RaidersSphere4th is an Ace Combat ripoff. It is a good one though.

Pretty much the gameplay is the exact same as Ace Combat 1-4 with the visuals reminding me a lot of Ace Combat 3 Electrosphere. Many of the planes are made up, but a few seem to be references to actual planes or Ace Combat super planes.

There is some nice mission variety going on with some missions being basic, "kill all the bad guys missions" while others get more interesting such as destroying groud targets with ecm coverage. The ecm only last for a little bit and jams all targeting system so you can only use your guns but the enemy can also only use theirs. Upon destroying all the targets in an area yo have to climb back up to 10,000 feet to avoid being detected when the ecm wears off and then repeat this process at different target sites. There are other missions that have variety like this but this one seemed to be the most distinct out of the ones I have played.

Besides the gameplay the graphics are not great. They seem like early ps2 generation graphics with the actual aircraft models being the best graphically.

As far as early access goes, it's in early access to sort out mulitplayer and to posssibly add some steam workshop support. I feel there are some typos in translation that could be fixed as well, and sometimes the mission complete screens get some weird formating bugs.

If you want some classic Ace Combat gameplay and don't really care about the graphics then this game delivers. However, if you really care about graphics or you want multiplayer I would wait until after the game leaves early access to pick the game up. Sekai projects games seem to actually make it through early access unlike some others so I would say that it should not be long until the game is out of early access.

Oh hey it's a voiced, fun, extremely PS1/PS2 Ace Combat game.

Play it, you fools!

A nice little arcade combat flight game, in the style of the older Ace Combat games.

I like it, but there are a few notable flaws:

- While the game runs well on my i7-3630QM/GT630M laptop in windowed, the game has major graphical issues when trying to run fullscreen.

- The missile lock sound is a tad obnoxious, and you'll likely find yourself turning the volume of the game down pretty far because of it.

- The game is grapically very dated. While it's not a glaring issue to me, some players may be turned off by the low poly models and the flat ground textures.

All said, I enjoy the game and would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes arcade flight games.

What I think about this game :
It's an arcade combat flight sim that takes place on Planet Venus.
The combat fight mechanics has the same (or at least similar) style as those of classic Ace Combat series.
The AIs are quite good in this game. Like other good combat flight sims, we can't always rely on missiles alone as they can be so agile in maneuvering. So, this what makes dogfighting really fun in this game. Same goes for the friendly AIs. They are also competent in assisting the players when dealing with the enemies.
As for the jets, it has a fair amounts of playable jets to choose from ( I haven't finished the game yet, so I don't know how many are in the game yet).
The graphics, while seemingly outdated if compared to many other modern combat flight sim games , still looks OK. Of course, it's better ito enable "shader settings" at the launcher screen. Since I'm playing this on laptop GPU, enabling it a default quality level makes the game stutters. So, I set it to low level with shader settings enabled and it still gets decent quality. I personally think that the graphic style of this game is like a mix between Ace Combat 3, Rebel Raiders : Operation Nighthawk (but better than that), and Airforce Delta series.
The storyline is quite decent. It also has a nice set of main characters.
The SFXs are quite good, and so are the BGMs, especially if you're into electronic styled music with added symphonic elements.
The voice-actings are done very well in this game and done good in providing the dramatic sense to the storyline.

Well, since this is currently in Early Access, expect several bugs / glitches in the game. But I'm sure it's gonna be fixed sooner or later. Other than that, I strongly recommend this game, especially to those who loves arcade combat flight action games such as Ace Combat and Airfoce Delta series.

Pro-

• great story with lots of plot twists
  
• no hands held gameplay
  
• great soundtrack (not available on steam to play seperatly. no soundtest mode; hunt down ost on the web)
  
• early 6th gen style graphics (looks more high end on higher shader settings)
  
• diverse objective oriented missions (rarely does it ever amount to "kill everything")
  
• final mission is epic (dont want to spoil it. kill big my friends.)
  
• 3D vision, 3D-Dive (whatever that is), Oculus DK1&2 support.

con-

• control config was forged in hell (patched)
  
• emphasis on the control config (good luck setting that rudder) (emphasis on patched)
  
• no countermeasures; dodge missiles manually (may be a good thing)
  
• water requires at least "High" shader settings to look good; which is poorly optimized
  
• shaders are poorly optimized
  
• Too much fun. You shall not escape.
  
  Despite it's flaws if you go in expecting a nostalgic flight combat game with a plot, take the time to configure your controller or joystick and, learn to dodge (unless you allready played ace combat or vector thrust (I haven't FYI) in which case I bet you will be fine) it's missions will give your money's worth.

Disclaimer: I've played AC5, AC0 (100%) and AC:AH. Loved the first two, couldn't be bothered to finish the last one.

I've really enjoyed what's on offer here. It's the closest I got to actually playing an Ace Combat game on PC (I tried AH, bleh). The devs certainly have a knack for making these kinds of games, since the mission variety is huge and there are a lot of missions. The story is pretty interesting, too.

My only gripe is that I wish the game had a bigger budget, since I believe the team could do wonders in this genre. Unlike the current Project Aces who seem to enjoy making multiplayer events on an outdated console. AC Infinity PC please :(.

I'm definitely looking forward to what the team cooks up in the future.

