combat franchise, exclusively to the PlayStation Network on September 25th. With the release date approaching, the publisher has taken to showing off the game a bit more, first with a <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7Jslz4M-rE>second teaser in August, and now with a third trailer and a new gallery of screenshots.

[gallery=1739]

Whereas past trailers showed off a bit of Infinity's story, the new trailer focuses in on some of the game's online co-op missions. As you might expect, it pretty much looks like a bunch of decently detailed fighter craft zooming around and blowing the living tar out of each other, which is pretty much our definition of a good time. It all looks fast-paced and fun and, assuming the game is actually good, should do a nice job of scratching any high-octane aerial combat itches you might have.


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[piinyouri]

Dayum, that looks purdy.

Sadly the last plane combat game I played was Mig-29 back on the NES so I'd be slaughtered in a game like this.

 

[Rufus Shinra]

Thank God! Big, absolutely unrealistic, air battleships for us to fight! Ace Combat seems to go back to its roots and this'll be AWESOME! None of that crappy, badly-written, "techno-thriller" feel we had from AC:AH

 

[Random berk]

Thank God! Big, absolutely unrealistic, air battleships for us to fight! Ace Combat seems to go back to its roots and this'll be AWESOME! None of that crappy, badly-written, "techno-thriller" feel we had from AC:AH

I too completely support this idea. Ace Combat on the ps2 and psp (the consoles I played them on) were utterly ridiculous in concept and would make pilots like my dad scowl in contempt, but they were beautiful, extremely fun, and even had a pleasant if rather generic story. Assault Horizon though was CoD in the sky. (I know that 'CoD, but in...' is way overused when it comes to slagging games, but I think it fits here.) Before, the battles actually flowed, and when you were in the zone you actually felt like a superhuman fighter ace. Now with that shitty dogfight mode, sequences where your plane just zips along a railroad at blinding speeds with your face jammed up your prey's afterburners, and -grr!- enemies that can't be damaged unless you use the machine gun on them for no other reason than the game's flimsy attempts at creating drama, Ace Combat feels like a chore to play. I really, really hope they drop as much of that nonsense as possible this time.

 

[Rufus Shinra]

Thank God! Big, absolutely unrealistic, air battleships for us to fight! Ace Combat seems to go back to its roots and this'll be AWESOME! None of that crappy, badly-written, "techno-thriller" feel we had from AC:AH

I too completely support this idea. Ace Combat on the ps2 and psp (the consoles I played them on) were utterly ridiculous in concept and would make pilots like my dad scowl in contempt, but they were beautiful, extremely fun, and even had a pleasant if rather generic story. Assault Horizon though was CoD in the sky. (I know that 'CoD, but in...' is way overused when it comes to slagging games, but I think it fits here.) Before, the battles actually flowed, and when you were in the zone you actually felt like a superhuman fighter ace. Now with that shitty dogfight mode, sequences where your plane just zips along a railroad at blinding speeds with your face jammed up your prey's afterburners, and -grr!- enemies that can't be damaged unless you use the machine gun on them for no other reason than the game's flimsy attempts at creating drama, Ace Combat feels like a chore to play. I really, really hope they drop as much of that nonsense as possible this time.

Just a nitpick here: the Ace Combat games in PS2 were actually well-written and IMHO, Ace Combat 5 (The Unsung War) is one of the best examples of what you should try to do as an author when balancing the various parts of a story. The scenario may not be as complex as Games of Thrones or something like that, but every part fits in perfectly, allowing a feeling of completeness I very rarely saw anywhere else. The time between the various climaxes, their respective intensities, the presence of a good introduction and conclusion to the story are an example I frequently give to other people in order for them to make their stories more engaging.

To that you have to add the wonderful musics, which are often superb to hear, and, most importantly in the 5, the feeling that you are not fighting this war alone, that you are only one among many, many other unsung heroes. Who here who has played this game forgot the cop who raced desperately in pursuit of the Yuktobanian commando to stop them from escaping after deploying chemical weapons in his city? Or the airport staff in a state of near panick, trying to redirect inbound flights and evacuate civilian passengers when their airport came under surprise attack? Or the crewmen of the fleet attacked in port? Or the Space Center engineers?

