Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown

Gameplay

Like the rest of the Ace Combat series, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown forgoes a realistic flight model in favor of faster, arcade-like gameplay to increase its accessibility to newer players. The player can also choose Novice or Expert control settings; the latter enables the player to execute realistic aircraft maneuvers such as rolls, high-G turns, and Cobra maneuvers. The game features 28 different aircraft, with an additional nine as downloadable content and the F-4E Phantom II offered as a pre-order bonus. As with previous entries in the series, most of the aircraft are licensed from real-world manufacturers, although a set of fictional superplanes are also included. Several aircraft in the game make their series debut, such as various members of the Su-30 family, as well as upgraded versions of older aircraft like the Gripen E and A-10C Thunderbolt II.

Players earn an in-game currency, "Military Result Points," via gameplay to purchase additional aircraft and equipment through a tech tree. The player begins the game with the F-16C, and is able to unlock the MiG-21 and F-104C Starfighter after the fourth single-player mission without using MRP, with the F-22A Raptor, Su-57, and the fictional X-02S Strike Wyvern as top-tier aircraft in the tech tree. Each aircraft is equipped with standard missiles for both air-to-air and air-to-ground warfare, as well as another special weapon. Special weapons, including anti-ship missiles and laser weapons, are used to boost an aircraft's ability to carry out air-to-air or air-to-ground attacks. Equipment purchased may also be used to boost the performance of the aircraft beyond its base performance, such as higher-spec engine or airframe parts to enhance its speed and survivability respectively. Only eight upgrades may be applied at any time, weight limitations limit the number of a specific type of upgrade that can be applied (e.g. limit to number of simultaneous applicable airframe parts), and certain upgrades are only usable in the multiplayer mode, while others are only available in the game's singleplayer mode.

For the first time in the series, clouds interfere with aircraft, hindering the player's vision and targeting systems when passing through them and rendering laser weapons ineffective due to refraction. In addition, aircraft briefly ice up and stall after staying in clouds for too long, and lightning strikes temporarily disrupt controls and sensors. Each aircraft also carries a limited supply of flares that can be deployed to evade missiles in critical situations.

During the single-player campaign, players complete a series of combat missions that tell the in-game story. Players are given an in-game briefing prior to a combat mission, where they are informed of success parameters, expected opposition, terrain features, and weather conditions using a 3D map display. Players complete missions by destroying various air and surface targets, as well as accomplishing specific mission targets (e.g. destroying in-flight IRBMs). AI-controlled wingmen accompany the player through the mission, providing exposition and potentially shooting down enemy planes for the player. Over the course of the single-player campaign, the player may choose to engage in additional minigames, such as in-flight refueling or landing. These minigames can be skipped, but reward small amounts of MRP for completion.

Multiplayer

The player may choose to play in the multiplayer mode regardless of any progress made in the single-player campaign. The multi-player mode comprises the Team Deathmatch and Battle Royale modes. Both modes are PvP, where players shoot down enemy aircraft to earn points against a timer. The two modes differ in that Team Deathmatch involves two teams of two to four players each, whereas Battle Royale is a free-for-all mode. Shooting down top-scoring players and players using higher-tier aircraft confers more points than shooting down worse-performing or lower-tier players. If a player's aircraft is destroyed, they respawn after a few seconds. When the time limit is reached, the team or player with the greatest score is declared the winner.

Synopsis

Setting

Ace Combat 7 is set in the series' fictional universe of Strangereal, where Earth has entirely different nations, geography, and history. The game's story details the 2019 Lighthouse War, fought between the Osean Federation and the Kingdom of Erusea in the continent of Usea. Following the Continental War, Osea brokered a peace treaty between the Federal Republic of Erusea and the rest of the Usean continent, while the International Union (IUN) formed a Peacekeeping Force (IUN-PKF) for the continent. In 2011, Erusea restored its monarchy ruled by the D'Elise royal family, while former Osean president Vincent Harling ordered the construction of the International Space Elevator (ISEV), a space elevator and communications tower used to convert atmospheric energy into energy, off the coast of western Usea near Erusea. The ISEV is protected by two massive Osean flying-wing airborne aircraft carrier drones known as Arsenal Birds named Liberty and Justice, carrying a large number of combat drones, advanced weaponry, and force fields, and receiving their power via microwave transmission from the ISEV. Though Harling framed the ISEV as promoting a lasting peace, Erusea perceived it as a symbol of Osean imperialism that infringed on Erusean sovereignty, with these resentments ultimately sparking the Lighthouse War.

