Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation
is a 2007 arcade-style combat flight simulation video game developed by Project Aces and published by Namco Bandai Games exclusively for the Xbox 360 (it was made backwards compatible with the Xbox One in 2019 and the Xbox Series X/S in 2020). It is the seventh installment of the Ace Combat franchise, the first game in the franchise to not see a release on a PlayStation platform as had been done with previous titles, and the first game in the franchise to include downloadable content. Like other titles in Namco's Ace Combat series, Ace Combat 6 features standard gameplay from the series that mixes arcade flight with authentic flight simulation.

While the game encompasses a variety of licensed, real-world fighter jets and aircraft, the game's story takes place within Strangereal, the fictional world setting of the series. The game's main campaign focuses on the sudden invasion of a nation by its neighbors, and the subsequent efforts by its armed forces to retake back their country and its capitol, with players taking command of the pilot of a two-plane squadron that assists in this effort. Unlike other games in the series in which the events are narrated from a single perceptive, the story's events are interlaced with a series of side-stories told by various figures, describing their personal struggles and opinions regarding the ongoing conflict as it progresses.

While gameplay elements from previous titles persist in Ace Combat 6, the game's main campaign features more extensively detailed missions. New elements include the majority of single-player missions featuring a multitude of objectives to complete, in which players need only achieve a certain quota of these to progress to the later stages of a mission, and the ability to call in support from allied units during a mission. The game received generally favorable reviews upon release.

Gameplay

As with other games in the series, Ace Combat 6 places players in the role of a fighter pilot, tasked with destroying foes both in the air and on the ground. The game's main controls are simplified as part of the series' design as an arcade flight game, with players given access to not only a wide variety of licensed fighter jets, but also access to a variety of weapons - alongside autocannons and missiles, planes can be equipped with one of several special weapons for use in engagements, including radar guided missiles, bombs, and rocket launchers, amongst others. While the player can lock on to foes and switch between targets (dependent on weapon being used), the in-game HUD provides feedback on ammo amounts, damage to the craft, speed and altitude, offers a radar that can be tuned to different zoom levels or display a full map of the combat zone, and provide information on the amount of time left during a playthrough, and the player's current score.

The single-player campaign consists of a total of fifteen missions, in which players must complete a set number of objectives defined in the mission. Prior to starting a mission, players must select the jets and loadout that both they and the AI wingman will be using - aircraft that can be used is limited at the start, though more choice is provided at later stages upon the player using in-game credits earned from their performance in the campaign, to unlock new planes. Unlike previous titles in the series, Ace Combat 6s campaign features missions in which the player takes part in one of several ongoing operations - the majority of missions have several operations, ranging from three to six, in which the player needs to complete a set quota (roughly the majority of operations), in order to open up the final stages of the mission. Such operation primarily focuses on assisting or defending allied air, ground or naval forces as they attempt to complete a key objective, usually by taking out targets assigned to that operation. Completing an operation can sometimes provide a benefit to the player to help with completing the mission, such as providing a frontline base to land at in order to repair and rearm themselves and/or their wingman. In such missions, the player can select what starting position they begin at, thus dictating what operation they want to focus on first, and can alter the radar on their HUD to help them with pinpointing the targets associated to an operation. Along with a wingman that can provided assistance, players can also call in support from allied units to either attack enemies in front of the player or provide covering support - doing so requires the player to charge up a gauge by destroying targets, divided into five segments, in which calling in allied support expends a segment of the gauge.

In addition to the single-player mode, Ace Combat 6 is the first game in the series to offer online multiplayer gameplay. The game includes 4 default multiplayer modes: Battle Royale, Siege Battle, Team Battle, and Co-Op Battle. In Battle Royale, the basic Deathmatch game mode, up to sixteen players shoot each other down to earn the highest points at the time limit. In Team Battle, a basic Team Deathmatch game is created. Points are awarded based on the type of aircraft destroyed, and the team leader for each side may boost the missile accuracy of their team if an "ESM" option is enabled for the match. The longer the team leader survives in deathmatch mode, the larger their support esm radius. A unique type of multiplayer game, Siege Battle is played with two teams, Attacking and Defending. The Attacking team attempts to destroy the target (usually heavily defended by flak) within the time limit. The Defending team tries to halt their attack. The co-op battle mode consists of two single-player missions without AI that can be played with up to three other humans.

