The first and most obvious thing you’ll notice with this game is how majestically beautiful it is. The planes and locations look amazingly realistic and the aerial battlefield is strewn with the contours of the many jets in the sky, flashes of explosions and machine gun fire and the glimmer of enemy planes off in the distance as they rush towards your position. Ace Combat 6 is on par with the best flight sims the PC can throw at us, and to be honest, probably beats most of them in the graphics department. As for how the game sounds, it’s really not much different than what we’ve seen in the last few Ace Combat games in regard to sound effects. The game’s score, though, is as strong as it’s been since Ace Combat 04 and its impressive soundtrack. The music fits the tense situation of war well, adding to the atmosphere, but you probably will be so focused on just trying to stay alive that you won’t notice it.

Hopping online with AC6 isn’t too bad, and the experience is kind of fun. The various multiplayer modes available don’t seemed as fleshed out as they could have been, though. Having the support of up to 16 players in a single skirmish is a nice feature, and the team-based objective game is certainly acceptable, but it still feels like they could have added something more to the mix. And no, I don’t mean the mountain of downloadable content that Namco Bandai has graced us with, as nice as it all is.

Any true fan of the Ace Combat series cannot be let down by the series' seventh installment. Not since Ace Combat 04 has a console combat flight sim been this well-rounded and near-perfect. The game falls flat here and there, but those are really minor occassions, as the entire package is wonderfully done. Hopefully PS3 owners will one day get to experience this title, too, as it is a gaming experience worth having.

Pros: Looks stunningly beautiful. Almost every area of the game seems improved in some respect.

Cons: A.I. can be frustraitingly difficult. May prove a little too much of the same for long-time Ace Combat fans.

Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation is rated T (Teen) by the ESRB for Mild Language and Violence.