New GBA shooter: Ace Combat Advance

[VNAF Ace]

Ace Combat Advance

The PlayStation series is coming to the Game Boy Advance later this month. Here's our hands-on impressions.

By Craig Harris

February 4, 2005 - What started out as a PlayStation-exclusive series has trickled its way into the hands of Game Boy Advance gamers. Namco's Ace Combat franchise will be shipping in just a few weeks for the GBA platform, and before the game hits shelves, we though we'd update you on its progress with a hands-on look at the near final product.

Though Namco has usually taken the Ace Combat series internally for the console, for the Game Boy Advance edition Namco commissioned out the title to Human Soft, previously responsible for THQ's Jimmy Neutron vs. Jimmy Negatron game...among other titles. The Ace Combat series is known for its in-the-cockpit, arcade-over-simulation-style gameplay, for the Game Boy Advance edition the developers went with a much different approach.

In Ace Combat Advance, players fly their choice of as many as ten different aircraft in several missions of dogfighting and bombing action. Instead of having full control over the plane, though, players simply move at a set altitude around the environments from a top-down perspective, occasionally dipping down to ground level to avoid incoming enemies and enemy fire, as well as get up close and personal with some ground targets that need to be taken out. This top-down viewpoint puts to use the GBA's "Mode 7" effects, maneuvering the terrain around the plane as players zoom through enemy territory. The effect is very, very similar to the old-school Namco arcade game, Assault, with players controlling a tank in a fully rotating and scaling environment. The problem with this perspective is that the view ahead of the craft is extremely limited due to the GBA's widescreen proportions. When an enemy pops into sight, it doesn't leave a whole lot of time to react.

Ace Combat Advance a much more straightforward design that doesn't allow for what people will expect out of the Ace Combat series, instead taking the name and putting it to use in a throwback to old-school arcade gaming. But at the very least, the developers are utilizing the GBA's strengths for the game's design, rather than trying to push the system in a direction it was never meant to go simply to produce a more "accurate" Ace Combat experience.

We'll have a full review of the game when Ace Combat Advance ships in just a few weeks. Click on the media links below to check out some snazzy screens and video of the game in action on the GBA.

http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/585/585538p1.html

[crithit5000]

Yeah, this was posted in the last forum. Turns out the game isn't a full on proper shmup, notice the radar in the screenshots?

[dementia]

It looks a LOT like Konami's Air Force Delta for GBA

...which wasn't a shmup

[Thunder Force]

The topic in the old forum about this was moved to Off-Topic. For consistency this gets the same

[TWITCHDOCTOR]

It looks to me like a crossbreed of "Raid on Bungling Bay" meets the "Strike" (helicopter) series.

A perfectly good quality company milking a name for all its worth.
People will actually buy it because its "ACE COMBAT"....well, actually, its not!