Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies

"The Ultimate bogey-busting insanity ride"

Introduction (=)
The first Ace combat series in the PS2 and it ROCKS!!!! The graphics, sounds, gameplay , story , playtime
Everything!!! It’s simply awe-inspiring it surpasses every Ace combat series and almost any airplane games
Many new interfaces are added to this game, like new weapons, long range missiles; super swarm bombs nuke bomb (almost like) fighter jets, new interface, multiple difficulty settings and many more, There’s one thing I can say to this game one of the ultimate bogey busting, insanity ride!!

Gameplay (=)
The gameplay is astounding its very hard from the beginning and the enemies puts a very good fight, and that means they want you dead the difficulty really says its definition, the missiles are easy to evade, and yours also, that means the enemy can still dodge your missiles as good as you can do, this will force you to use gun which is a very good challenge, the hardest difficulty is so hard, as in so hard to the MAX, if you really want to finish this game you got to have of course the usual MADSKILLZ!, I mean it really because I’ve already finished ace 2 and 3 but this game is more difficult than the two, but the advantage is that there are level selecting so that you’ll have the chance of practicing.

Story (=)
The story is quite unique since the story doesn’t point toward you, it tell about a boy living with the enemy its quite touching though this a good story, this is the first good story Namco was able to make in the series
, but they didn’t really focus on the story I think? Maybe, but I think the story is good since they made more importance to it (maybe too much) the morale lesson as well, but still sadly the game is still a mission type that means you still have to follow orders and your just on one sided, (unlike Ace combat 3 Japan version)
that has multiple ending, this game has only one ending (very disappointing).

Graphics (=)
“Graphics? What’s that” you’ll say that when you see the intro, the graphics are so EXTREME I can’t say anymore since it’s so good!!!!! When you see the mountains, sea or any background environment it’s so like the real thing, Namco is really one of the top graphics notchers, the plane and the missiles are so realistic, in fact when I first saw the intro I thought that was a film record, the planes are fully detailed from the boosters up to the landing wheels, and the explosions are very real, but one thing is for certain that is not that realistic is the big cannon (find out the name for yourself)the pool of missiles (can you think a plane can carry over up to 50-70 missiles), unrealistic planes, it doesn’t really matter since we all need is a good action game right?, to put it simple the graphics is almost real (check it out for yourself)

Sounds (=)
The sounds are great as well the explosions, the missile, everything sounds very good for a arcade game it’s more now like a simulator, and also the music now are still amazing maybe even more the its predecessors Namco is also good in music I think, the soundtrack is so good it actually blends with the mission and it’s current situations and especially the final stage music it ROCKS!!!!, the music will really pump you up or even make you very tense in some missions, it’s a rare phenomenon to have such a music like this because now ace combat focuses more on military type of music, which is very impressive for just a game, and ace combat series are one of my top music favorites,

Play time/replayability (=)
This game is very addictive especially to the die-hard fans of any ace combat series the features different difficulties and different kinds of missions like escorting into a hunting type of missions it really get harder per level which makes the game even more challenging, its only flaw is it’s not for the beginners, because it already show s difficulty on the starting missions and their new method of the “Time limit” method really is really hard and even more harder with dozens of targets and enemies that wants you dead in a body bag, it features new types of mini missions and a new versus mode!!! It still has the standard free mission where you can pick a specific mission for fun or to S rank it, Which is great for family playing I was a ace combat fans, but not a addict, only to armored core I became a addict, any way this game show a good replay value and not a boring reiterating game.

Final recommendation (=)
BUY this game, it’s worth the cash or check, if you want an almost impossible to beat challenge, it is recommended to any age, because it doesn’t show too much gore like DMC, I recommend this game played with a group, so they can ruin your concentration while playing, sorry I’m joking, this game shows the power of the PS2 graphics, or what they call the emotion engine, and one of the best of Namco, I recommend as well to those who loves air simulations it really show the details of each plane,well anyway the game is a blessing to all gamers.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/06/03