Crash 1 and 2 are pretty much equal in overall quality -- with 2 trading 1's environmental story telling in favor of more tightly tuned platforming.

Like the first one, Crash 2 is fun as long as you don't fuss over it... and the headaches start once you try to 100% it. Because checkpoints now save your progress with crates, with Crash 1's one-go rule (mostly) gone, the devs got more "creatively evil" to try compensate for it. Can't say much else but " Cold Hard Crash, Piston It Away and Totally Bear can kiss my ass."

I can't quite comment how this compares to games between AC1&2 and this - since I haven't played them yet. But one thing I can say is that the game is little bad at communicating what it wants to the player to do. The part I probably got stuck the longest was when (SPOILERS)the game wants you to shoot at the direction of Harling(/SPOILER).

I'd say the middle of the game is easier than the beggining and then it starts to ramp up near the end.

Also, if you have a bad monitor, atleast on PS4 version, some of the graphics can get awfully bright. I pretty much had to do Mission 13 (Bunker Buster) half-blind. I had to fiddle with TV settings (which work fine for other PS4 games) almost like every second mission to diminish the most distracting visual elements.

Having played AC1&2 - and I know this is many people's first - I have feel like this game is not the best choice for beginner's first Ace Combat. Otherwise its decent enough flier.

I decided to play this before sinking my teeth into Ace Combat 7.

With the advent of 3D gaming and the fifth generation consoles, there was a lot trial-and-error, as game developers tried to figure out how to make the games work in this new frontier. There were plenty of disaster cases with unfortunate control schemes.

I'm quite suprised to say that Air Combat/Ace Combat 1 is a decently functional year one PS1 title.

Yeah, graphically its not too great. But unlike the say, the first Tekken, that looked like 2D sprite marionettes, Air Combat's stuff you can tell its proper 3D.

Its thankfully pretty easy to pick and play, with first mission giving plenty of space to learn.

The planes stats are generally quite balanced, with clear strenghts and weaknesses. There isnt that many that are either outright superior or terrible - except for the unfortunate F-117, which only saving grace is "stealth."

Soundtrack is solid, clearly inspired by the 1986 Top Gun's BGM.

So admittedly, I had deceptively lot of fun with this. I am quite aware that this series will make some serious advancements, but Air Combat was still a good time and a quite exceptional early PS1 game.