Namco Bandai did it again. With over half a million downloads in its first week from the demo launch on Xbox live, the combat series is about to get a new look and experience, thanks to the next-gen console.

We got the chance to take a look of the game and boy it looks good. The realistic war zones and highly detailed aircrafts will make the combat as real as possible. You have the ability to control air, naval and ground units on the battlefield, where up to six conflicts can break out at multiple locations. The new “Dynamic Operation System” gives you the liberty to choose which target will be first, affecting the outcome of the mission.

The story is told from the perspective of seven different characters that will add drama to the gaming experience. Also, lots of authentic aircrafts from around the globe can be seen in the game, such as F-15 E Strike Eagle, F-22 Raptor, and Tornado – to mention just a few of them. The controls are intuitive and might be a bit hard to get used to, but controlling an aircraft is not an easy thing.

Like I said before, the graphics are astonishing. Beautifully rendered landscapes, combined with the feeling of flying beyond the sound barrier, cutting through clouds like knife through butter. When launching missiles after the bad guys, you can choose to select the missile camera that shows the smoke trail of the rocket and the explosion on impact. It all looks blazingly realistic.

As for the multiplayer, 16 players can join on Xbox Live in co-op and deathmatch missions, where the battle gets more intense than ever. In Battle Royale, every pilot plays for himself, facing all of the other 15 players to a total chaos, while trying to escape incoming missiles and avoid anti-aircraft fire that relentlessly fills the battlefield. In Team Battle mode, strategy is raised to another level. Using voice-chat and building strategies is an essential key to win and get your rank up against players from around the globe.

In few words, Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation will surely blow of the competition when it will hit the shelves in October this year and is surely a game to watch out for.