nasty
I absolutely adore its aesthetics and what it tries to acomplish with it. Helps that the arcade controls are really nifty and fun. Honestly only dragged back by a lack of mid-mission checkpoints
melodramatic anime cutscenes
very good game
very good game
One of the best PS2 games ever and my favorite in the series.
A good game, but not necessarily my personal favorite of the series. It's focus is a bit muddled between being straightforward about its action and trying to be thoughtful about its themes. Ultimately though, the gameplay and presentation are good, unique and refined enough to make it stand out.
That final mission is so awesome, I'm just hearing latin while I destroy something
Today's my birthday. A victory would be nice.
Third one down. It’s good!! The mission design here is my biggest gripe--there’s a heavy focus on overlong ground assaults with pretty negligible resistance, giving the game a more languid pace than the 5-10 minute single objective bangers in Electrosphere. Incoming missiles feel weirdly rare and simple to dodge, and you totally miss out on most of the chaotic to-and fro moments of disorientating aerial evasion and cathartic re-engagement I love so much in the other titles I’ve played. While their presentation in the story sequences is neat, the Yellow squadron also aren’t particularly challenging or singular in their flight patterns/assault style/formations compared to other series elites, and the dogfighting aspects feel a little undercooked in addition to their sparseness. Still, the highs here are incredibly high and shine even in the face of their direct counterparts in Skies Unknown (Stonehenge is way better here, Farbanti feels so grand), and Megalith is an impeccable finale and a peak OST/mood moment for the franchise.
Really enjoyed the muted melancholy of the story presentation in this one, and I continue to be fascinated by the atypical narrative divulsion in many of the AC games. The way surrounding/opposing players in the conflict are given such emotive weight in contrast to the silent, relatively depersonalized (but always awe-inspiring, meteorically rising, eerily murder-adept) heroic player avatar has this vaguely subversive Drakengardy quality that complicates the oorah arcadey exuberance of play--and adds a faint but much-needed disquieting lens to the many bombing run onslaughts--in ways I don't always find 100% convincing, but really compelling nonetheless. I love how these games make efforts to problematize themselves while still going ham on their fraught stylized romanticism; it’s a way more interesting experience to see seductive and accomplished genre pieces like this messily attempting to self navigate and complicate their own meaning vs scoldy one-note polemics like spec ops: the line clunkily hammering you with an overtly obvious “deconstruction” while failing to show an understanding of the alluring, masterful, potentially dangerous core tenets of their genre to any convincing degree.
I do miss the utter confidence and idiosyncratic minimalism of Electrosphere compared to AC04; Shattered Skies feels like it’s in an in-between space that cant measure up to the steely infographic expressivity of 3 and the visceral romanticism/borderline Makoto Shinkai skies in future iterations, and the expanded radio chatter still doesn’t feel 100% embodied and engaging compared to the ensemble drama soapiness I know is coming. The game absolutely must have been a fucking banger when it came out though (especially compared to the interest-excised English version of Electrosphere we got at the time) and the highlights hold the hell up!! Unsung war next lets goooooo
Really enjoyed the muted melancholy of the story presentation in this one, and I continue to be fascinated by the atypical narrative divulsion in many of the AC games. The way surrounding/opposing players in the conflict are given such emotive weight in contrast to the silent, relatively depersonalized (but always awe-inspiring, meteorically rising, eerily murder-adept) heroic player avatar has this vaguely subversive Drakengardy quality that complicates the oorah arcadey exuberance of play--and adds a faint but much-needed disquieting lens to the many bombing run onslaughts--in ways I don't always find 100% convincing, but really compelling nonetheless. I love how these games make efforts to problematize themselves while still going ham on their fraught stylized romanticism; it’s a way more interesting experience to see seductive and accomplished genre pieces like this messily attempting to self navigate and complicate their own meaning vs scoldy one-note polemics like spec ops: the line clunkily hammering you with an overtly obvious “deconstruction” while failing to show an understanding of the alluring, masterful, potentially dangerous core tenets of their genre to any convincing degree.
