Soar the skies, anywhere, anytime. This is the full Ace Combat experience on the palm of your hand.
And now, it is portable.
Gameplay:
To put it simply: this is Ace Combat. The same arcade-intense flight sim that fans have known and loved has been faithfully translated into a handheld form. Granted, there is some compromise with the lack of a few buttons. Thankfully, the controls are customizable, and there are a few functionalities that you can live without and sacrifice.
Skies of Deception delivers on your standard fare of missions. There is more focus towards anti-ground missions this time. Fortunately, there are no dreaded escort missions. However, in its stead, we have a few dreaded radar jamming fly-blind missions.
What really pronounces Skies of Deception apart from other Ace Combats are the new features. Namely, the Dynamic Mission System is a fantastic addition. To me, this is the most substantial addition to the Ace Combat single-player experience. To put it simply, missions have branching paths, and the order you tackle them will have consequences. Apart from this new system, this is also the first Ace Combat to introduce Multiplayer, which offers a few standard modes like versus, escort, base defend (attack/defend), and air superiority (king of the hill). Unfortunately, the multiplayer impaired by being limited to 4 players, Ad Hoc, and requires a copy of the game for each player.
There is also the new plane customization feature, which lets you buy new parts for your planes and tweak them to alter their performance. Unfortunately this only applies to the fictional planes, and many might be confused by the indirect correlation between what each part alters. A numerical representation would have been optimal instead of just bars.
This is the full fledged Ace Combat experience in a portable, and by no means just a mean port. If you want you're dogfights on the go, Skies of Deception delivers on all fronts.
Plot:
ACX's story is much more simplified, yet still fairly compelling if you care to pay attention. It reverts back to the Ace Combat 4 style still drawings, which I think, adds to the personality. The Aurelian War still occurs in the fictional world Ace Combat has created. No previous knowledge is necessary, but veterans will get an immediate sense of belonging.
Graphics:
This game is probably one of the prettier PSP games currently available. It still suffers from the flaws that its console counterparts suffered (i.e. blurry pixelated textures up-close) and a few graphical corners have been cut (i.e. planes turn into a fireball instead of having the plane model burn first before exploding when shot down). But, overall, this is an amazing looking game with much attention to detail. Given, the planes and objects don't look as sharp as the ones in the console Ace Combats, but for a portable game, it definitely pulls out the fireworks.
Sound:
Crisp, clear sound effects abound. The sound effects are simply superb, and the whooshing by of close planes still give the same awesome feeling. The plane explosions sound a little flat, but that is a small hiccup to the attention to sound detail.
There is a lot of voice work and radio chatter in Skies of Deception, and, while there are times when they feel ham-fisted and cheesy, they get the job done. It's good, but not great.
The soundtrack also seems to have taken a more techno/electronica feel akin to Ace Combat 3. It may not have the same personality as Ace Combat Zero's Flamenco, but at least there are a few memorable ones and, at the worst, forgettable ones. At least it doesn't try to be the Top Gun soundtrack.
Conclusion:
This is definitely a must have for Ace Combat fans who happen to have a PSP as well. Granted, Ace Combat already has an entrenched fanbase, but it's also a great primer for anybody wanting to try what all the fuss is all about. Ace Combat X is a great game that grants us the full Ace Combat experience in portable form. There is a bit of concern as to how "portable" a game of this nature is, since mission based dogfighting isn't really geared towards on-the-go gaming. But if all you want is to satiate your Ace Combat needs until the next console release, by all means, grab this one.