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Game Information
Release Date: May 20, 2014
Developers: Namco
Publishers: Bandai Namco Games
Platforms: PlayStation 3
Genre: Combat Flight Simulator
Players: 1-8

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Synopsis
Evolving the legendary series with a brand new story and innovative multiplayer, the game turns the sky into an endless blue battleground, bursting with aerial drama and destruction. Ace Combat Infinity will let every player become a deadly flying ace, as they embark on a series of high velocity missions.

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Plot
The Ulysses Disaster, a group of 10,000 asteroids that was set to collide into Earth 5 years after being discovered in 1994. Alarmed, all the nations decided to establish multiple sets of anti-air railguns scoured throughout the nation that would shoot at the meteors preventing such tremendous damage from being done around the globe. In the year of 1999, Stongehenge failed to provide protection against the meteors which had landed and caused significant damage around the globe. With this, it became known as the Ulysses Disaster. Corruption started to settle in, causing many outbreaks to spark. But then Wernher and Noah Enterprises decided to assist the corrupting economy to aid it back to normal. An employee of WNE named Kacper Cohen who was the lead weapons developer became distraught with the United Nations and launched an attack against the UN allies with UAVs called the MQ-90 Quox. With a low budget for the UN to respond, the UNF hire a group of pilots known as the Bone Arrow Squadron.

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Gameplay
A new thing when players start off playing Infinity is that they will notice a fuel system which lets them only play up to a certain extent before running out of fuel which prevents them from playing until it refuels after several hours. Another way is to actually purchase fuel with real currency through the PlayStation Store. Players can play in single player campaign and co-op. In co-op, players will be placed into two teams of four and will have to fight out for the number one spot by destroying the most enemies and have the highest combined score overall at the end of the match. Players are awarded bonus experience and new add-ons to their aircraft such as paint schemes, weapons and other bonuses. Players will also be awarded limited time paint schemes for various aircraft during a tournament. In the single player campaign, players will engage in dogfights and various air-to-ground and air-to-surface battles throughout the campaign as well as face some dangerous and hectic moments that would really test players of their air piloting skills against some advanced UAV aircraft as well as boss fights. For those that played previous installments of the Ace Combat series will probably notice some missions are staged in locations from other installments of Ace Combat as well as the bosses.

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Graphics
It wasn't a surprise to see how phenomenal the graphics looked in Ace Combat Infinity. By having played Ace Combat 6 on the Xbox 360, I had high expectations to see similarities in the overall graphics between the PS3 and Xbox 360 and in comparison, it delivered. The overall layout of the location in each mission are well textured and has fantastic clarity. Not to mention the realistic features that would be seen caused by an actual plane when flying in the sky seeing the air brakes lift up when stalling or seeing those "air sheers" when rotating at such speeds. Every single detail on each aircraft even the fictional ones look so surreal with the superior graphics to compliment with them, makes the player think "could these fictional aircraft really look like this". The features on the types of missiles, bombs, machine guns, and even the laser look very detailed and realistic. The insignias on the aircraft are very clear to distinguish. The clouds and the sun show great features especially when the sun is reflecting off the ocean and being able to see the sun's silhouette move along the waves of the ocean is a cool feature to see. When neutralizing an enemy aircraft, a cinematic would play in slow motion making players be able to see the pieces of debris separate from the aircraft as it slow breaks apart in the air. There are also some limited time paint schemes that are awarded to players in the tournament that look absolutely phenomenal and exquisite by the way it looks on the aircraft.

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Controls
Having switched from playing on the Xbox 360 to the PlayStation 3, I didn't find anything that I wasn't used to playing between both consoles. The commands and button layouts were very similar and easy to get comfortable with after a short amount of time. From the PS2 and the PS3, by having played the earlier installments of the Ace Combat series back then really brings back the "feel" to the game when it comes to sensitivity and control. Compared to every Ace Combat game then and now, the controls aren't anything but similar and should be no problem really to the average player.

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Ratings
Gameplay: 9.2/10
Graphics: 9.5/10
Controls: 9.5/10
Overall: 9.3/10

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Pros
Game is absolutely free of charge.
Great storyline.
Ideal game for fans of the series and those who have a liking for aircraft.
Fantastic graphics.

Cons
Short campaign (approximately 3 hours of gameplay)
Recycled locations and bosses from previous Ace Combat games.
Sortie fuel which limits players to how much they can play. (either purchase more fuel with real currency or wait to refuel after several hours)
Lack of new features. Facing bosses that had been beaten before and not really much of a challenge to returning players.