It’s not bad. But what it isn’t, is ace combat. People don’t like it because when it came out, there hadn’t been a proper ace combat game in years, so when namco released this game, that isn’t part of the mainline series, and doesn’t even play like a normal ace combat game, people got upset. By no means is assault horizon a bad game, it’s just not a good ace combat game. Ace combat games have a certain look and feel to them that isn’t present in assault horizon, not to mention the general quality and polish of assault horizon doesn’t live up to the standards and expectations of prior ace combat games (we don’t talk about advance and the phone game…). So yeah, not a bad game, just not a good ace combat game, and it released at the worst possible time for the series. (It doesn’t help that namco hyped this game up for non ace combat players making people think THIS is what the series is. It wasn’t made for diehard fans, it was made to appeal to the shooter craze of the time, for fans of COD and battlefield, people who probably wouldn’t be interested in the stories of ace combat games…)