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Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Walkthrough

The sky is on fire as the new generation of Ace Combat takes off. The next in a long series of action-arcade style flight simulation games, the Ace Combat franchise is taking a sharp turn to offer all new ways to play with a few wrinkles added to the main fligh gameplay. Take off from jet fighters, attack helicopters, and shoot a minigun from inside a Blackhawk. The new Close-Range Assault: Dogfight puts you close to your opponents, turning the previous lock-on ranged gameplay into an intense chase between skyscrapers or skimming the ground.

The war is going abroad before it races back home in Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. Combat an all new threat with the world’s deadliest technology, and let us guide you through the campaign. For more information on Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, check out out cheats page that includes any extra information available we can lock onto, and our achievements and trophies.

Check back after release for our walkthrough!

Mission 1: Nightmare

Just as the introduction cutscene ends, you’ll be prompted to enter dogfight mode (DFM). Tap the shoulder buttons in unison while the green circle flashes around your target enemy.
This is just an introduction to DFM, so there isn’t much you need to do yet. Just be aware of some of the key aspects of DFM you’ll need to know for later. At this stage, you’ll automatically follow your targeted enemy from behind.
The large green circle is called the assault circle. Keep your opponent aircraft inside the assault circle until the green bar on the radius circles around, and changes the assault circle from green to red. When the assault circle is red, you’re locked on. Fire missiles or your chosen special weapon – pick carefully, you only get one shot before you’ll need to lock-on again.
While in DFM, your machine gun and missiles are far more effective, and harder for the enemy to dodge. There are drawbacks to DFM, which will be discussed in detail as they appear.
Once your enemy crashes and burns, take some time to acquaint yourself with Assault Horizon’s jet controls. This isn’t a hardcore flight simulator, and it’s obvious. Arcade action all the way, with a huge stock of missiles and regenerating vehicle health.
Get used to acceleration and deceleration. While accelerating, you’re faster, and can outrun your enemies and missiles, but your turning speed is sluggish. While decelerating, you’ll gain more turning maneuverability, at the expense of speed.
Decelerating is a great way to follow enemy aircraft as they pass, as you can quickly turn to face them. Just don’t decelerate for too long, or your aircraft will stall and you’ll drop out of the sky like a sack of bricks.
Pound down on the acceleration if you’re stalling out to catch air again.
Now is when a group of bandits will show up on your radar, which will automatically switch between close-range or long-range radar depending on your target’s vicinity.
Follow the on-screen prompt to manually target your first bandit. To switch between targets, just keep pressing the targeting button to cycle through any nearby enemies.
Orient yourself to your targeted bandit, and keep it on-screen long enough to lock-on. A red square with a red diamond indicates you have successfully locked-on to your target. Try to either fire rockets that will follow or lead your opponents, and never fire from too far out or your opponent will easy accelerate out of range.
Shoot down both bandits with your missiles. Give your machine gun a try, you have infinite ammunition for the machine gun, but it will overheat, and it does minimum damage to bandits, best only used for situation where an enemy can’t be locked-onto.
After both bandits are down, an enemy will engage in DFM with you. You’ll see a large red circle hovering around the screen – that’s the enemy’s assault circle. Stay out of it, while accelerating or sharply slowing down to escape your pursuer.
Next up, you’ll face off against TGT_LEAD. These types of enemies pop up in almost every fighter sortie, and they’re dangerous for a reason. They’ll try to use DFM against you, and they’re only vulnerable to DFM themselves.
TGT_LEAD aircraft are ace pilots, trying to hit them with missiles or special weapons at long-range will only result in them evading or popping flares to escape a missile strike.
To defeat TGT_LEAD aircraft, you’ll have to approach them and enter into DFM to shoot them down. They’ll still try to use flares, but you shouldn’t have many problems with TGT_LEAD bandits yet, there will be problems later, though.
After blasting the first TGT_LEAD, follow the same method with the second. They’re alone, and the second lead only try harder to escape, he won’t touch you.
A third TGT_LEAD will show up in his SU-35. Get in close and use DFM to take him out. As you do, another bandit will sneak in from behind and enter DFM with you.
There’s two methods to escaping DFM; the first is dodging the assault circle until you can solve your pursuer, the second is by countering an enemy DFM.
Look on your screen, you’ll see two chevrons, one is green and the other is red. They represent your distance from the enemy aircraft. Make the two chevrons line up and you can counter enemy DFM with your own DFM.
Chasing down your new enemy, three more planes will show up and the on-screen prompt will ask you to switch. Let the 4AAM lock-on to all four enemy planes before firing, it’s very destructive weapon.
Switch targets and fly towards the Miami coastline, then engage the TGT_LEAD in DFM. Shoot him down, you’ll switch between targets as you go, but don’t worry, you’ll continue to stay in DFM as long as targets are nearby and on your screen.
Take them out, and look out for another bandit trying to enter DFM with you. Four more bandits will appear, which is a good time to give your 4AAM special weapon another try. After that, another four bandits appear. Use 4AM again, you won’t run out of ammo this early.
Continue to knock down bandits until another TGT_LEAD shows up. Enter DFM, and learn a little more about it.
While in DFM, the closer you are to your opponent, the larger your assault circle, making them easier to target. But, get too close and the enemy could counter DFM and appear right behind you, which isn’t good for anyone.
Weight your options, but for here, just accelerate and get in close. A quick kill is better than a slow one. More planes are showing up now anyway, and eventually you’ll reach a TGT_LEAD that must be attacked while in DFM. Three of his buddies will appear, so let loose with the 4AAM.
With TGT_LEAD destroyed, a timed event will pop-up on-screen. Hit the prompt, then hit the prompt again to complete the mission.
Gunner Sequence:
During this opening mission, you’ll be shooting from the door gun of a helicopter. Just spray down your enemies with gunfire.
Zoom in on your opponents and blast them if you’re having a hard time spotting. Try to hit the RPG soldiers first, they’re tricky to spot, and tend to hang out on rooftops.
There isn’t too much to worry about here, just shoot any enemy that moves. At one point, one of the Blackhawks will be hit, while a swarm of shooters will charge the crash site. Just keep shooting to clear the enemies out and protect the site.
The crashed bird won’t last long, and you’ll continue out towards a depot. Blast the Hind-D first, and make sure to clear the roof of the large building ahead covered with rebel shooters. It won’t be long now to the end of this sequence.