The reviews are in for Ace Combat 6.  Now it’s time to dive in and review the reviews.  Later this week, I’ll be reviewing my review of the reviewers reviewing my review of the reviews. 

Kidding. 

Anyway, Ace Combat 6 is out. As you may recall, we’ve been fretting over this release since episode 2 of our podcast.   The Metacritic score is 85, so we’re not breaking any ground here.  It seems like my hopes for a ground breaking game may be waning a bit…

The good news is that the lowest score on the board is, crazy as it sounds, from Gamepro, who gives it an 80 for charging $150.00 for the “optimal” experience found in the Hori flight stick bundle that includes the game and the custom flight stick and throttle.  Holy crap!  $150.00 for the game and a flight stick that you’ll only be able to use for this game? As an Ace Combat fan, I’ve played them all, and you don’t need the fancy, shmancy flight stick.  Save your money for Rock Band. 

The only other criticism that seemed to run through the reviews were the controls.  Most complained that the controls got in the way of a more casual experience.  What do they want, Over G Fighters.  If they wanted easy, go play Katamari… It’s a friggin fighter jet for crissakes!

Anyway, here’s the good:  Graphics, Campaign, 4 player co-op battles, 16 player online that runs real smooth and real purty.

Looks like a buy for any Ace Combat or military style shooter fan.  I know Dave just picked it up, but he got it because he likes how pretty the water looks! I’m not even kidding. 

Yeah, he’s a big Bioshock fan too…