I love playing it, and I'm incredibly happy just to have a new Ace Combat. It definitely smacks of a money grab, at least on the surface, but in the long run it's really a good deal. Twenty bucks will eventually get you a full campaign, and stocked fuel seems to drop often enough that if I want to go on a co-op binge I don't feel compelled to shell out any more money.

That being said, the way they handle the events is ridiculous. The game itself is great, but the events are pay-to-win in the worst way.

I give it a B- but if they fix the events it's definitely a B+ instead.

Yeah the events are murder, i'm always deep into the 2nd bracket (save for the dog fighting events) because I just cant put the money in. And when they riddle them off one after another without me being able to recover the sorties I spent its even worse lol. But it keeps the game interesting thats for sure

I have it, downloaded it on more or less the first day.
I was really interested in the campaign, especially after seeing the trailers and playing the beta. Unfortunately, it seems like that's being dragged out tidbit by tidbit in favour of endless 'challenges' in the multiplayer for pointless rewards, most of which are 'bragging rights' more than anything else, and mainly involve throwing money at the game to get a reward.

I'm not overly fussed by the game model, as it's perfectly possible to play it casually and not pay a penny to get anything, and indeed I haven't paid for any fuel yet, because the game is free and I refuse to pay for something that's free (beyond the campaign ticket, which I was happy to pay for).

Mainly though, I just find the repetition tedious. The same missions on the same handful of levels gets boring quickly, and even the 'emergency' mission at the half-way point of each isn't really varied much in my opinion. It needs more variety to hold my attention, and the campaign is far more interesting, but there needs to be more of it to really make it worthwhile.
It's something I dip in and out of when I feel like it, but it doesn't really hold my attention.

Alot of good points, ty for posting ^^

I personally like the game. The visuals are like those of the Assault Horizon games for PC, PS3 and 360, which I liked, and the gameplay is like that of PS2 Era games.

Sure, its a F2P game, so you will have lots of hidden costs. But because the game is mostly co-op, its not a pay-to-win game, since the only competition is between who can get higher points by shooting down enemies. That said, because I play this game a lot I have probably put over 120 bucks into it so far for fuel and contracts, probably more.

Community management is good. Whenever there are problems or bugs or mistakes with the PSN store integration, you see Namco try to make up for said mistakes, even if you weren't really affected by it. They also give out gifts to commemorate milestones (like when the game had 1 million downloads, they handed out a free special plane to everyone).

Storywise, its a total throwback to the PS2 Era games, and one can take that either way. Either you like it, like me, or you can feel that they're basically just rewarming and rehaching iconic missions and music and plots into something half baked. Again, I am more of the first variety, but I can see why people have problems with Single Player campaign.

Plus, unless you buy a sort of Story Mission Season Pass, you will have to unlock the missions ingame with ingame money, and it costs a buttload. Thats kinda a bummer any way you see it.

Yeah I had to buy the campaign ticket, haven't regretted it though. My gripe at the moment is the sheer amount and frequency of the events. I used to have time to stock up on free fuel but now I can barely get 10. I saw the list of coming event planes and there is now way I can get any of the non TDM ones. But that being said I am really enjoying the game