I do miss the utter confidence and idiosyncratic minimalism of Electrosphere compared to AC04; Shattered Skies feels like it’s in an in-between space that cant measure up to the steely infographic expressivity of 3 and the visceral romanticism/borderline Makoto Shinkai skies in future iterations, and the expanded radio chatter still doesn’t feel 100% embodied and engaging compared to the ensemble drama soapiness I know is coming. The game absolutely must have been a fucking banger when it came out though (especially compared to the interest-excised English version of Electrosphere we got at the time) and the highlights hold the hell up!! Unsung war next lets goooooo
aviones 👍
more like shattered PCSX2 by requiring 3 different hacks and fixes in order to run and still the mountains would warp around.
that aside, its a short game but everything comes together in a neat way, would definitely even replay it if PCSX2 stopped being so garbage in the next decade or so, maybe.
that aside, its a short game but everything comes together in a neat way, would definitely even replay it if PCSX2 stopped being so garbage in the next decade or so, maybe.
Not my favorite way to review a game (by comparison) but here are the thoughts of an AC3 fanboy -which also happens to be the first AC game I played-:
- Plot: AC4's plot is very simple but I'd say it's solid. I like the fact that the enemy is not portrayed as a monster and are also looked as humans; with this said, it has nothing on AC3's transhumanist/cyberpunk plot.
- Mission structure: this is my biggest gripe with this game, I don't like the game throwing me in a mission to "destroy as much as you can in 20 minutes", it's a step-down from most of the objective-based missions in AC3 and are also not as varied. With that being said, I loved Stonehenge Offensive and the last 2 missions.
- Plane variety: I like realistic jets but I miss the over-the-top designs from Neucom in AC3, you had both choices in AC3.
- Replayibility: because of AC3's 5 different endings the game has a lot of replayability. This on the other hand is more of a "you can keep replaying if you want better scores and unlock all the planes".
Maybe not as important for everyone but the cutscenes suffered a budget cut since they are not animated in this one as opposed to AC3.
It's still a really good game don't get me wrong but the mission structure and plot stop me from putting this in the same level as AC3.
- Plot: AC4's plot is very simple but I'd say it's solid. I like the fact that the enemy is not portrayed as a monster and are also looked as humans; with this said, it has nothing on AC3's transhumanist/cyberpunk plot.
- Mission structure: this is my biggest gripe with this game, I don't like the game throwing me in a mission to "destroy as much as you can in 20 minutes", it's a step-down from most of the objective-based missions in AC3 and are also not as varied. With that being said, I loved Stonehenge Offensive and the last 2 missions.
- Plane variety: I like realistic jets but I miss the over-the-top designs from Neucom in AC3, you had both choices in AC3.
- Replayibility: because of AC3's 5 different endings the game has a lot of replayability. This on the other hand is more of a "you can keep replaying if you want better scores and unlock all the planes".
Maybe not as important for everyone but the cutscenes suffered a budget cut since they are not animated in this one as opposed to AC3.
It's still a really good game don't get me wrong but the mission structure and plot stop me from putting this in the same level as AC3.
Probably the most potent power fantasy ive played. I love you Mobius 8
This was the only ps2 game I owned for the first year I had that console...and I never got bored.
How the hell does storytelling with planes is better than most current games?!
Neat story and solid gameplay but holy shit these 20 minute score attacks must have been the most boring thing I've ever done in the series.
A somber story about the horrors of war mixed with firing 100 missiles to guitar solos. Who even cares about ludonarrative dissonance?
A nice story coupled with a fantastic soundtrack, sadly the missions themselves are often boring and tedious, the worst among the PS2 games but still a fun game in its own right.
It's a 2 hour game. However it also makes you feel super cool for 2 hours so that's a bonus
All squadrons this is Sky Eye... report in!"
"Mobius One standing by."
"Lenner in position!"
"Snake Pit, ESM systems green!"
"Viper Squadron standing by!"
"Yuktobanian 172nd Fighter-Bomber Squadron standing by."
"All planes, this is Mobius One:
SHATTER THEIR SKIES!"
"Mobius One standing by."
"Lenner in position!"
"Snake Pit, ESM systems green!"
"Viper Squadron standing by!"
"Yuktobanian 172nd Fighter-Bomber Squadron standing by."
"All planes, this is Mobius One:
SHATTER THEIR SKIES!"
