Another change I find curious is the aircraft choice. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that some aircrafts from A e Combat 2 are outdated by modern standards, or some licensing issues, but while previously you started with F4, now your starting aircraft is F16, which was present in the original game, but was more of a midgame option.
Also something they probably could afford because they were using the Assault Horizon engine is cockpit view. It didn’t exist in the original, and I love it.
Ace Combat 2 came up with the concept of unique enemies, but they were low key, easy to miss. Here, they are in your face, introduced with a cutscene, and an entire squadron of them (5 planes) each time. Also, each seems to have a gimmick. For Beast Squadron, for example, they are invincible when they are together in the same zone, so you have to lure them one by one.
The entire economy has been rebalanced. There is less planes, and those are harder to buy. I skipped MIR2000, because I wanted to save for F14.
They tried to modernize some missions. The ravine mission where you need to hit the submarine is not a chase after the sumbarine, before it hides in the dock.
This is such a weird game to make. It seems they took the engine of Assault Horizon, and the “story” of Ace Combat 2. The ironic part is, Ace Combat 2 didn’t have much story to begin with. Yeah, your first mission is to down some bombers. But almost every Ace Combat game starts with such a mission. Story in early Ace Combat 1 and 2 where, like in porn, just an excuse for some action.
With that said, it looks and plays amazingly. This is probably the most impressive game I’ve seen on 3DS. I’d even say that it looks better or at least on par with PS2 installments. And the first game that actually uses the second thumbstick of New 3DS, and the ZL/ZR buttons.
In terms of mechanics, this is more of Assault Horizon than Ace Combat 2, since you get to pick your load out. Moreover, something I haven’t seen in any other Ace Combat yet is ability to customize parts of your plane, in an RPG like fashion.
And there are also defensive and offensive maneuvers. Once a bar fills up, you can either magically place yourself behind enemy or magically evade the next missile. To counter that, missiles are harder to evade regularly.
Also, they added checkpoints, something I don’t remember in other Ace Combat games. But at least you don’t have to replay 10 minutes.
Completed Ace Combat 3.
This wasn’t easy, but not because the game is hard. To get the True Ending, you need to beat all 5 scenarios, and save them on the same memory card. I didn’t know that, so I used two memory cards, and had to repeat at least one scenario. I was also afraid that I was missing some missions, due to the way save states and memory cards work in RetroArch. But it worked out in the end.
I know I complained a lot about boss battles in this game. But “Ouroboros 1” scenario is probably the best boss battle in the entire series. First, Rena goes crazy, and you fight Night Raven. Then Keith comes to your rescue and sticks his plane in Rena’s (Night Raven is like a biplane from WW1).
In the Fi/Neucom ending, Dision mentions Yoko, but we have no idea who she is. Turns out, she was a scientist and Dision’s lover that performed Sublimation on him. It’s not a concience transfer, but a concience copy. So when General blew Dision and Yoko up, Dision-clone could watch how his original dies.
Keith/General ending is surreal, and I say it after the cyberspace battle from Dision’s ending. You fight Rena after failing to collapse geofront ceiling on her and Dision. Keith is shot down, but not before he shoots down Dision too. Then you need to fight 8 more Night Ravens! But once you beat the first, you somehow hack it, and then pilot it for the rest of the battle. No explanation is given, and the cockpit is shown to be empty.
In Dision/Uroboros ending, Dision mentions Simon, but it’s not clear why. In the True Ending, we get an explanation, and it’s a good one. Nemo is a computer program (that’s why Rena at the very beginning asks you why do you fly just like her), and the purpose of that program was to erase Dision from cyberspace. And alternative scenarios are alternative paths that the program takes to erase Dision. Talk about breaking the 4th wall.
Ace Combat 3 story is not just unparalleled for a flightsim. It is one of the best storylines in games. Dision plot made me think of Soma (which I hated) and Tides of Numenera (which I’m fond of), while multiple conflicting storylines reminded me of Zero Escape games, which, when I think of it, also dealt with conscience transfer.
Next I decided to go back and shoot down Fi and Clarkson, which took me to the UFEO scenario.
Park, the UFEO commander, is corrupt and working with Uoroboros to pit General and Neucom in order to eliminate both.
There’s an interesting twist in he mission where you need to bomb nanomachines: Rena’s plane gets infected, and you need to hit it with a freefalling bomb 😬
It’s explained that Dision onboarded Rena into an experimental program convincing her to install neurolink so she could pilot Night Raven. Then he was killed by General either because Neucom split or for another reason, but managed to preserve himself in Electrosphere.
He offers Night Raven to Rena, but she uses it to shoot the zeppelin out of the sky. She crashes, but survives to be picked up by Nemo (the protagonist) and Erich. The strange helicopter you blow in the English version turns out to be Park trying to flee.
