Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown

Some time before the events of the game, the Ossetian Federation built an international space elevator (better known as "Mayak") on Yusei's continent to help restore the continent after the fall of the wreckage of the asteroid Ulysses 1994XF04 and the Continental War that followed. The construction of the elevator caused tensions between Ossea and the kingdom of Erusei, the largest country on the continent, Yusei, who believed that Ossea was seeking to control the entire continent of Yusei through a space elevator. This resulted in the attack of the Erusaean UAVs on the main Osei military facilities and in the capture of the space elevator by Eruseya. Erusei also took control of two large celestial carriers of drones, known as "Arsenal Birds" to protect the space elevator and control the airspace over the imposing part of Yusei's continent.

The outbreak of war finds the Trigger at the air base on the island of Fort Grace, which is being raided by the Russian bombers and will have to repel the raid along with other Axis aircraft. After that there was a battle over the Scofield Plateau, where the Trigger first collided with the Erusane drones. UNM learned that former Ossetian President Vincent Harling was hiding on the space elevator and it was decided to launch a raid towards the space elevator, but the first clash with one of the Bird Arsenals over the rain forests in the Chopin region occurred, forcing the Oceans to retreat with losses. Then UNM sends the Trigger on a single flight in order to covertly penetrate the radar network around the elevator to open the way for the rescuers. After Harling takes off from the "Beacon", the Axis airplanes are attacked by a swarm of drones from one of the "Bird-Arsenals" and in the whirlwind of the battle the tiltrotor on which Harling was shot down and the Harling dies. Since the Trigger was close to Harling's convertoplane, he was accused of killing him. At the same time, Osei launched an attack on the capital of Erusea Farbanty, which the Russans beat off, while they manage to sink the Kosel II Axis aircraft carrier.

The trigger is transferred to prison at the 444th air base, where he is credited to the reserve squadron recruited from the prisoners at the base of the penalty pilots. After the defense of the base from the raid of the Elsei bombers, in an air battle in difficult weather conditions over the Yinshi valley, Trigger first encountered Mihai Shilagi. Then the reserve squadron is sent to destroy a large cruiser tank farm and hunt for fuel trucks in the desert, after which the squadron is sent to destroy crusader radar in Vaiapolo mountains, where the squadron of unmanned F / A-18F Super Hornet attacking the penalty area is attacked by unmanned F / A-18F Super Hornet squadrons attacking, and they have received the same squadron, which have received the same squadrons. Despite the support of the UAVs with the Helios missiles from the Arsenal Bird, the penalty box managed to knock down all the UAVs and leave the battle zone.

The command of the Axis troops for military service decides to legitimize the Reserve squadron and gives forgiveness to all its pilots, and then sends the squadron to conquer Tyler Island, where it should be based. Colonel McKinsey, commander of the 444th airbase, sends the Axis command to the “New Arrows” (“New Arrows”) base in North Point. Trigger and Earl will be accompanied by a McKinsey transport aircraft. During the flight, the Trigger destroys an unknown UAV, which has earned itself great respect from other Ossetian military. After that, the Trigger and Earl are credited to the Long Strategic Shock Group (DTUG), but to different squadrons: The trigger becomes the commander of the squadron "Riders", and the Count becomes the second number in the squadron "Cyclops".

In Osei develop a plan for the end of the war and the return of the space elevator. For this, the DSUG squadrons had to perform several tasks: attacking the Russian fleet in the north of the continent, restoring one of the Stonehenge rail cannons to destroy one of the Arsenal Bird, destroying mines with intercontinental ballistic missiles and seizing the base on the Rainy promontory to create a front base for the subsequent attack on Farbanty. During the battle for Farbanty, the opposing sides destroyed communication satellites, which left opponents without reliable communications.

Disabling all major forms of communication due to the mass destruction of communications satellites plunged the continent into chaos. DSUG attempted to pull out of the outbreak of the civil war of the Erusey officer, who could further contribute to the cease-fire, but the officer was killed during the rescue operation in Ankkherede. After DSUG decided to go to Tyler Island to join the Allied forces operating there, but found complete chaos there: the Ooseans did not reach the assigned tasks during the landing, and the Eruseans divided into two camps (conservatives and radicals) linked together. And in the midst of this chaos, there were refugees, among whom was the staff from the 444th air base, as well as the Russan princess Rosa Cossette D'Elyse. DSUG managed to take control of the island, but the lack of equipment and supplies to continue further action forced the DSUG to attack Schilag Castle, where the necessary supplies were available. There, the DSUG planes collided with the squadron "Sol" and their commander Mihai on the newest X-02S Strike Wyvern aircraft, which tried to protect the castle, but the Trigger defeated everyone.

Dr. Schröder reveals to the princess and the rest who fled from the island of Tyler that the instigation of war comes from Belka, who are all trying to avenge the defeat of their state in the past by engaging Osei in wars with other powerful states and this time the bet was made on mass production of UAVs in Erusei. Schröder and the others decide to deactivate the elevator to stop the automatic drone factory. Meanwhile, Osea formed coalition forces with conservative Erusean leaders who wanted to end the war against the radical instigators of the war, who continued to control the elevator. A major air battle broke out at the space elevator, which attracted the surviving Arsenal Bird. After Princess Cossetta destroyed the energy transmitter and the Arsenal Bird energy shield was turned off, the Trigger destroys this flying giant. After that, the two newest drone ADF-11 Raven, which were made before the elevator was turned off, entered the airspace and opened fire on the forces of the coalition. The surviving members of the battle retreated to the nearby aircraft carrier Admiral Anderson.