This review contains spoilers
I got to know Ace Combat through the PSP games when I was a child. I also played 7 at launch. I'm on my quest to finish the holy trinity, but right now, I can say that Ace Combat X, for example, feels like a leaps and bounds better game. AC7 is on a whole different level entirely.
Storywise, I didn't like how removed the actual armed conflict was from the plot. Even as Mobius 1, the whole military and political situation that being in a war entails is practically nonexistent. Being Mobius 1 just feels like the pre-story to the showdown with Yellow 13, which doesn't pay off at all. In ACX, for example, we have the reporter who starts unveiling the real motivations for Leasath's invasion on Aurelia, which gives actual plot depth. In 04, the plot is just an excuse towards Yellow 13's characterization. I liked how Yellow 13 was characterized quite well in this cutscenes. This, however, did not translate in any way to the actual game, because as far as gameplay goes, all the Yellows behave exactly the same. They could have made 13 be far more difficult to shoot down at the battle in Farbanti, not to say actually name each plane instead of just all of them being the same YELLOW. The lack of speech from 13 isn't a problem to me, but even SkyEye didn't say a thing during the whole fight, like "whoa this guys really fly" or something, which made me feel really emotionally detatched from the event.
SkyEye also felt completely devoid of character, and don't say that's good for realism, we ain't playing DCS here. For example, Crux in ACX felt much more invested with the plot.
As for gameplay, the handling of the planes feel identical to what would come in the PSP games I played, so good job by Project Aces having that figured out so early in the generation.
The soundtrack is BONKERS, easily the best Ace Combat OST I've heard.
The plane selection is really disappointing. there are just too few compared to the next games.
And the biggest offender: The mission design. The first 4 or 5 missions are ridiculous and just have a shoot down said thing objective, then done. Like, really? They felt really lazy. Then we have a lot of "earn X points before time runs out" that not a single time pose a real challenge and can be passed with more than 10 minutes on the clock, just circling around doing nothing. I passed the game on Hard and didn't die a single time. I literally started last night and finished the whole thing just now. Maybe Ace difficulty puts up something fun, but the first playthrough was a joke. There was no flying fortress either.
I don't know, I get that this is the first modern AC game and was a landmark for the development of the next ones, but being in a so called "Holy Trinity" doesn't feel earned aside from the OST, more like there are only 3 AC games on PS2. I'll take ACX before this one any day of the week, which even has a lot of replay value thanks to the multiple mission routes you can take.
Storywise, I didn't like how removed the actual armed conflict was from the plot. Even as Mobius 1, the whole military and political situation that being in a war entails is practically nonexistent. Being Mobius 1 just feels like the pre-story to the showdown with Yellow 13, which doesn't pay off at all. In ACX, for example, we have the reporter who starts unveiling the real motivations for Leasath's invasion on Aurelia, which gives actual plot depth. In 04, the plot is just an excuse towards Yellow 13's characterization. I liked how Yellow 13 was characterized quite well in this cutscenes. This, however, did not translate in any way to the actual game, because as far as gameplay goes, all the Yellows behave exactly the same. They could have made 13 be far more difficult to shoot down at the battle in Farbanti, not to say actually name each plane instead of just all of them being the same YELLOW. The lack of speech from 13 isn't a problem to me, but even SkyEye didn't say a thing during the whole fight, like "whoa this guys really fly" or something, which made me feel really emotionally detatched from the event.
SkyEye also felt completely devoid of character, and don't say that's good for realism, we ain't playing DCS here. For example, Crux in ACX felt much more invested with the plot.
As for gameplay, the handling of the planes feel identical to what would come in the PSP games I played, so good job by Project Aces having that figured out so early in the generation.
The soundtrack is BONKERS, easily the best Ace Combat OST I've heard.
The plane selection is really disappointing. there are just too few compared to the next games.
And the biggest offender: The mission design. The first 4 or 5 missions are ridiculous and just have a shoot down said thing objective, then done. Like, really? They felt really lazy. Then we have a lot of "earn X points before time runs out" that not a single time pose a real challenge and can be passed with more than 10 minutes on the clock, just circling around doing nothing. I passed the game on Hard and didn't die a single time. I literally started last night and finished the whole thing just now. Maybe Ace difficulty puts up something fun, but the first playthrough was a joke. There was no flying fortress either.