Players control the game's silent protagonist, Osean fighter pilot "Trigger". The game's frame story is told through pre-rendered cutscenes played between missions, primarily from the point of view of three characters: Avril Mead, an Osean aircraft mechanic and penal laborer sent to work for Spare Squadron, an Osean penal military unit; Rosa Cossette D'Elise, the princess and heir of the Erusean throne; and Dr. Schroeder, a Belkan scientist developing advanced combat drone technology for the Erusean military.

Plot

Rising tensions between Osea and Erusea culminate when Erusea launches a surprise attack on Osea and captures much of the Usean continent, including the ISEV and both Arsenal Birds, with former Osean president Vincent Harling still in the ISEV. During an engagement between an Osean fighter and an Erusean drone, Avril, flying a refurbished F-104C Starfighter, is shot down in the crossfire, arrested for breaching wartime aviation laws, and transferred to the Osean 444th Air Base, a military prison disguised as an air base, as a mechanic.

Trigger, part of an Osean IUN-PKF squadron in eastern Usea, engages Erusean forces, but the IUN-PKF suffers heavy losses to the Arsenal Bird Liberty and Erusean ace Mihaly A. Shilage, who provides flight data to Dr. Schroeder's drone program. Trigger leads a mission to extract Harling from the ISEV, but an Osean air-to-air missile strikes Harling's rescue aircraft, killing him. Trigger is accused of firing the missile, deemed guilty by court-martial, and transferred to Spare Squadron. Considered expendable, Spare Squadron is sent on dangerous near-suicide missions to probe Erusea's drone defenses for weak points, frequently losing members in the process. Trigger encounters Mihaly again and dogfights him to a standstill, impressing Mihaly before he withdraws. For their commendable performance alongside Trigger, Spare Squadron is pardoned and transferred with the 444th to Tyler Island, while Trigger and his wingman Count are recruited by Osea's elite Long Range Strategic Strike Group (LRSSG). Osea and the IUN-PKF launch a counteroffensive against Erusea, destroying Liberty using the sole remaining "Stonehenge" railgun and liberating most of Usea. Meanwhile, Princess Cossette, who initially promoted anti-Osean sentiment, becomes disillusioned with the war.

Osea assaults and captures the Erusean capital of Farbanti, while Trigger duels Mihaly again over the city, but they are interrupted when Osean and Erusean anti-satellite weapons cause a collisional cascade that sparks a catastrophic global communications blackout. In the chaos, Erusea loses control over its AI-controlled drone fleet and collapses into a civil war between conservatives and radicals seeking to end and prolong the war respectively; Osean penal units go rogue; Mihaly flees to Shilage, a seceding Erusean state of which he is the heir to the throne; Dr. Schroeder travels to the ISEV to upload Mihaly's flight data to a new generation of advanced Erusean combat drones produced in automated factories; and the LRSSG is cut off from command and forced to operate independently. The LRSSG attempts to extract an Erusean conservative informant, who reveals Harling was killed by an Erusean drone that spoofed Osean IFF signals, but he is mistakenly killed by Osean forces who misidentify his extraction aircraft due to post-blackout IFF failures.

Development

Despite lackluster reviews, Ace Combat Infinity for the PlayStation 3 was a surprise hit for veteran fans, and commercial interest in the series by Bandai Namco was renewed, prompting internal development team Project Aces to develop a true sequel, the first mainline Ace Combat game since 2007's Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation for the Xbox 360.

Due to the original Ace Combat engine being in a state of limbo since the release of Infinity, Bandai Namco decided that rather than incur the costs of building a new Ace Combat engine from the ground up, Skies Unknown would be the first game in the franchise to be built on Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4. "trueSky", an Unreal Engine plugin that generates realistic clouds, played a notable role in the game's development, being one of the first additions to the game.

Ace Combat 7's development process used "sandaibanashi", a rakugo storytelling technique using three subjects; for Ace Combat 7, the subjects Project Aces used were "space elevator", "princess", and "three-dimensional cloud". A teaser trailer shown at PlayStation Experience 2015, a very early impression of the game created before development properly began, prominently featured all three subjects. Ace Combat series producer Kazutoki Kono told the development team the elements of the teaser had to appear in the game, and declined a suggestion that the teaser simply be a "product impression". The game was developed by Project Aces and Bandai Namco Studios Singapore, which used a "Western style" of development and organization compared to Project Aces' "Japanese style", resulting in a cultural gap that both teams had to overcome. Development was assisted by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, who offered technical advisors and aircraft information.

