9 / 10
20 Jul 2006 at 12:42
Review by: Obi56
This is the first PS2 version of the Air Combat games previously released on the original PlayStation albeit with the new moniker of Ace Combat. The game follows a set narrative with some excellent set pieces throughout the game all achieving their goal of making you feel centre stage (which lets face it is the whole point). The cut scenes between each mission are told using still images, which is an unusual choice but works amazingly well thanks to the strong voice acting.
Ace Combat 4 is graphically breath taking, the aircraft are so detailed it’s untrue, even years after it’s original release it’s hard to think of a game that’s done it better outside of the series. The level of detail in the cockpit is good and the simple POV system used does the job remarkably well. The actual exterior of the planes is top notch, from colour scheme’s to flap movement. The trust model is amazing and really shines on aircraft using the trust vectoring system with the afterburners on full. The landscapes are relatively varied although as you get closer they look less spectacular, however with the size of the maps it’s probably more of a system limitation than a lack of effort. The amount of planes on offer and their various guises covers just about everything you could ask for. From the F4 you start with through to the fictional X-02 you’re covered for all your air to air needs. The majority of the missions are air to air combat however there are some excellent ground based missions and the ever faithful A10 is ready and raring to go. The mission structure is set at a steady pace and sufficiently varied starting off relatively calm and building up to covering beach landings, and occupying the enemy capital.
The game play itself leans more to an arcade set up than an heavy PC flight sim, but it works so well. The controls are fairly simple (especially when compared to a true flight sim) yet offer amazing scope and flexibility. After just a few minutes of play you’ll be barrel rolling and corkscrewing across the sky with missile’s and guns firing. I really can’t stress how simple it is to look like a top gun pilot when playing this (you knew a reference was gonna appear at some point so live with it).
The in-game music is good, providing proper music for tense situations and adding to the overall experience of making you feel like you're in the game. The voice work during the missions is some of the best I've heard in a game, and just like the cut scenes it is delivered perfectly!
The difficulty is set just right and the levels you can select become increasingly more intense. On Ace mode you’ll spend more time trying to shake off missile alerts than you can imagine. The AI for the enemy pilots is some of the best I’ve seen on a console.
As far as unlockable’s go there isn't much apart from the various colour schemes for the planes and the various weapons for them. But the beauty of this is that is not where the replay value lies. The replay value of this game replies mainly on the story and fun you have playing this game. You will play this game over, because it is short and you will simply not want it to end, so starting over is the next best thing.
There’s one more aspect of this game that really appeals to me… there are no cheats what so ever. If you can work your way through all of the difficulty settings and still complete the game you get a tremendous sense of achievement out of it.
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