I don't know, I get that this is the first modern AC game and was a landmark for the development of the next ones, but being in a so called "Holy Trinity" doesn't feel earned aside from the OST, more like there are only 3 AC games on PS2. I'll take ACX before this one any day of the week, which even has a lot of replay value thanks to the multiple mission routes you can take.
One of those games that surprisingly aged well. There are some gripes, especially the controls not being as customizable as I want it to (as far as I can tell, no way to put the throttle on the analogue sticks), and the campaign being on a tad bit short-side, but it's a great balance of arcade flight shooter, and a rather engaging side story cutscenes that happens in-between missions. It can be a bit jarring that the mission is as arcade-y as it can get while the story is a serious anti-war, but I think the juxtaposition works better than it initially seems.
As my entry to the series, it was definitely satisfying, and I hope Bandai Namco one day remasters these games.
As my entry to the series, it was definitely satisfying, and I hope Bandai Namco one day remasters these games.
i love this game a lot. its when the ace combat series really started to pick up. 4's cutscenes told a beautiful but sad story, which I really loved. the game's ost is some of my favorite of all time, combining guitar and techno into the mix. the gameplay is hella fun, and never gets old. although one complaint is that some missions relied on some pretty annoying gimmicks that made it hard. but still this is a extremely fun game and it's a good starting point to the series.
<< Today's my birthday! A victory sure would be nice. >>
The amazing sense of atmosphere (pun not intended) is enough to sell you on the game long enough to realize just how well done and addicting and replayable the actual gameplay is. Get to the final mission though and it will be etched in your memory for all time.
Huge ordeal to be next in the line after the amazing AC3 and AC4 don't succeed in everything. The visuals are not as distinct as AC3, the OST not as good, the plot not as crazy and the missions not as varied but it is still a good game. But yeah, a good deal steps back compared to AC3. And the structure of the game, many many stages with focus on ground assault and a timer ticking is just not good overall. Stiil the tight controls and the nice artwork in the storybits makes this worth playing.
The final mission did not need to go THAT hard god DAMN
In all seriousness I like AC3 more than this one, the narrative in this one is much less messy but also much less ambitious. By far my biggest issue with this game is the "score attack" style missions. There's SEVERAL of them at 20 minutes of length, which is just insane, you could cut them down to half the length easily, but overall pretty solid game. A point of interest for me is the OST because I felt like AC3 didn't really have that many bangers, but AC4 has them in abundance, and of course it has the ULTRA banger song in the final mission.
In all seriousness I like AC3 more than this one, the narrative in this one is much less messy but also much less ambitious. By far my biggest issue with this game is the "score attack" style missions. There's SEVERAL of them at 20 minutes of length, which is just insane, you could cut them down to half the length easily, but overall pretty solid game. A point of interest for me is the OST because I felt like AC3 didn't really have that many bangers, but AC4 has them in abundance, and of course it has the ULTRA banger song in the final mission.
Zoooooooooom!
My first Ace Combat game. Flying is tight Story is basic but I liked it a lot. Every game in the series has a great soundtrack but I feel like this one is my favorite. Also the final mission song is about Jesus, no wonder my dad got this game.
Ace Combat 4 tells a much more simple story then the games that followed, but it is a good one none the less. The story is very character driven, rather then focusing more on philosophies and morals like the other games. 13 is by far the most interesting rival in the series, and this game probably has my favorite tunnel run. Sadly, it misses the fun ace duels.
This is definitely the game to start with if you are new to ace combat.
This is definitely the game to start with if you are new to ace combat.
I replayed this recently, and I have to say; it holds up beautifully, and there's a reason this game is so beloved by Ace Combat fans, and it's not just the memetic badass status that Mobius 1 has achieved. It's a really solid flight game wrapped in a beautiful, poignant and gorgeously delivered story about war and what it looks like, about the way soldiers are more than just heroes or villains, about how little sense grief makes and how little sense human relationships make, and yet how much those relationships mean and how much that grief matters. It's gorgeous. There's yet to be a game like it that does half as well what Ace Combat 04 does so effortlessly.