In 1995, Air Combat—the first true Ace Combat entry—was released upon the gaming world. Here, we witnessed a new level of air combat—fitting for the name in hindsight—that showed us what simulation/arcade airplane games could do. Air Combat wouldn’t be the last title in the franchise as the series changed its name to Ace Combat and continued to release titles ever since. Now in 2019, we have reached the newest Ace Combat game called Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown and despite the numerous delays it got—mostly due to adding VR—the wait has finally ended. Has the long wait been worth it? We review Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown below so just scroll down to see our opinions on it.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is a flight simulation title with arcade-like elements. Players will man various air ready vehicles to hunt down enemy AI in a lengthy campaign. Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown also contains a VR mode with several mission that allow you to take to the skies as you enter the cockpit with a feeling unseen before in an Ace Combat title. Multiplayer also returns allowing players to engage in dogfights and see who truly owns the skies!

A new war named the Second Usean Continental War has begun in 2019. With both federations vying for air superiority the combat in the skies has become harsher than ever before. New pilots must rise up to show they are the true owners of the skies and you’re about to enter one of them. Dubbed Trigger, you will be thrust into the open airs to battle for the Osean Air Defense Force to defeat the Erusea threat. However, with new weapons in their arsenal, this battle will be nothing like you’ve ever seen before. Enter a new war in Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.

We’ve played the gambit of Ace Combat games here at Honey’s Anime. Each title has truly impressed us by building upon the strengths and weaknesses from the past title. While some titles have done better than others, our favorite Ace Combat still is the 5th main entry in the series. However, with how much this latest entry has been hyped up, we think that maybe Ace Combat has found its perfected entry. Let’s see if our hopes were realized as we review Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown for the PS4.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown throws players into another war that honestly, you won’t dwell on too much. We’ll make this statement: the story in Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown isn’t anything noteworthy or even something you’ll care about. All you need to know is a familiar enemy returns with new tech that threatens your country and you must take them down. Often, you’ll want to skip the story segments—even though they are beautifully animated—to get right back into the action. Luckily, this is the only element you’ll probably dislike about Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. Everything from here onward will be us praising this amazing title and the reasons why we believe those praises are worthy.

First, the gameplay for Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown has truly been redefined and polished. Planes control realistically—even on the normal setting—and allow players to soar through the skies as if they are aces themselves. For our review, we nabbed a flight stick—the Thrustmaster 4—and found ourselves truly getting immersed in air combat. Dog fights, with or without the flight stick, feel intense and only get more heart pounding as the story progresses. Amp the difficulty up and you’ll be whizzing past missed missiles and gun bullets constantly smiling every second that passes. The main game will take you a solid amount of time to beat with dozens of missions to dive into and some will most likely take you a few tries to conquer them.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown also offers an added VR mode where we experienced quite possibly the best VR feeling ever on the PS4. Donning the PSVR headset, we entered the cockpit and immediately a feeling of being elevated and in an aircraft took us over. Then when we lifted off the feeling intensified to levels that took our breaths away. Dog fights took on a whole new reality as we felt our faces pushes against the virtual canopy of the plane and we felt the G-force as if we were truly in the plane trying to take down the enemy. Though this immersion comes with a bit of a side effect folks…motion sickness on a whole new level. Even if you consider someone with an iron stomach, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown will test you. In our minds though, it was 100% worth almost puking as VR mode—despite how short it was—is another game all of its own.

Finally, we need to look at the stunning visuals. We mentioned earlier that while the story mode is lackluster, its animation was immaculate. The same can be said of the gameplay graphics which are just awesome. As you soar through clouds your canopy gets covered by rain and when you blow a plane out of the air you’ll see the parts fly off and sometimes nearly collide into you! The ground graphics don’t stack up as well but you’re rarely going to be near the ground—which makes sense—so we forgive those lack luster graphics. Planes have terrific visuals with truly lifelike details. Migs to the F14s look like their real world counterparts and even some new planes—which are still in development phases—look as if they could be launched into modern society. Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown looks incredible and you’ll be amazed how far the series has come since its earlier PS1 days.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown follows the same themes as past installments and doesn’t radically change much from the Ace Combat formula. Yet, this decision works for Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown as we think of it like fine tuning an already perfect guitar. With the strongest visuals of the series, perfect gameplay controls and wonderful soundtrack, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is a near masterpiece for the franchise. Add easily the best VR experience we’ve ever seen here at Honey’s Anime and you just have to stand in awe at what Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown delivers to fans and newcomers alike. While the story mode might still be a bit melodramatic and the VR will get even the strongest stomachs turning—seriously be prepared by not eating before playing— Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is what we consider the best of the series without a doubt in our minds. You owe it to yourself to pick up Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown as soon as you can if you love arcade flight simulators or just want to experience how an aerial game should be made. Great job Bandai Namco Games, you made us want to be pilots once again.

In conclusion, folks; buy Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown! We often leave our final verdicts to just recap what we wrote about above but we honestly just want people to experience what we did while playing Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. The VR might make you want to run to the bathroom and relive your dinner again but it is also the most immersive virtual reality title we’ve played as we soared in the skies like we literally were ace pilots. Outside the VR, the base game does the exact same thing but with more missions and overall content. Are you going to be purchasing Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown? Comment below why or why not as we want to hear from all of our lovely readers! For more gaming articles, reviews and of course, anime related goodness; be sure to keep stuck to our hive here at Honey’s Anime.