Everything it takes to be an Ace

I probably ought to start by pointing out the most experience I've ever had in a air combat simulator before ace combat 4 comes from an old demo disc for some PSX game, and for everything it didn't strike me as terribly entertaining. Not so for Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies. From the first time I put my hands on this game (it was at an Electronic Boutique) I was hooked. I decided the best way to go about it was to rent a copy; because for everything I can't chance blowing my money on a game that I don't absolutely love.

The storyline is as follows; you are a proud member of the Allied Forces Air Force. Known only as mobius one (due to the mobius strip detailed on the fin of your aircraft), you have to defend the Allied Forces from the Erusians. The Erusians have occupied the mainland, and taken control of a super weapon known as stone henge, designed to knock asteroids out of the sky, it has now been turned into an anti-aircraft weapon capable of decimating any air based assault. As if all that wasn't bad enough, the Erusians have an elite air force squadron known as the Yellow Squadron. The Yellow Squadron pilots Su-27's, one of the most capable aircraft available in the game. The story line is told from the point of view of a kid in an Erusian held town, and between missions the story is progressed through still shots drawn with anime style characters. Some say that the story line is contrived or confusing, but I found it to be an interesting tale, and while the standpoint can be confusing at times, it all works itself out in the end.

Gameplay, as almost anyone will tell you, is the key element to any game. A game can flourish in all other areas, but if it isn't fun to play no one will want to play it. Ace Combat Four excels in the gameplay area by all accounts. The controls are simple enough that anyone can pick it up and play. After 5 minutes of play I was confident in my abilities and ready to run through the missions. The game is admittedly a little to easy to appreciate for the hardcore players on normal level, and even on difficult once you get good there’s not much challenge to it, except perhaps in dueling with the yellow squadron. The controls are easy to master, although you certainly expect to recreate actually piloting an aircraft with 10 buttons, they have done an exceptional job with what they had to work with, and your aircraft was easy to manipulate. The game consists of a large number of diverse missions, consisting of different objectives for each mission. You start out with a briefing that relays your objectives, displays a map of area you'll be fighting in, and even enemy locations (at least where they were when you first start). Before each mission starts you will be given a chance to buy new aircraft and weapons. Of course not every weapon can be carried on every craft, and you can't possibly afford to own all the aircraft, so you must maintain a balance of some sort depending on your play style, as not all aircraft are well suited for every mission. And with aircraft ranging from the A10 (commonly known as the warthog), to the Su-37 the latest and greatest in air superiority, everyone will find something to fit they’re play style.

The missions themselves take place at diverse locale and each has its own objectives. Sometimes your objective is to take out a specific target before time runs out, or more than one target. Other times you just have to do as much damage as possible before you run out of time. The game mixes both air and ground missions, and even includes a few sea-based targets. As the game progresses not only do the missions become more complicated, but they reflect how a real war would be progressing. For instance at one point you are required to destroy a fuel production plant, and so reduce the output of the Erusian forces. Another time you have to destroy a naval fleet in harbor before it can invade the outlying islands, where the Allied Forces are headquartered. All in all the developers did an amazing job of not only balancing the difficulty of these missions, but also made sure that they were fun to attempt while maintaining the integrity of the game. The only complaint I have about the missions was the final mission, which made a mockery of the others and cheapened the experience. I would rather they had left that one out, or at the very least taken it seriously.

The graphics are beautifully done in all areas of this game. From the hand drawn story boards to the amazing reflections while skimming low over a body of water it shows that they have pushed the PS2 to the very limits of its abilities. Missiles leave smoke trails and you can see the contrails of the other fighters. All the planes are extremely good looking, you can play from one of 3 viewpoints, in the cockpit, with just a heads up display in front of you, and finally from a 3rd person sort of view. You can toggle from one to the other on the fly without it interrupting what you are doing. When seen from the air the ground can best be described as photo-realistic, and only on close inspection can you tell this is only a game and that you aren't actually flying a fighter. And even up close the ground looks spectacular for a game. And after your mission you can watch a replay of yourself, and of course be amazed by your own feats of daring and skill. When everything is said and done this game is a beauty to behold, and one could easily spend his or her time just flying around admiring the scenery.

One of the strong points of this game (as I see it at east) was the sound. Not only is there engaging music for the stage that’s appropriate for what is going on, the sound effects are portrayed extremely well. All the parts are voiced over, the mission briefings as well as the story line, and I found the actors to be appropriate for their roles. Honestly though my favorite part of the sound was getting to listen to my squad members, and opponents, chatter to each other about what was going on. There is nothing more gratifying than hearing an enemy tank leader refer to you as the grim reaper. Also new commands can be relayed to you in the same fashion in the middle of the mission. While fun to listen to it was not distracting enough to interrupt my concentration. All in all the sounds is carried just as well as any other portion of the game, which is to say beautifully.

One of my only gripes about this game was the replay value, or rather the lack there of. I played the entire game through in just over 3 hours, and asides from a few small multi player missions there’s no where else to go once your done with it. Once you reach a certain point the game just isn’t capable of rendering a decent challenge. On the other hand players are free to play through the missions as many times as they like, and each time while the objectives remain the same you can play the missions out in an infinite variety of ways. Asides from a few small instances nothing happens the same way twice, or at least that is the feeling I got from it. What this all boils down to is this, you play the game, beat it, and then play for a little bit more. Then you set it aside for a while, and when you come back it still has its old appeal. It’s the choice for a player who really loves a casual combat sim.

I have very few complaints about this game, and I’ve mentioned most of them already somewhere up there, but I think its only fair that I point out the games short comings. First and foremost was the final mission, which I think was a joke and should have been removed from the game. There were a few times where it could be extremely frustrating to try and accomplish what needed to be done, and some missions were overly difficult, not because of your opponents, but because of the sheer amount of damage they expect you to inflict in such a limited amount of time. One thing Id have liked to have seen was real time damage, sure planes explode, but you couldn’t tell a damaged one from one fresh out the factory. I’m not complaining so much as saying that it would have been nice to see smoke trails from planes you had already tagged with a missile at the very least. One thing that did bother me was that you could fly straight through the smoking debris of a falling aircraft, and while often it would have brought about my failure I think that even a dead enemy should be considered a threat till he hits the ground. And finally, some of the planes didn’t perform exactly as I had expected. For instance I once found myself in a dog fight with the yellow squadron while in a stealth bomber. According to the planes stats it has almost no air to air capabilities, handles like a bus, and is slower than molasses. And despite all these short comings the yellow squadron proved to be no difficulty what so ever. Id like nothing more than to attribute this to my remarkable abilities but in all fairness no matter how good I was I shouldn’t have stood a chance.

When everything is said and done I still think this is one of the best games I’ve played for the PS2, one of the best games I played in a long while in fact. It was engaging and enjoyable, challenging at some points, relaxed at others and was probably the most fun I’ve had playing a game in a long while. The graphics were beautiful and the sound was extremely well done. I would recommend renting this game to anyone, as almost every type of gamer will find it enjoyable, and for combat sim fans this one is a must have.