Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War

"You mean, they made Ace Combat BETTER??"

I bought this game one of the first days it was out. I had played through Ace Combat 4 dozens of times and all I wanted was some more missions and a few more planes out of AC5. I got more than what I wanted.

Graphics 9/10 – A step up from AC4 in almost every way. The missile smoke trails look a lot better, the ground is much more detailed, and my favorite improvement: visible shockwave when ya go supersonic! Everything just seems to flow much smoother than before, which helps to bring the realism to an even higher level.

Sound 8/10 – Another step up from AC4. The engine noises, plane noises, missile noises, are all still top notch, but the dialogue has improved a great deal. Albeit there are times when it gets pretty corny but that helps to add to the personality of the wingmen that you have throughout the game. The music is usually pretty good though there are a couple of stages that I found it to be very annoying. To put it another way, most of the music is like when they played Highway to the Danger Zone in Top Gun and it was fun to blow stuff up. Or like the title theme and you were proud of a job well done. In a couple of missions, (one near the end in particular) you are sent into battle with a song reminiscent of “I Will Always Love You” from the Bodyguard. Not only that, but the rest of your squadron starts singing along! And to top it all off, you cant shoot them down!

Plot / Story 8/10 – A fighter sim. with a good story?? Yep. The overall story was pretty good and the cut scenes were fun to watch and that's all fine and good, but what I really appreciated was that the story provided you REASONS for flying the mission you were flying and there was a good flow to your sorties. It was kind of movie-esque really. At some points you almost want them to give you a certain mission before you find out what it is. Without giving anything away there is one cutscene that after watching it I was thinking ‘man, we need to go help those guys!' and then the briefing started and the orders were to go help those guys! It really makes you feel like you are playing a role in the game, something that most RPGs don't even do much of anymore! The downside is that one of your wingmen constantly bickers about how terrible war is and how much they admire the enemy. Unfortunately there is no wingman command labeled ‘Court Marshall'.

Gameplay 8/10 – This game is a step up in difficulty from AC4 in most respects though is not overly difficult. The wingmen are a nice touch and even though they don't do much, its nice to see them there. It can get annoying when people begin asking you meaningless yes or no questions (which you can answer) when you are in the middle of a dogfight. I found myself yelling at them often! But its nice when they sing your praises in mid-flight and talk about how great of a pilot you are. I think it gets the player more into the game in that respect. Its also annoying that you cant restock your missiles mid-mission but in a way, it makes you have to be more selective of how you use them as well as making all of your shots count. Missions vary more in AC5 than they did in AC4 but the bulk is still kill this or defend that or what have you. But, it's a fighter sim, what do you expect? The campaign mode has been extended to over 27 missions to fly and includes a couple of different routes (ie mission 15A or 15B for example) that can occur to increase replayability.

Overall – I made a lot of comparisons to AC4 because AC5 is a polished up version or its predecessor and because the bulk of those who will buy this game will be fans of the AC series and will most likely be acquainted with that game. I really don't know what it is, but AC5 is a little less fun than AC4. For those of you new to the series, its an action based fighter sim, plain and simple. If realism is more important than action then this game is most likely not for you and you may want to pass this one over or give it a rent rather than buy.

Rent or Buy? – AC4 brought a great fighter simulator to the PS2 and AC5 pushes the standard even higher. If you already own AC4 you may want to rent AC5 first to see if its worth the money for a very similar game with an improved story, some better graphics and a couple of nice additions. If you were an AC4 junky like myself, you already own this game and I thank you for reading this far. As for me, I bought the game and I am very happy with my purchase.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/05/04