This ending is much more positive, and also the entire scenario is easier: Su43 you get from UFEO is far better than the aircraft from Neucom, and there are no annoying boss battles or tunnel runs at all.
At the mission where you need to escort the UN diplomat, Fi is onboard with him when you’re ordered to shoot the aircraft, because Clarkson is about to defect to Neucom. Rena doesn’t care, but Erich objects. Another choice.
Joining Neucom we’re introduced to Cynthia, Fi’s edler sister. Turns out she is a Neucom ace, and obsessed with “Sublimation”, or in other words transcending into cyberspace.
Another choice, either follow her and join Ouroboros, or stay with Fi and Neucom. I didn’t save that broad just to let her go! So I stay with Fi.
In the underground, we fight Rena, then Dision. Now at least I understand who I fought in the English version. And that’s it, end of Neocom scenario. No delirious fight in Electrosphere. I thought that fighting Dision for a second time would be better. It wasn’t.
Rena receives a message from her sister telling her that she’s happy in cyberspace. The end.
I mentioned that Ace Combat 3 was the longest Ace Combat I played, and now I understand why. They mashed together missions from different scenarios. So I didn’t get to blow a train or to fight a virus or to free a path for a falling zeppelin. A single campaign in the Japanese version takes under an hour, pretty standard for Ace Combat games.
Completed Ace Combat 3.
English version of Ace Combat 3 is a complete mess. It’s like watching a silent movie from 1920, where every few missions you’re interrupted by a paragraph of text that makes little to no sense.
It’s the longest Ace Combat in terms of number of missions by far: 35 missions, compared to about 25 in most other titles.
Once you get used to the controls, the game is relatively easy, until the chase in the Geofront. Every Ace Combat game makes you fly through a tunnel. But that’s the only game I remember that has you do it for 5 minutes straight. It’s a torture.
And then you need to duel a X49 superfighter, similarly to Ace Combat Zero. But it’s very hard to tell if you hit it or not. And all that without saving in-between. I call it “superfigher” for lack of better term, as it is able to take ridiculous number of missile hits, and instead of firing missiles back it uses some kind of a laser.
After that there’s a long an unfulfilling fight against both X49 and UI4054 Aurora, that feels just random in the way they avoid missiles. During my first attempt, I simply ran out of missiles, and I had almost 200 of them, and gave up. Second attempt took me 18 minutes of chasing one then the other.
Didn’t enjoy it? It’s a shame, because you’ll have to repeat it two more times, beating Aurora first in another dogfight, then in Virtual Reality (the eponymous Electrosphere).
In terms of game length, it’s hard to measure, as it doesn’t let you save for the last 5 missions. 30th mission was 2:30 hours, and considering that just mission 33 took me 18 minutes, I’d say it’s around 3:30 hours of play time, which is again, longer than most Ace Combat games.
They did simplify the mini games. In Ace Combat 2 I didn’t to manage to land once. Here I managed both landing and refueling in air.
There are a few very inventive missions, one of which has you pilot a stratosphere fighter, and another a spacecraft taking down satelites.
Chasing a train is fun and stupid at the same time, as this mission can be completed in 30 seconds.
“Swarm” mission throws so many enemies at you, I was afraid to run out of missiles. But at least they are finite, unlike Ace Combat 2 and Ace Combat 4 missions. Also, you have an ally in this mission, that is even helpful and downs some enemies, but you have absolutely no context who that is.
Technically, “Fragile Cargo” will be repeated by Ace Combat 5, where you need to destroy antenas on the way of the landing aircraft. Here, you need to destroy chimneys on the way of zeppelin. But the way they errupt fire as if it’s Blade Runner is super impressive, considering it’s PSX.
This is the only Ace Combat game I remember that lets you choose between different machine guns. Also, the choice between missiles is much more interesting. In most Ace Combat games, you always fire two missiles. Here, you also have the ability to fire 4 missiles, but with a shorter range.
The approach to aircraft is what I call in shooters “M4 with neon lights”. Those are “futuristic” versions of modern aircraft. So we’ve got F/18U HornetAdv (real aircraft is called F/18 Hornet).
Ravine mission here is interesting for two reasons. First, it’s more of a maze, where you need to follow F117. And second, they created a reflection for F117 in the water. Impressive.
One thing I never had trouble with before are the controlls being slugish. But here, I have to pull very hard in order for my aircraft to do anything. Ironic, considering that the machinegun mechanic feels much more lenient, after nightmarish machine gun mission from Ace Combat 2. Hitting even multiple targets with a machinegun is no big problem. But turning your aircraft is.
