Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War

"Nothing else comes close..."

I've played my share of flight action games, including every single Ace Combat game to come out. I can also safely say that this is THE game you will want if you're a fan of airplanes, action, or maybe even flight sims. Add a point to this game if you've never played a flight action sim before, cause it will be a blast!
Oh and one more thing, this final score is NOT an average of all the ratings I give the different departments of the game.

GRAPHICS: 9/10
It's actually quite entertaining just to look at the planes in flight as you play the game, the graphics are so good. The ground and environment are also beautifully done and sometimes just looking at the ground or the sun will get you in the mood to write a haiku (or something to that effect). Although the cutscenes aren't as good as, say, FFX's, they're still fun to watch and even though I enjoyed the anime-ish drawings from the last Ace Combat game, it would have just gotten boring if they had done the same thing this time. Just like the last game, you can actually see the missiles on the belly on the airplane and you can watch them as you press the button to send them to some poor, unsuspecting enemy aircraft. The explosions are also nice, but it still pains me to think about how much better they could have been on the X-Box or Gamecube, but hey, they are good enough for me, so they can be good enough for anyone.

PLOT/STORY 10/10
I can hardly believe it myself, but the plot in this game is actually better than the one in the last game, and believe me when I say this, THE PLOT WILL KEEP YOU HOOKED ON THIS GAME UNTIL THE VERY END!! This I can guarantee. Again, the plot doesn't hold a candle to pretty much ANY RPG out there, but for a flight-action sim the story just can't get any better than this. There are some major twists too, so that is also a nice breath of fresh air. Trust me, you won't want to skip any cutscenes for the first time, cause the plot is one of the strengths of this game. The characters also have plenty of soul and you'll enjoy having them as your wingmen. As for the dialogue in this game, the acting is average at best, but who the hell cares, this isn't some movie you're watching is it? The dialogue can sometimes get corny too, as well as the theme song of this game (it doesn't hold a candle to Blue Skies in my opinion).

SOUND/MUSIC: 10/10
Woo-boy, I have never heard such awesome music before, (well, except for FF7 and FFX but that's another story) Every level has memorable music that you'll love listening to as you bag kill after kill in the skies, as well as on the ground. I swear, in one mission, the music sounds so much like it's from an action sequence in a movie you'll just be dying to go "BUM BUM BUM, BUDDA-BUDDA-BUDDA BUM BUM BUM!! while you listen to it, it REALLY gets you pumped! As for the theme song, I found the song to be more cheesy and corny than actually enjoyable, and it doesn't even come close to matching the beauty that is "Blue Skies" by Stephanie Cooke; however there is another song that plays both in the intro and during the credits that most people will love. I won't reveal what it is, but it did come at a major surprise to me. I was like "what the? why is THAT song in this game?" but it's still a good kind of surprise, not a bad one.

DIFFICULTY: 5/10 (add two or three points if you're playing on ACE difficulty)
This game is a little more difficult than Ace Combat 4, and there WILL be times when you curse at this game, because frankly, there are a lot of frusterating missions which have you asking why in the hell is it this hard? I hate to admit it, but there were times when I almost broke a hole in a wall cause I was so frusterated at some of the missions those jerks in command had you do, including one submarine mission in which you will be like "WHY WONT THAT THING SINK?!?!?" However, there are 6 different difficulty levels so if you're having trouble just try easy or very easy and then gradually work your way up to Ace mode. Another thing that is important to note is that you CANNOT EXIT THE COMBAT AREA AND RESTOCK ON AMMO LIKE IN THE LAST GAME, which is a real pain in the ass, to me anyway

GAMEPLAY: 7/10
Take away a point if you've played an Ace Combat game before, and add a point if you've never played an Ace Combat game before AT ALL, because the sad thing is, you will be dissapointed on how much this game feels like the last one. It's exactly the problem Resident Evil Zero had, if you will. You will still have fun blasting enemy aircraft out of the sky, but it just feels like you've done it all before. Most of the missions are practically copies off ones in the last game too, which might piss off a lot of gamers out there. Don't let this stop you from going out and trying this game because it's still a winner in my eyes

BUNDLE PACK: 6/10
The Bundle pack comes fully loaded with both the game and a realistic joystick and throttle lever thingy...What's cool about this is that it has every button you need to play the game it really adds to the game, making it 10 times more interesting...and 10 times more hard unfortunately...that's why I gave it a relatively low score, because using this thing to play the game is just too hard for me....I doubt I would have even been able to beat the game using the flight control stick. I would rather just play with the controller but if you're really looking for an authentic feel to the game, then by all means go ahead and buy the bundle pack if it's available...just be ready to crash...ALOT. Unless of course you're a seasoned battle-hardened air combatant who is in the Air Force or something...

REPLAY VALUE: 6/10
It only takes about 5 hours to beat the story mode, and Sadly, there is no multiplayer or online capablities, so that is a big letdown, but there is also plenty of airplanes to try and unlock, as well as tons of medals to try and get as well. There are also a bunch of extra options to unlock, such as a music player. It's as good as it gets with an air combat game

OVERALL:
This game isn't EXACTLY a must buy, but that doesn't mean it would hurt to add it to your collection...it won't go down in history as being a classic, but so what?

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/30/04