What I Hated
1) No VR Support For PC
Wouldn’t you want to try dogfighting in VR? Thankfully, you can do just that in Skies Unknown…provided you’re a PlayStation 4 owner. While there are five VR missions built-in, they are unfortunately exclusive to PSVR. Nobody likes platform exclusive content. And we’re not talking about cosmetic skins here, this is a whole bonus mode. Oculus Rift and Vive are two major markets, so it’s a bit questionable as to why Bandai Namco would deny PC players from getting the full Ace Combat experience.
2) Useless Teammates
Very quickly into the campaign, you’ll realize that, while there’s always an entire squadron of teammates flying around and supposedly covering your back, they actually do nothing to help. These teammates don’t require saving nor do they hinder you, but they also don’t do any damage to enemies. Their presence is purely cosmetic. This leads to unintentionally funny occasions in which a high-priority target shows up, and everybody in the unit acknowledges it, yet it is down to you and only you to take down the threat. I get it, the protagonist is an ace pilot, but this is a war – do I really have to do everything myself?
3) Checkpoints
Mission failures come with a heavy price. Skies Unknown’s checkpoints are sparse, so sparse that should you fail, you will often have to replay the last ten to fifteen minutes. When missions are twenty to thirty minutes long, this is a big problem. You essentially have to replay half the mission. This is not only frustrating, but incredibly demoralizing. At certain points, I was ready to throw down my controller and give up. One mission took me over an hour to complete because I kept clipping the edges of buildings. Granted, that’s due to my own skills, but a better checkpoint system certainly would do no harm.
Enjoying Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown? Let us know what you liked and disliked in the comments.