AC5 was not Journey or something like that, but Namco managed to do something really wonderful then, and even if I liked AH for the multiplayer's gameplay, I totally concur with your appreciation: it was CoD, and the single-player was awfully written.

 

[SilkySkyKitten]

What's this? None of that "press button to turn the game into an on-rails shooter" nonsense from Assault Horizon?

Alright, game, you've got one thing done right. Now go back to being set in Strangereal and I might consider playing you.

 

[RicoADF]

Looking good sofar, as others above have said it seems to be capturing the AC feeling which is great, I want to see another amazing AC (last one I played was Balklin war since I only had playstation, now trying to find AC6 on xbox360. Assault Horizon was such a let down, gameplay aside the whole story wasn't what I wanted in an AC game. I want to see Osea and Yukabania (spelling?).

 

[Rufus Shinra]

What's this? None of that "press button to turn the game into an on-rails shooter" nonsense from Assault Horizon?

Alright, game, you've got one thing done right. Now go back to being set in Strangereal and I might consider playing you.

Well, there are mega-airships, so it's one step closer to Strangereal.

 

[gigastar]

I seriously do not have words for describing how much i want to sink my talons into a proper Ace Combat game again.

Well, i guess an AC game without SP isnt "proper", but i advocate co-op multiplayer so ill let it slide.

Maybe ill try to track down a copy of AC4 while im at it too.

 

[Random berk]

Thank God! Big, absolutely unrealistic, air battleships for us to fight! Ace Combat seems to go back to its roots and this'll be AWESOME! None of that crappy, badly-written, "techno-thriller" feel we had from AC:AH

I too completely support this idea. Ace Combat on the ps2 and psp (the consoles I played them on) were utterly ridiculous in concept and would make pilots like my dad scowl in contempt, but they were beautiful, extremely fun, and even had a pleasant if rather generic story. Assault Horizon though was CoD in the sky. (I know that 'CoD, but in...' is way overused when it comes to slagging games, but I think it fits here.) Before, the battles actually flowed, and when you were in the zone you actually felt like a superhuman fighter ace. Now with that shitty dogfight mode, sequences where your plane just zips along a railroad at blinding speeds with your face jammed up your prey's afterburners, and -grr!- enemies that can't be damaged unless you use the machine gun on them for no other reason than the game's flimsy attempts at creating drama, Ace Combat feels like a chore to play. I really, really hope they drop as much of that nonsense as possible this time.

Just a nitpick here: the Ace Combat games in PS2 were actually well-written and IMHO, Ace Combat 5 (The Unsung War) is one of the best examples of what you should try to do as an author when balancing the various parts of a story. The scenario may not be as complex as Games of Thrones or something like that, but every part fits in perfectly, allowing a feeling of completeness I very rarely saw anywhere else. The time between the various climaxes, their respective intensities, the presence of a good introduction and conclusion to the story are an example I frequently give to other people in order for them to make their stories more engaging.

To that you have to add the wonderful musics, which are often superb to hear, and, most importantly in the 5, the feeling that you are not fighting this war alone, that you are only one among many, many other unsung heroes. Who here who has played this game forgot the cop who raced desperately in pursuit of the Yuktobanian commando to stop them from escaping after deploying chemical weapons in his city? Or the airport staff in a state of near panick, trying to redirect inbound flights and evacuate civilian passengers when their airport came under surprise attack? Or the crewmen of the fleet attacked in port? Or the Space Center engineers?

AC5 was not Journey or something like that, but Namco managed to do something really wonderful then, and even if I liked AH for the multiplayer's gameplay, I totally concur with your appreciation: it was CoD, and the single-player was awfully written.

Certainly they were well written, the story was well structured. Even so they were utterly ridiculous from the point of realism (planes just do not do the kind of things they can do in AC games) but then, I've played lots of games with great stories that didn't exactly follow the laws of physics religiously. And the impossibly large flying air bases and jet fighters that can fly through narrow canyons and even underground tunnels for more than half a second without turning into a horrifying ball of fire and death certainly didn't take away from the game like Assault Horizon's aforementioned bullshit did.

