Ace Combat 04 sets the foundation of what I'd expected from the series coming into this marathon, as someone who'd only played AC7. This ticks all the boxes of what you'd want from the series, yet plays things a touch too safe and ends up a high quality yet largely unmemorable entry.
What works here is the story. We get illustrated vignettes with voiceover that show us a tiny piece of the conflict, from the perspective of a young lad whose family died when the enemy attacked. Initially, this paints these people in an explicitly negative light, and we get a primary threat: Yellow Thirteen. It's not long before we find out more about this mysterious figure, who ends up being a seemigly decent person, a talented pilot who respects strong opponents and acts as an intriguing window into the enemy's army. He isn't cruel; he treats the people of the town they've overtaken very well, even so far as to help them out of a bind even when they're plotting his downfall. It's a very human tale, and muddies the waters somewhat. Are you definitely playing as the good guys? It certainly appears that way, and maybe that is the case, but there are good people on each side, and the circumstances of their birth has determined their fate long before this fight ever initiated. The conclusion to your rivalry with Yellow Thirteen is somewhat underwhelming, but the journey there had me hooked.
Witnessing the jump from PS1 to PS2 is always quite exciting, and that's the case here too. Graphics are not only more detailed, the environments are far more multi-layered, with many of them being set in hills or cities. Tightly navigating through terrain is very effective due to the better controls, curtesy of the left analog stick. It's the best the series has ever played, and I finally found myself able to shoot down enemies with the machine fun, which was quite the struggle previously. Missions are longer and full of radio chatter which brings the war to life. Late into the game, you get access to the iconic SU-37, which is absurd in terms of speed and turning ability. It's a fantastic late game plane and made me consider doing New Game+ just so I'd have more time in its cockpit.
Where I must ultimately reach with this review is the missions themselves. Things start off as basic as usual, with some dogfights and bombing missions filling the early game. A short time in, you'll come across the first 'score attack' objective. One of my favourite missions in Ace Combat 7 was the nail-biting, utter decimation of a canyon's army base, and this evoked the same feeling (though admittedly a lot easier). What soon sank in was that this was the bulk of the game, with most back-to-back missions being score attacks. There was diversity in locations, but I couldn't help but feel it was all a tad monotonous. It didn't help that most were incredibly easy to not only beat, but to achive S Ranks on. I didn't have to optimise my pathing, I could just drift lazily through the sky, firing on targets that struggle to fight back. As a break from dogfighting, these missions can be effective, but I feel it only caused the game's identity to blur. There just aren't many standout missions here, though the finale is insane in the best possible way.
So for as much as I enjoyed the technical upgrade that is Ace Combat 04 (why is there a zero there?), it falls into the same trappings as its predecessor, with objectives that seem to loop as you work your way towards a stunning finale.
What works here is the story. We get illustrated vignettes with voiceover that show us a tiny piece of the conflict, from the perspective of a young lad whose family died when the enemy attacked. Initially, this paints these people in an explicitly negative light, and we get a primary threat: Yellow Thirteen. It's not long before we find out more about this mysterious figure, who ends up being a seemigly decent person, a talented pilot who respects strong opponents and acts as an intriguing window into the enemy's army. He isn't cruel; he treats the people of the town they've overtaken very well, even so far as to help them out of a bind even when they're plotting his downfall. It's a very human tale, and muddies the waters somewhat. Are you definitely playing as the good guys? It certainly appears that way, and maybe that is the case, but there are good people on each side, and the circumstances of their birth has determined their fate long before this fight ever initiated. The conclusion to your rivalry with Yellow Thirteen is somewhat underwhelming, but the journey there had me hooked.
Witnessing the jump from PS1 to PS2 is always quite exciting, and that's the case here too. Graphics are not only more detailed, the environments are far more multi-layered, with many of them being set in hills or cities. Tightly navigating through terrain is very effective due to the better controls, curtesy of the left analog stick. It's the best the series has ever played, and I finally found myself able to shoot down enemies with the machine fun, which was quite the struggle previously. Missions are longer and full of radio chatter which brings the war to life. Late into the game, you get access to the iconic SU-37, which is absurd in terms of speed and turning ability. It's a fantastic late game plane and made me consider doing New Game+ just so I'd have more time in its cockpit.
Where I must ultimately reach with this review is the missions themselves. Things start off as basic as usual, with some dogfights and bombing missions filling the early game. A short time in, you'll come across the first 'score attack' objective. One of my favourite missions in Ace Combat 7 was the nail-biting, utter decimation of a canyon's army base, and this evoked the same feeling (though admittedly a lot easier). What soon sank in was that this was the bulk of the game, with most back-to-back missions being score attacks. There was diversity in locations, but I couldn't help but feel it was all a tad monotonous. It didn't help that most were incredibly easy to not only beat, but to achive S Ranks on. I didn't have to optimise my pathing, I could just drift lazily through the sky, firing on targets that struggle to fight back. As a break from dogfighting, these missions can be effective, but I feel it only caused the game's identity to blur. There just aren't many standout missions here, though the finale is insane in the best possible way.
So for as much as I enjoyed the technical upgrade that is Ace Combat 04 (why is there a zero there?), it falls into the same trappings as its predecessor, with objectives that seem to loop as you work your way towards a stunning finale.