Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies

"'KABOOM!' There goes every other flight sim game."

Ace Combat 4 is a flight-sim game where you take control of an ace pilot in a war of all wars. With great graphics, a gripping storyline, and realistic sounds, this game blows all other games of this type out of the air. You'll soon be comparing this game to other ones- and using this to point out the other game's flaws.

CONTROLS:
Kind of hard to get in to, but once you do, it's like second nature to you. If you've played this kind of game before, you should pick up quick. The thrust and brake buttons are well placed.
Landing is very easy, but if you don't feel like doing it manually, you can just skip it. Same with taking off.

GRAPHICS:
Very cool. The jets look like the real things, and the environments are great. The ships, planes, buildings, and tanks are exactly to scale, but that's OK. The explosions and fire effects are awesome.

SOUND:
Great explosion effects and jet sounds make the sound awesome. When you fire a missle, it waits until it hits the target to explode! WOW! Another cool effect is the voice-overs. ''Mobius One, bogey one your tail! Hard right!'' is a common phrase. You can even hear the enemy and, in one level, even a civilian broadcast!
And the sound of a sonic BOOM! as a plane flies past you is just a sweetener.

STORY:
Great storyline, which is odd for this genre. The story goes through the life of a boy who's mentor was Yellow 13, a lead pilot in your enemy's squadron. He tells the events of the previous mission through the enemy's POV. It's very interesting.

MULTIPLAYER:
Multiplayer is OK, but it's one of the worse points of this game. It only has one view, and that's most people's least favorite view. Besides that, there are about 3 differet modes: Head to Head, Air Target Competition, and Ground Target Competition. All are amusing....for about 2 runs through. Pretty cool if you have 2 people and you want to see who's better.

REPLAY VALUE:
High. This is a game you'll want to be playing over and over to get every plane. There are many different diffuculty levels, too. See if you can master expert mode.

RENT OR BUY?
Definately buy, whether you're into this or not. A great game, all around. This game might just make you think of joining the Air Force. The feeling after you blow a bogey out of the skies is great. Almost like the real thing.

Overall Rating: 9 out of 10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/30/02, Updated 05/30/02