Plot

Story
Ace Combat 6 follows a war between the fictional Republic of Emmeria and Federal Republic of Estovakia. It begins with the invasion of the Emmerian capital, Gracemeria, by the Estovakian Air Force on August 30, 2015. Years prior to the war, an asteroid shower (caused by fragments of the Ulysses 1994XF04 asteroid previously mentioned in Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies) devastated Estovakia while Emmeria was left unscathed. Following the impact, a period of chaos and civil war ensued within Estovakia; eventually, its government was taken over by "The Generals", uniting the country and beginning a massive military buildup to invade Emmeria.

Characters
Players take on the role of an unnamed Emmerian ace pilot and squadron leader who has the callsign "Talisman". The player's wingman, Marcus Lampert, goes by the callsign "Shamrock" and fights alongside Talisman throughout the entire game. Both characters are assigned to the Emmerian Air Force's 28th Tactical Fighter Squadron, designated "Garuda Team".

Synopsis
The Emmerian capital of Gracemeria is suddenly attacked by Estovakian aircraft, forcing the Emmerian military to scramble to repel the surprise invasion and resulting in a full-scale war between the two nations. Talisman and Shamrock, as part of the forces intercepting the Estovakian aircraft, are assigned together due to neither pilot having a wingman. As the battle begins, civilian Melissa Herman witnesses Estovakian aircraft destroy the bridge that her daughter Matilda's school bus is supposed to be crossing.

The air defense mission is interrupted by cruise missiles launched from offshore and the arrival of ace pilots from the Estovakian Air Force's elite "Strigon Team" led by Lt. Col. Victor Voychek, crippling Emmerian forces and forcing them to evacuate. Many civilians evacuate from the city as well, including Melissa, who discovers the wreckage of the plane flown by her husband, a pilot in the Emmerian Air Force, and realizes he was killed in action. Later, Melissa hears the voice of her daughter over a radio broadcast from Estovakian-occupied Gracemeria and begins a journey back to the city to reunite with her. Meanwhile, in Gracemeria, Voychek, following injuries he sustained during the invasion, is reassigned, taking on the role of a ground intelligence officer, tasked with obtaining vital information from Emmerian POWs. 

Over the next three months, Emmerian forces on the mainland are continually forced to retreat due to constant Estovakian attacks, supported by their cruise missiles. The surviving Emmerian forces rendezvous at Khesed Island and reorganize to conduct a counterattack against the invasion. Garuda Team supports the Emmerian counterattack as they secure Khesed Island and push back to the mainland, but their advance is once again stalled by a cruise missile attack. Emmerian intelligence determines the source of the missiles to be the Estovakian "P-1112 Aigaion", an airborne aircraft carrier that was key to Estovakia's air superiority over Gracemeria. Garuda Team leads an assault on the Aigaion and destroys it, distinguishing themselves among Emmerian and Estovakian forces alike. Meanwhile, Melissa encounters an Estovakian woman named Ludmila and, upon learning she is also going to Gracemeria to be reunited with her fiancé Toscha, who is a pilot in Strigon Team, befriends and travels with her. 

During a mission in the final push to Gracemeria, Emmerian military command suddenly orders a ceasefire; Garuda Team defies the order and shoots down several Strigon aircraft, and as a result are grounded for insubordination. It is revealed that Estovakia is planning to deploy chemical weapons on Gracemeria in a scorched earth policy as a last resort should Emmeria succeed in reaching the city. Offered a chance to redeem themselves, Garuda Team carries out an operation to destroy the chemical weapon catalyst. With the Garuda Team's suspension officially lifted, the Emmerian military prepares to liberate Gracemeria.

After an intense, multistage ground, naval, and air battle, the Emmerians manage to defeat the Estovakian garrison in Gracemeria and liberate the city. During the battle, Garuda Team is attacked by Strigon Team's new leader, Ilya Pasternak, flying an experimental aircraft. Talisman manages to shoot down and kill Pasternak, ending the battle with Emmeria victorious. Melissa arrives at Gracemeria in the aftermath of the battle and reunites with her daughter, who survived the war by taking refuge in ancient passages under the city with several other children as well as a repentant Voychek.

The evening after the battle, the Emmerian Air Force conducts a night air patrol over the city during victory celebrations. While on patrol, Shamrock reveals that his wife and daughter, who had provided his will for fighting, were killed in the war, and decides to resign after the flight. However, the city comes under attack by cruise missiles contained within railgun projectiles fired from extreme distance. Garuda Team helps repel the attacks, and Shamrock resolves to remain in the military until the war is truly ended.