I thought that only Fat PS2 could play PS1 games, but then I learned that my PS2 Slim could do that as well. So I gave it a try. Even on original PS2 analog gamepad, the game still controls differently than any other before or after. And it hangs on a second mission. Not sure if it’s because of my disc, or playing on Slim instead of Fat, or the game in general.
Everyone should know this story by now, but still. English version of Ace Combat 3 should be the definition of “self fulfilling curse”. Namco developed this insanely ambitious arcade flight sim only to get scared that it won’t sell well in the west, so they literaly cut more than half of the game for the English release, and after that, it obviously didn’t sell well.
I decided that I’ll start with the English version first, and then compare it to the fan translation. And what a strange experience that is.
Maybe it’s because the Japanese version comes on two CDs, and English just on one, but there is no intro, at all. After you start your first mission, you get a bit of text on a black screen telling you that you are UPEO pilot protecting General Resource corp from Neuwork corp. There is no voiceover. It all feels like I’m playing a ripped version in the 90s.
Speaking of the game itself, though, the visual jump is incredible, considering there was one already between Ace Combat and Ace Combat 2. But now the land textures are even more detailed, sun is reflecting on the water, there are lens flares, and clouds, and explosion waves (something I don’t remember even in PS2 titles). The first mission is such a power move overall.
Most interesting mission is where you need to chase experimental bombers above the clouds. A lot of aircrafts would stall at those altitudes, so you need something like MiG-29.
In some missions you also find named pilots, like Goose alor Razorback. Downing them brings a reward to the collection.
Again, we need to fly into a base through a tunnel to blow a reactor. With a twist that a tunnel opens only after 3 minutes of real time, and closes after another minute.
The hardest mission is probably the one where you need to destroy radars with your machine gun. Not so much because of the machine gun part, despite radars placed on buyous at sea and the need to fly through inlet to locate some of them, but because the way enemy planes spawn right behind you as soon as you try to make a pass. And unlike your missiles, those planes seem to be infinite.
Last mission, I didn’t enjoy at all. You need to chase a cruise missile with a machine gun, and that target is tiny. Good luck not getting motion sickness. Not sure if playing on a real hardware would help, but on emulator, this mission is a nightmare.
And of course there is another tunnel with a reactor you need to blow at the end. Luckily this time it’s enough to hit the reactor, you don’t need to fly out for the tunnel as well.
One bit that confused me is that I never unlocked the F22, that’s why I was playing final missions on YF23. There are also more aircrafts to unlock when you play the campaign for a second time, but after that cruise missile mission, I’ll pass.
It’s genuiniley impressive how much the game has improved over the first installement. The drawing distance is now comfortable, and I don’t need to look at the radar anymore. The speed and altitude is now also shown in the 3rd person view, so there’s no need to switch to 1st person much. The afterburners are now also visible, so you can see when you are speeding up.
The game is also more colourful. It is strange statement, considering in the first game you flew purple jets.
Of course there is a ravine mission. It looks better than in Ace Combat 1, but weirdly, it plays worse, because with potato graphics of Ace Combat 1 it was very easy to see the path, whereas in Ace Combat 2 I wasn’t sure if I’m flying into a wall.
After success with Ace Combat 4, I decided to check the very first installment in the series, originally called Air Combat . It is still surprisingly playable. The planes are recognizable, and fly well enough. Even the control scheme stayed the same. And you also get to buy new planes between missions.
The differences are that 3rd person view in the first game is mostly useless, while on PS2 I would use it most of the time. This is because it has no information about your speed, for example. To the point I thought my gamepad was misbehaving, as you don’t really see your plane speeding up.
The main tradeoff is the viewing distance. You can’t see shit, basically, enemy planes appear only when they are about 2km away. So you have to navigate by radar most of the time, until you are almost on them.
One notable change I have to talk about is the color palette of the planes. I’m not sure if it’s arcade legacy, or 95 style, or just an attempt for the planes not to mix up with the surroundings, but… red, purple and white? Really?! There’s a real-world term “Flying Circus” coming to mind.
Of course I had to check if this also applies to F117 Nighthawk… and yes, it does.
Wingmen are an interesting concept. Before a mission you can decide if you want to spend a significant sum to have a friendly jet. And you also can choose which jet it will be, which is of course affects the price. You also set the strategy for them: defend you, or try to complete the mission.
Some missions are also quite ambitious. There’s a night bombing run, and a mission where you have to follow pipelines in the desert to locate enemy oil refineries.
You also get to choose which missions to do. And of course there is a ravine mission. The saddest ravine mission ever, I must say, as the hardware was nowhere near. But they tried nevertheless. Actually, there are two ravine missions, although second is more of a tunnel or a cave.
The game is rather short, with 17 missions in total, but because there are some branching paths you have to complete around 14 to beat the game. But it is ambitious. At one point you have to bomb a suspension bridge, and they animated parts of the bridge crashing down into the water.