The next day, the majority of the surviving coalition pilots engage in battle with the latest UAVs. As a result, Trigger shot down both, and in the pursuit of one of these drones, he and Graf had to fly through underground tunnels to the space elevator. Inside the elevator building, the drone manages to damage the Earl's plane and he has to land on his belly in the tunnel, and the Trigger, after the destruction of the drone, flies through the top of the base of the space elevator.

In the last video rehearsal of the game, it appears that coalition forces have gathered at the space elevator to receive refugees from all over the continent, ignoring their previous views in the name of peace.

• EIA pilot with a call sign Trigger - in his role a player acts
• Avril Mead - a young woman from the face of which is the main story, a talented aviation mechanic
• Mihai A. Shilagi - a pilot of Air Force Erusei, whose flight talents served as the basis for the creation of artificial intelligence designed to control combat drones
• Dr. Schroeder - a scientist from Belka, the developer of the main combat drone control systems
• Rosa Cossetta D'Elyse - Princess of the Royal House of Erusea

The technique of piloting the aircraft remained classic, there are two modes of control of the aircraft: for beginners and for experienced pilots. False thermal targets , which first appeared in the game Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, returned to the aircraft. Also returned checkpoints from which a player can resume the passage of the mission in case of failure.

The main innovation in the gameplay was the interaction of clouds with airplanes. Now, if a player's plane will fly for a long time through the clouds, the plane may become icy, which will affect the stability of the aircraft. Also, the clouds began to influence the capture of targets by thermal homing heads, which could lead to a loss of capture of the GOS target in the event of an enemy plane flying through the clouds, this also holds true for enemy missiles launched by the player’s aircraft. There were ascending and descending air currents that affect the player's plane and may unexpectedly lead to the crash of the plane when it is flying in cramped conditions or low above the ground.

The player can manually perform a coup with overload. If successful, the player will be behind the enemy and turn the course of the battle in their favor. This maneuver is similar to an evasion maneuver from Ace Combat: Assault Horizon .

In the fleet of the player there are only jet combat aircraft. Helicopters, bombers and piston airplanes are not provided for player control.

Aircraft

In Ace Combat 7, an aviation tree is back similar to that in Ace Combat Infinity . Moving along its branches, the player acquires airplanes and various spare parts to improve them. The tree is divided into two parts: elements that can be purchased during the passage of the campaign (there are all the planes there) and elements that become available only in the network game. During the game (single or network), the player earns points for which items from the aviation tree can be acquired.

Before departure, the player can customize his plane by equipping it with purchased spare parts, with the maximum number of items that can be installed on the plane is equal to 8. All parts are divided into three main groups: improvement of the body, weapons and auxiliary elements. In addition, each element has its own "size", which occupies a part of the available "volume" in the form of a special scale, so Installed elements of the same type in the aggregate can not exceed this "volume". Also, the player before departure can choose a color for the aircraft and emblems. Stains and emblems are available when certain conditions are met.

Setting up an aircraft from Ace Combat Infinity has returned to Ace Combat 7. Players can create their own sets of airplanes, colors, emblems, call signs, spare parts for reuse in future missions.

Virtual Reality

Ace Combat 7 provides virtual reality support exclusively through PlayStation VR on PS4 . The main VR content of the game is a set of three missions, separate from the main campaign. Players can not play these missions without a PlayStation VR , but this VR is not available in campaign mode or multiplayer. VR missions donate some visual details to maintain the required 60 frames per second.

When using VR , only the view from the cockpit is available, the view from the first and third person is not available. The player can turn his head to look at the enemy and take him to the sight, and then shoot at him as usual missiles. Hold down the Options button and you can recalibrate the headset. The player can look down and see the entire cockpit, including the pilot's legs. The pilot in the game will interact with the aircraft's control levers despite the player using the DualShock 4 controller .

Multiplayer

At the time of the release of the game Ace Combat 7, it presents two online multiplayer modes: Battle Royale (original Battle Roya l) and Team Deathmatch. In the Royal Rumble, players participate in a survival match, where everyone is for himself and the player with the most points wins before the timer expires. In a team match, players are divided into two teams that fight among themselves, the team that scores more points than the team of opponents before the expiration of the allotted time, or completely filling the scale of points, wins. Up to 8 players participate in both modes.

Global bonuses

All pre-ordered and digital copies of Ace Combat 7, acquired in the first month since the game was released, regardless of edition or platform, contain an F-4E Phantom II aircraft and three additional colors for airplanes: the yellow squadron for the Su-37 , the squadron for the colors "Unlimited "for the F-14D" Super Tomcat " and " Pixie " for the F-15C Eagle .

Also included are copies of Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War for PS4 and Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation for Xbox One owners as a supplement.

Bonuses from retailers

Players who pre-ordered Ace Combat 7 also had the opportunity to receive special bonuses in the store where the pre-order was made. Most of these bonuses were available only to Japanese buyers, but some of them were sold to buyers in other parts of the world.

• http://ace-7.bn-ent.net/ - Official site of the game.