Note: this game is harder than AC0, since shooting missiles nilly-willy won't get you far. Dogfighting does require some effort which can be immensely satisfying, but you really need to think about your attack vector.

Were you let down by Ace Combat: Assault Horizon?

Then I recommend trying this game out. It has pretty much the same gameplay as the classic Ace Combat games, and the influence is clearly there. Particularly related to Ace Combat 3, given the futuristic setting. That said, unlike the European release of Ace Combat 3, Raiders has a clear plot that advances with every mission. The dialogue sequences are well meshed with both the plot and the gameplay, making each mission advance seamlessly to the next one.

The gameplay is as solid as you could expect, although playing on normal mode I could not help but notice that missiles in dogfights were mostly useless, everything coming down to cannons. Not something negative, though. It really makes you employ all the weapons in your arsenal.

Now, negative aspects?

Well, first of all, the graphics are severely outdated. You may think Ace Combat 3 on PSX looked better than this. Nothing looks particularly impressive, and the planes have a "Homer Simpson Design Bureau" look to them. If you came here expecting to see something cool, you are going to be disappointed. Second, the controls require a little fiddling about with if you really want something like Ace Combat. When I first played this game, the buttons configuration was switched around a bit and I had no rudder control.


So, to summarize:

Did you enjoy Ace Combat 3? Do you want more of that same gameplay? Do you want a simple plot with simple characters that works anyway? Do you want lots of missions?

Then get this game, you of excellent taste.

Would Playstation One graphics make you puke? Do you need your sci-fi to be hard and your planes to look like they were made of fiber glass and rolled between a Cuban girl´s thighs?

Get Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, you FILTHY CASUAL.

RaidersSphere4th is a game that pays homage to Ace Combat, one of my favorite series. As such, it's hard not to compare the two, as one is directly influenced by the other. If you don't care to see the specific points, let me start this review by saying that if you are a fan of Ace Combat, this game is well worth your time. If you do wish to see some specific points, I'll start with the negatives.

Cons:
-Missions 21 and 27, which may be some of the most frustrating experiences I have had in a game. These WILL take several tries, and will cost a good chunk of your sanity.
- The graphics are below average at best, and awful at worst. While some plane designs are nice, the graphical texture quality of objects and landscapes throughout the game reminded me of Star Fox 64 for the Nintendo 64... which considering the time period, is not necessarily a good thing.
- Some people may not like the art style for the character sprites, although I found them fine and had no real issues.
- The game is fun on easy, a challenge on normal, and nlchaotically hard on hard. Certain missions are definitely harder than others, so playing the game at difficulties above easy may be frustrating.
- Outside of the main cast, the other characters and personalities aren't fleshed out very well.

Pros:
- An engaging storyline that, while not groundbreaking, was able to immerse me in the world of Raider Sphere, taking me on ups and downs, even throwing in a good deal if world building and some twists. Plus, it always feel cool to have enemy units start recognizing your Raider as a threat. It truly felt like your actions had a significant impact on the story.
- The controls and gameplay itself feel exactly like the Ace Combat games of old. The planes control extremely well, and the HUD is informative. To be concise, the game feels great.
- With the exceptions of 21 and 27, the missions are very engaging and are often unique. Different missions required different end goals, with a good mixture of dogfighting, all put skirmishes, and air to ground support. And while they didbt necessarily look that great, the different landscapes in each mission provide a unique flying experience from mission to mission.
- The characters are clearly a highlight in this game, which comes as a surprise given it's supposed focus on gameplay. Featuring a full voice over, our three mains are full of life and are each uniquely distinct. A lot of love and dedication went into the writing of these characters, and it shows.
- The soundtrack fits the game well and it serves as a great accompaniment to some of the missions.

All in all, Raider Sphere 4th is a game that pays a wonderful homage to Ace Combat while offering it's own unique story to tell, with a storytelling technique most similar to a visual novel. Featuring a fully voiced cast that does an excellent job, I highly recommend you to try out Raider Sphere 4th for yourself.

It's not a bad game, but I can't recommend to a general public- its heavily "doujin" quality, lot of places are bare bone and has tons annoying audio glitches (like music starts to loop on its own, or missile alert sound doesn't stop, no game credit ending)

Graphic on screenshot is what you get. There are graphic option to it, but I tried max and the game looked like less than PS2 but played around 10FPS. (fyi I can play Dark Souls3 with max setting with no issue, I do play on desktop) I don't mind if its not pretty to look at, however if it is not optimized correctly that's where I draw a line

The missiles are super short range that guns are more reliable to shoot down any air targets, and even rockets are easier to use than missiles. Plane design is nice, but it shares from all old raider sphere planes. Near the end the enemy planes has so much mobility that they can keep you on tail as long as they want, its really annoying to hear missile alert constantly, even worse if it loops.

If you truly love ace combat, you'll like this game, especiall Ace Combat 3. However, the game doesn't really cared much about the ending. It just concluded without having any resolution. I finished the final mission and it just went back to title screen left me to feel unfinished. None of the character ever developed anything, but that's quite typical of Rectagle game- older raiders sphere did exact same.

This was unexpected. A flight sim + visual novel mix. And both parts are good. It leaves a couple of things unexplained, but it had a great resolution. Nice characters and entertaining action.