Unfortunately I can't agree with your examples from AC5 as I never played it. In fact, the only ones that I was ever able to get hold of were The Belkan War and Skies of Deception. I remember when Fires of Liberation came out, but I didn't have a console at the time. Even so, I still remember the music and most of the main events of The Belkan War, and yeah. It had every awesome thing that you describe.

 

[NiPah]

God this game looks great, it's a shame the little voice in my head is telling me it'll be a free to play game with a multi-hundred price tag to get all the jets. I could be wrong, but looking at the pricing structure of past AC games for DLC (and those were already full priced games) and I'm quite worried.

 

[thethird0611]

Well darn, its a playstation exclusive. But you know, if they kept the same 'combat mode', im ok with that. It took a lot of fun out of dogfights.

But the Gyges is making a return?

http://acecombat.wikia.com/wiki/Gyges

Gosh, I remember trying to fly through the hanger of that thing. It was great in Co-op mode though, unlike the huge cannon, that one kindaaaaa sucked.

 

[Ishal]

I seriously do not have words for describing how much i want to sink my talons into a proper Ace Combat game again.

Well, i guess an AC game without SP isnt "proper", but i advocate co-op multiplayer so ill let it slide.

Maybe ill try to track down a copy of AC4 while im at it too.

I recommend it. Highly recommend it. Superb game, and there are going to be elements from AC4 in this. Stonehenge for one, and the music in that trailer was a remix from this song. It even looked like the level was in there too. You and a bunch of other pilots defend a rocket launch site so your country can launch a satellite into orbit. All while fighting a huge number of enemy planes.


The co-op fighting the big set piece battles from previous games is going to be fun. I can't wait to play this.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Thank God! Big, absolutely unrealistic, air battleships for us to fight! Ace Combat seems to go back to its roots and this'll be AWESOME! None of that crappy, badly-written, "techno-thriller" feel we had from AC:AH

I too completely support this idea. Ace Combat on the ps2 and psp (the consoles I played them on) were utterly ridiculous in concept and would make pilots like my dad scowl in contempt, but they were beautiful, extremely fun, and even had a pleasant if rather generic story. Assault Horizon though was CoD in the sky. (I know that 'CoD, but in...' is way overused when it comes to slagging games, but I think it fits here.) Before, the battles actually flowed, and when you were in the zone you actually felt like a superhuman fighter ace. Now with that shitty dogfight mode, sequences where your plane just zips along a railroad at blinding speeds with your face jammed up your prey's afterburners, and -grr!- enemies that can't be damaged unless you use the machine gun on them for no other reason than the game's flimsy attempts at creating drama, Ace Combat feels like a chore to play. I really, really hope they drop as much of that nonsense as possible this time.

I am with you two here... back to the roots will be awesome! I hear Stonehenge from AC4 will be making a return too, which makes me happy! Although apparently it is set in the real world again... I prefered the Strangereal world! It was much better having the steryotypes working to nations that didn't exist!

 

[Ishal]

Thank God! Big, absolutely unrealistic, air battleships for us to fight! Ace Combat seems to go back to its roots and this'll be AWESOME! None of that crappy, badly-written, "techno-thriller" feel we had from AC:AH

I too completely support this idea. Ace Combat on the ps2 and psp (the consoles I played them on) were utterly ridiculous in concept and would make pilots like my dad scowl in contempt, but they were beautiful, extremely fun, and even had a pleasant if rather generic story. Assault Horizon though was CoD in the sky. (I know that 'CoD, but in...' is way overused when it comes to slagging games, but I think it fits here.) Before, the battles actually flowed, and when you were in the zone you actually felt like a superhuman fighter ace. Now with that shitty dogfight mode, sequences where your plane just zips along a railroad at blinding speeds with your face jammed up your prey's afterburners, and -grr!- enemies that can't be damaged unless you use the machine gun on them for no other reason than the game's flimsy attempts at creating drama, Ace Combat feels like a chore to play. I really, really hope they drop as much of that nonsense as possible this time.

I am with you two here... back to the roots will be awesome! I hear Stonehenge from AC4 will be making a return too, which makes me happy! Although apparently it is set in the real world again... I prefered the Strangereal world! It was much better having the steryotypes working to nations that didn't exist!

