When you first boot up the game, you are met with a very dramatic introductory cinematic, followed by the traditional start menu.

When you select the campaign, you are not given an immediate tutorial for the first mission. Instead, you are thrown right into the action, scrambling to fend off your AI adversaries, without crashing into the side of a skyscraper. After you finally complete the mission, the game then presents to you a selection of tutorials.

When I first played the game, I crashed a lot. However, once I learned the controls, I found them to be very enjoyable. The controls are clean and responsive, which makes playing the game all the easier. They also are not particularly hard to master once you understand them, though that applies to any game.

The graphics have aged quite well for a game released in 2007. The in-game graphics are especially nice, with clean lines and dynamic lighting on the planes as you maneuver. The only main downsides can be found when flying at lower altitudes, particularly things like “folding trees.”

The AI however, has not. The generic enemies are nothing to be really afraid of, only the planes with a special name attached really pose a threat, even though they aren’t all that hard to out smart either. However, your allies can be just as bad. Your main wingman, call sign Shamrock, has a nasty habit of flying right in front of you as you launch a missile or fire a burst from your machine gun.

The sound is amazing. The score for each mission and cinematic set the mood for that particular point in the game. The sound effects are appropriate for what they are given to, and the voice acting is also very well done.

The story is fairly well done. With plenty of characters, it plays out almost like a sitcom, watching several different characters’ stories, and how they coincide with each other. However it is kind of bland by today’s standards.

The game has a moderate replay value, with plenty of benefits to utilizing a New Game Plus to go after the multitudes of unlock-able content within the game.

Overall, I’d give the Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation four Pilot’s Wings out of five.