As a rather ravenous fan of the Ace Combat franchise, I was more than a little excited to get my hands on Ace Combat for 3DS. The E3 2011 demo has some promise, but it looks a little rough around the edges.

To get this out of the way, Ace Combat 3D is Ace Combat. You fly a jet fighter at breakneck speeds, and try to shoot down other fighters. This is no different in the 3DS game, but now there is a depth to the action, as if you were flying into space.  On or off the 3D effect did not really make much of an appreciable difference, except when flying through the debris of an exploding enemy. Then it was very cool.

While the gamplay is mostly the same, there are a few concerns that I have following playing the title. My primary concern is the game lacks a true sense of speed. The flying feels slow, detracting from the excitement the game is trying to create.  My other gameplay concern is that the reversed flight controls (down makes the fighter's nose go up, up makes it go down) don't feel right on the Circle Pad. I kept trying to go up and found myself going down. This sensation was mentioned during Nintendo's developer round-table during the discussion of Star Fox 64 3D. Hopefully the final game will resolve both of these concerns.

One nice addition to the 3DS title is the "special" button. The Y button is context sensitive, allowing for you to perform automatic stunts when the icon appears on the screen. These quick time events can be used to get behind enemy fighters or to dodge missiles.

The visuals look a bit bland, especially the landscape the series is known for, but this is an early build and that could be improved before release. From what I could hear, the game did have a surprisingly nice soundtrack, full voice acting during combat, and a good mix of sound effects.

Ace Combat 3D needs some work before it is released. Currently Namco does not have a set release window, so hopefully they'll take their time with it and make it the best it can be.