I think it's going to be in and out of Strangereal. The main story might be in the real world, but the co-op stuff sounds like its going to be having stuff from some of the old Ace Combat games. AC4 and AC6 bosses will be in it for sure, and I bet there will be enemy ace squadron boss battles. I'd be very surprised if you we didn't end up fighting Yellow Squadron at some point.

 

[gigastar]

I recommend it. Highly recommend it.

I know, reason why i held off this long is because last time i tried a game this old on my PS3 (Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy) the results were catastropic failure.

Actually fuck it. If it works, I win. If it doesnt, then them only £3 out of pocket and ive finally completed my PS2 collection.

 

[Rufus Shinra]

Certainly they were well written, the story was well structured. Even so they were utterly ridiculous from the point of realism (planes just do not do the kind of things they can do in AC games) but then, I've played lots of games with great stories that didn't exactly follow the laws of physics religiously. And the impossibly large flying air bases and jet fighters that can fly through narrow canyons and even underground tunnels for more than half a second without turning into a horrifying ball of fire and death certainly didn't take away from the game like Assault Horizon's aforementioned bullshit did.

Amen. This is an arcade game where your planes are carrying dozens of missiles with range and agility pitifuly low compared to real-life. But here, as we probably agree, it's the tool used to tell the story. And this makes being in Strangereal rather than in the real world even more important. After all, the real world was shaped in part by the performance and the cost of modern weapons, and trying to push the Strangereal rules into our world ends with something that instantly breaks your suspension of disbelief. I mean, there's one of the PSP games that happens in the real world. It has the PS2 mechanics, with sky fortresses and everything, but I always want to call bullshit on the scenario because every time I see the real world cities or hear about real countries, I can't stop thinking about "WTF, man, the guys launching these attacks have mysteriously invested dozens if not hundred of billions into this strike to do such a pitiful result?" or "With the technology involved to build those giant airships, these guys could have simply gone legal and became world-class businessmen ruling legally entire countries!".

Unfortunately I can't agree with your examples from AC5 as I never played it. In fact, the only ones that I was ever able to get hold of were The Belkan War and Skies of Deception. I remember when Fires of Liberation came out, but I didn't have a console at the time. Even so, I still remember the music and most of the main events of The Belkan War, and yeah. It had every awesome thing that you describe.

I remember one quote from a game magazine that explained the main difference between the Metal Gear series and the then-new Splinter Cell series (at the beginning of the series, so it may have changed since). The quote went along something like: "in most games, the story serves the action, while in great games, the action serves the story".

In Assault Horizon, the story was there to justify the idiotic battles. In the PS2 games, the gameplay was there to serve the story of modern-times knights (in the case of The Belkan War). About Belkan War, there is the mission Diapason, where you free your capital. When I play it, I am everytime overwhelmed with emotion, because they caught perfectly the theme of the liberation of Paris (I'm French) in 1944, up to wonderful details like the churches' bells ringing, calling the entire population to rise as the liberators are coming. That's what I'm looking for: a good story, with great emotional moments in it. Every time I listen to this mission's music on my MP3, I am shivering because of everything associated with it.

And believe me on one thing: AC5 is as good if not better than Zero in the story pacing. The interaction between your various wingmen, the fluidity of the story, the actually important cutscenes... This game is all the way up there with Metal Gear Solid 3 in my heart as far as PS2 games go.

 

[Random berk]

Certainly they were well written, the story was well structured. Even so they were utterly ridiculous from the point of realism (planes just do not do the kind of things they can do in AC games) but then, I've played lots of games with great stories that didn't exactly follow the laws of physics religiously. And the impossibly large flying air bases and jet fighters that can fly through narrow canyons and even underground tunnels for more than half a second without turning into a horrifying ball of fire and death certainly didn't take away from the game like Assault Horizon's aforementioned bullshit did.