A significant amount of work went into the game's virtual reality mode, exclusive to PlayStation VR. Initially, the entire campaign was intended to be VR-compatible, and all of the game's cutscenes were created with VR compatibility to the point of audio post-production; however, they were canceled because of framerate issues with the PlayStation 4 and the difficulties in making VR missions, which were created separately from campaign missions. Ultimately, only three VR missions were added to the game, following a storyline separate to the main campaign; three more missions were planned but were not released. Much work also went into the game's sound effects and music, with the game's soundtrack by series composer Keiki Kobayashi.

Release

Ace Combat 7 was officially announced by Bandai Namco during PlayStation Experience in December 2015. Originally set to be released in 2017, the game's release was eventually delayed to 2018, before finally being released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on January 18, 2019, and for Windows on February 1. Preorders for the game came with digital copies of Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War for the PlayStation 4, and Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation on the Xbox One. The game was also released on the Nintendo Switch on July 11, 2024, making this game the first installment of the series to be available on a Nintendo home console, not counting the series' spiritual spin-off The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces, released on the Wii.

Ace Combat 7 features post-release downloadable content that adds new aircraft, missions, roundels, squadron markings, and paint schemes. The earliest of these DLCs will be included for free in the Switch version. On May 26, 2022, DLC adding content from Top Gun: Maverick, (which was released the following day) was released.

Reception

Ace Combat 7 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received strong approval, being recommended by 79% of critics.

Famitsu magazine gave Ace Combat 7 a rating of 35/40, the highest of those reviewed in issue 1571. Digital Foundry's John Linneman recommended the game as a return to form of the Ace Combat series, and praised its gameplay, graphics, music, plot, and VR mode, deeming it an "absolute must-play". Forbes contributor Ollie Barder gave the game a 9/10, saying "while it can be a demanding game at times, it is definitely a rewarding one", though he lamented the limited scope of the VR compatibility and opined that the inclusion of only three VR missions did not justify buying PlayStation VR.

Eurogamer.it's Antonio Savino, Game Informer's Andrew Reiner, GameSpot's Edmond Tran, and GameRevolution's Jason Faulkner each gave Ace Combat 7 a rating of 8/10. Savino highlighted the game's graphics, sound, and music, though he noted that due to a lack of a "fairly convincing blur effect", things often felt "still", even at high speeds. Reiner highlighted its gameplay, sound, and presentation, but criticized the uneventful multiplayer experience and the campaign's "preposterous" plot, calling it "a Fast and the Furious story that is trying to be touching and serious, but it just doesn't mesh". Tran praised the game as marking the series' return to form as well as its gameplay and VR experience, but noted the campaign had "tedious" missions with sparse checkpoints. Faulkner said the game had a "great story" with excellent graphics and a replayable multiplayer mode, though he lamented the absence of features from previous titles such as wingman commands or branching campaign missions, criticized the game's design as being "a bit too safe", and noted the VR mode lacked motion sickness safeguards, making it difficult to play through, though he added that it was worth it.

IGN's Mike Epstein rated the game 7/10, approving of the graphics and overall gameplay experience, but criticizing its odd mission pacing, "convoluted" story with lengthy and unavoidable exposition, "poor communication of objectives", and "confusing controls", with his overall verdict stating that "It's enough to prove that there's room for the [Ace Combat] series to make a comeback, though this game will be not the one to jumpstart it.

Sales

In Japan, Ace Combat 7 sold 202,379 units for the PlayStation 4 during its first week, and sold 286,570 units by March 2019. In Southeast Asia, the game sold over 500,000 units within a month. In the United Kingdom, it had the highest debut sales in the series, entering the charts at second place overall.

By July 2020, Ace Combat 7 had sold over two million units, marking it a major commercial milestone for the franchise since Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies in 2002. By January 2021, the game had sold over 2.5 million units worldwide, surpassing Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies to become the franchise's best-selling title. The game continued to reach further sales milestones: over four million units by November 2022, over five million units by November 2023, and over six million units by January 2025.