With assistance from Melissa, Matilda and Voychek, the Emmerian military traces the railgun attack to "Chandelier", a massive mobile railgun facility originally built to defend Estovakia from the Ulysses fragments, but was repurposed to destroy Gracemeria by The Generals in revenge for losing the city. Emmeria launches an operation to destroy Chandelier; after Shamrock sacrifices his plane to locate the facility's weak point, Talisman destroys it and ends the war.

Following the destruction of Chandelier, a coup d'état removes The Generals from power, and the new government negotiates peace with Emmeria. Ludmila reunites with Toscha, who survived the Battle of Gracemeria due to Pasternak ordering Strigon Team to stand down while he engaged Garuda alone, and the two marry in an internment camp with Voychek and several other Strigon pilots attending. Shamrock survives his crash, but the injuries he sustained temporarily restrict him to a wheelchair. As he visits the Herman household to meet Melissa and Matilda, he narrates to Talisman that the peace between both nations had been what they'd always been fighting for, and that it had finally come.

Downloadable content
Namco has released seven sets of downloadable paint schemes for Ace Combat 6'''s aircraft. These paint schemes modify the plane's maneuverability, speed, armor, and payloads. Among the schemes available are those of Ace Combat 2’s protagonist, paint schemes based on aircraft prototypes, an A-10 with the Shark mouth, and a Halloween paint scheme for the F-14D that gives the plane stealth capabilities. "Colored Wings", aircraft with monotone paint schemes each themed to a different color for airshows are also available. There are also a series of paint schemes modeled after various Ace Squadrons from previous games. These Ace Squadron colors include the Grabacr and Razgriz Squadrons from Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War; the Rot Team (EF-2000 Typhoon), Espada Team (Rafale M), Gault Team (Su-47 Berkut), Galm Team (Cipher and Pixy F-15E), and Crow Team (PJ F-16C, currently not available) from Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War; Mobius 1 (F-22A Raptor) and Yellow Squadron (Su-33) from Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies; Gryphus 1 (F-22A Raptor) from Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception and Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere organizations UPEO (Eurofighter Typhoon) and General Resources (A/F-117 Nav Hawk).

In addition to the above, alternate paint schemes for several planes based on characters from the series The Idolm@ster are featured. Furthermore, Japanese players were awarded a bonus for pre-ordering the game online. The bonus came in the form of a card with two codes on it. Both would unlock special paint schemes for the F-15E Strike Eagle, based on the Yellow 13 Su-37 and Mobius 1 F-22A Raptor from Ace Combat 04.

Namco has also released downloadable co-op versions of single player missions. Ragno Fortress, and Chandelier are now available in addition to The Aigaion and San Loma which came with the game.

In January 2019, Ace Combat 6 was made available for backwards compatibility with the Xbox One. Players who pre-ordered Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown on Xbox One received a digital copy of Ace Combat 6, but disc copies of 6 also work with the Xbox One.

Ace Edge

The Ace Edge is a joystick and throttle controller designed specifically for Ace Combat 6. Produced by Hori, it was only made available for purchase in a special-limited edition package of the game. The Ace Edge package was only officially released in North America and Japan. The price of the package was $149.99 US dollars. The package also included an Ace Combat 6 faceplate for the Xbox 360.

It is called "Flight Stick EX" in Japan. It is very similar to the Saitek X45 HOTAS joystick / throttle system popular with PC flight simulation players. The throttle unit is identical, while the control column is slightly different (likely to better accommodate Xbox button maps). The top of the X45 stick featured two 8-way hat switches, one on the left and one at the bottom, and three thumb buttons above them with one under a safety cover; the Ace Edge retains the left 8-way hat switch, but swaps the positions of the thumb buttons and the second hat switch, with three of the Xbox controller's four main buttons in a rearranged order (Y, B and X, left to right, A'' being the trigger) below an analog mini-stick rather than a second hat switch. The stick also featured both a flexible sleeve over the shaft and spring, and a wrist pad, neither present on the Saitek X45.

Reception

The game received generally positive reviews from critics, albeit slightly lower than the previous games. Game review aggregators GameRankings and Metacritic gave the game a rating of 81.57% and 80/100, respectively.
TeamXbox gave it an 8.8/10 rating,
while X-Play rated it a 4/5. In part due to it's Xbox 360 exclusivity, the game only sold 700,000 copies, the lowest of any mainline entry in the franchise.

Notes

References

External links

Ace Combat 6 Official Site  
Namco Ace Combat 6 Site 
 

2007 video games
Ace Combat
Combat flight simulators
Bandai Namco games
Video games developed in Japan
Xbox 360 games
Xbox 360-only games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Video games scored by Junichi Nakatsuru
Video games set in 2015
Video games set in 2016