Amen. This is an arcade game where your planes are carrying dozens of missiles with range and agility pitifuly low compared to real-life. But here, as we probably agree, it's the tool used to tell the story. And this makes being in Strangereal rather than in the real world even more important. After all, the real world was shaped in part by the performance and the cost of modern weapons, and trying to push the Strangereal rules into our world ends with something that instantly breaks your suspension of disbelief. I mean, there's one of the PSP games that happens in the real world. It has the PS2 mechanics, with sky fortresses and everything, but I always want to call bullshit on the scenario because every time I see the real world cities or hear about real countries, I can't stop thinking about "WTF, man, the guys launching these attacks have mysteriously invested dozens if not hundred of billions into this strike to do such a pitiful result?" or "With the technology involved to build those giant airships, these guys could have simply gone legal and became world-class businessmen ruling legally entire countries!".

Unfortunately I can't agree with your examples from AC5 as I never played it. In fact, the only ones that I was ever able to get hold of were The Belkan War and Skies of Deception. I remember when Fires of Liberation came out, but I didn't have a console at the time. Even so, I still remember the music and most of the main events of The Belkan War, and yeah. It had every awesome thing that you describe.

I remember one quote from a game magazine that explained the main difference between the Metal Gear series and the then-new Splinter Cell series (at the beginning of the series, so it may have changed since). The quote went along something like: "in most games, the story serves the action, while in great games, the action serves the story".

In Assault Horizon, the story was there to justify the idiotic battles. In the PS2 games, the gameplay was there to serve the story of modern-times knights (in the case of The Belkan War). About Belkan War, there is the mission Diapason, where you free your capital. When I play it, I am everytime overwhelmed with emotion, because they caught perfectly the theme of the liberation of Paris (I'm French) in 1944, up to wonderful details like the churches' bells ringing, calling the entire population to rise as the liberators are coming. That's what I'm looking for: a good story, with great emotional moments in it. Every time I listen to this mission's music on my MP3, I am shivering because of everything associated with it.

And believe me on one thing: AC5 is as good if not better than Zero in the story pacing. The interaction between your various wingmen, the fluidity of the story, the actually important cutscenes... This game is all the way up there with Metal Gear Solid 3 in my heart as far as PS2 games go.

A friend of mine was saying something a while back about being able to download a lot of old games from PS2 and Xbox on Xbox Live. Do you know what the story with that is? If it's possible I might have a look and see if I can get The Belkan War to replay it, and take a look for AC5 as well. I'm not sure if it's just bullshit though, because I've never seen any such games while browsing the games marketplace.

 

[Rufus Shinra]

A friend of mine was saying something a while back about being able to download a lot of old games from PS2 and Xbox on Xbox Live. Do you know what the story with that is? If it's possible I might have a look and see if I can get The Belkan War to replay it, and take a look for AC5 as well. I'm not sure if it's just bullshit though, because I've never seen any such games while browsing the games marketplace.

Sorry, no idea about that. But my guess would be that you'd need an PS2 emulator on your 360, and I doubt there's a legal one on it, otherwise MS would have told the entire planet about it, given the awesome game library for the PS2. It's probably bullshit, although I guess that some extensive modification of the system could make it work, but even then, you'd have to have an emulator specifically designed to get from the PS2 to the 360... nah, too much work for an awfully tiny market, so it's probably not existing. Although the game is really worth taking some time to look up for a setup able to play it.

 

[Random berk]

A friend of mine was saying something a while back about being able to download a lot of old games from PS2 and Xbox on Xbox Live. Do you know what the story with that is? If it's possible I might have a look and see if I can get The Belkan War to replay it, and take a look for AC5 as well. I'm not sure if it's just bullshit though, because I've never seen any such games while browsing the games marketplace.

Sorry, no idea about that. But my guess would be that you'd need an PS2 emulator on your 360, and I doubt there's a legal one on it, otherwise MS would have told the entire planet about it, given the awesome game library for the PS2. It's probably bullshit, although I guess that some extensive modification of the system could make it work, but even then, you'd have to have an emulator specifically designed to get from the PS2 to the 360... nah, too much work for an awfully tiny market, so it's probably not existing. Although the game is really worth taking some time to look up for a setup able to play it.

I asked him about it again and no, apparently he was talking about the ps3. It's a shame.:\ I'd consider getting an old ps2 again, but I think I only have two or three of my old games left, and I don't think The Belkan War is even one of them. I don't really play games enough any more to justify the purchase.