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Ace Combat X : Skies of DeceptionReviewed by
Norman Canseco
Your call sign is Gryphus 1 and it’s up to you to secure the skies of Aurelia and defend attacks from the Leasath Republic. Take to the skies in one of 40 different aircraft in a variety of air-air and air-ground missions. Do you have what it takes to be an Ace? Aurelia is counting on you. Many fans have been waiting for a portable version of this excellent flight sim. Namco Bandai answers the numerous requests with Skies of Deception. This portable installment offers a few new features that were not available on the console versions. Along with the traditional solo ace flying adventure Namco Bandai has added a customizable aircraft mode where planes can be modified with new parts such as wings, radar, missiles, and engines. Being a portable version, a versus mode is now available without split screen for up to four players. Sadly the translation of an 8+ button game to a 6-button title has made flight control rather confusing. Pilots must point in the general direction with analog stick then fine tune with the d-pad. This makes the player switch from analog to digital while still trying to maintain a weapons lock on their targets. The game tends to run a bit slow compared to the latest version available on console Ace Combat Zero. Screenshots (click image to enlarge) :
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Ace Combat was probably one of the best flight simulation games on console, mainly due to its great play control. The game utilized the full-function of the Playstation 2’s analog control and 8 buttons for intricate handling. Although, sadly, the port from console to handheld took away a lot of the free movement, the game does offer a lot of what fans have been looking for: upgradeable aircraft, more futuristic and concept planes, and multiplayer versus modes. The PSP controls took away a lot of the attention by adding a huge learning curve, so if this is your first experience with the Ace Combat series, then you haven’t experienced the series at all.