And the final boss is this flying fortress with four engines that you have to chase, and each engine falls apart separately, and then the fortress begins to tilt and raise smoke. 10 years later, they would repeat this mission in full force, but the fact they already imagined that back in ’95 is impressive.
The only bit I didn’t appreciate is the “Bingo!” exclamation every time you land a hit. Guess this is from the arcade days.
Completed Ace Combat 4.
The game is short. 18 missions and about 2 hours of actual gameplay.
The problem with the game is the rather tedious mission structure. You’re often just given 15 minutes to score enough points in any way you see fit. And while the idea of picking your targets in any order is interesting, nothing is more frustrating than running out of time.
The contrast is most obvious between Mission 10, where you have to try to hit an enemy submarine dock, and Mission 11, where you escort friendly transport planes.
New planes become available as the game progresses, and you’re supposed to buy them with the money you earn from completing missions. But after you get the EF-2000 midway through the game, there’s not much point in buying anything else.
Also, maybe because of the point system, but friendly units don’t actually shoot anything, as far as I can tell.
You get some cool jets at the end: the F-22, F-15 ACTIVE, and for the final mission, the Su-47.
It’s impossible to call Thirteen a nemesis, because Mobius 1, the protagonist, is ever silent, and they meet only twice throughout the game. The first time, you just need to escape; the second time, you shoot him down.
Of course, the final mission has you flying through multiple corridors. But either because I was playing with an analog controller, or because I was prepared, or maybe simply because it’s easier than later installments, I managed it on the first try.
The hardest part was figuring out what the game wanted from you, because the two corridors you have to fly through are parallel, but the third one is perpendicular to the first two, so you have to circle the island to find the entrance.
Still, it’s a cool mission, with cruise missiles launching and lasers sweeping the sky.
Ace Combat is one of my all time favorite series. Enough to say that I got myself a PS2 only to play that game, because emulators, despite all their advantages, can’t deal with its analog controls properly.
But I also have to admit that Ace Combat 4, Ace Combat 5 and Zero are kind of the same game. You fly the same jets, you have just a couple of weapons, and you mostly just shoot missiles at everything.
What varries is how the story is presented. Ace Combat 4 uses anime stills. And the story is not about you, but about your adversary, called Yellow 13. He is viewed through the eyes of a boy, whom he orphaned by accident. The boy works in a pub where the occupier pilots gather. Bartender and his dauther are part of the Resistance, though, and wait for the occupation to end. Despite the dauther being secretly in love with Yellow 13. It is a nice way to tell a story. Contrast this with “in your face” storytelling of Assault Horizon.
One problem I have with the game, though, is that a lot of mission are “earn X points before time ends”. Which means that instead of engaging with mission objectives, you are just caught up in an endless foxfight. That also means you have to resupply once or even twice through the mission.
There are some signature missions, though. When I saw a ravine in Mission 7, I imediattely knew where this was going. And right on queue, and orbital cannon starts to fire at you, and the only way to dodge it is of course to navigate through the ravine.
“Zero” from Ace Combat Zero is one of my most favorite video game tracks of all time.
And this live performance of it is fantastic. Very interesting to see how the performer actually looks:
Прошел Ace Combat: Assault Horizon.
Bombing runs здорово упростили. Теперь не нужно просчитывать маршрут и рисковать разбиться о землю. Все точки уже подсвечены. Знай себе лети и бомби.
Дают полетать и на Apache Longbow. Правда схема управления в корне отличается от самолета. Что в некотором смысле конечно логично. Приходится в основном полагаться на автопушку, а ракеты пускать в ход лишь время от времени.
в сюжетном плане очень правильно сделаны две вещи. Во первых главный герой не очередной новобранец, а вполне состоявшийся полковник. Во вторых, там, где приходится пилотировать что-то кроме самолета действие переключается на другого персонажа. А не как в Call of Duty, где почему-то в последних частях герой и стрелец, и в самолете полетец.
Игру конечно поменяли довольно радикально. Если Ace Combat 6 был Ace Combat 5 но с графоном (и ужасной озвучкой), то это действительно больше похоже на spinoff.
Графика, что удивительно, местами даже похуже предыдущей части. Только взрывы и дым выглядят лучше. Быть может экономили ресурсы консолек, а может просто переборщили с фильтрами.
Прошел Ace Combat 6.
Что-то игра оказалась на порядок короче, чем Ace Combat 5. Всего 16 миссий вместо кажется 24х. К тому же она значительно проще благодаря checkpoint’ам и allied assault’у, позволяющему натравить союзников на все, что движется. Даже в последней миссии нужно всего то пролететь по двум прямым коридорам. Даже без закрывающихся дверей! Никакого хардкора, одним словом.
