Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception

"Great flight simulator for PSP"

Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception is a great game all around. The story is great, as well as many game play aspects. One of the greatest things is the amount of unlockables. There are many aircraft, parts, weapons, and colors to unlock throughout the game. ACX is also challenging, unlike many flight sims today which seem like just locking onto an enemy, firing, and watching it blow up. In this game, your enemies are smart enough to dodge your missiles. The game's time period takes place in the near future, so you will get original aircraft, as well as the modern fighters of today.

The game doesn't have a great BGM (its mostly techno-dance-type music), but most of the game makes up for it. An unfortunate part of the game is that there are so many features, the limited number of buttons on the PSP will have to double-up on the controls. In fact, there are still some things I have not figured out how to do because of this. A main setback for me was that I couldn't change views with the PSP controls, but you actually have to pause the game to choose the HUD, 3rd person, or cockpit views of the game. Also, if you are a 3rd person player (like myself), you will not like the fact the some planes (like the F4E Phantom you start out with) will take up about half the screen, thus cutting down a major portion of your view. Most people will favor 3rd person view, because on most planes, the cockpit view is very, very, very obstructed, and the HUD view makes you feel like you have much less control over the plane.

This game outplays most other games in it's genre. It has clear objectives, and is not just the repetitive "lock on, shoot, repeat" type of thing you often get in the flight sims. It is also not so incredibly challenging that it is impossible to beat, even on easy. I would reccomend skipping the easy difficulty as it's unlockables are limited, and first beat it on the medium difficulty.

Another great feature of Ace Combat X, is that you pick a mission path. This means you don't always have the same missions on all playthroughs. It is great to change them up. There are also some hidden stages that you need to do certain missions in a certain orders to unlock. There is also a free play mode to play previously unlocked missions, so you dont always play campaign mode. Also, whenever you start a new game, you take all your planes, colors, parts, and all your other unlocked items with you, so you never need to worry about deleting a "good save game".

That just about raps it up for Ace Combat X. All in all it is a good game, with just a few minor let downs. I would highly reccomend buying it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/04/07