Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War

"3 words-This game rules. Need I say any more"

When I first got AceCombat 4 I thought it was already as realistic as any game could get. Apparently I was wrong. This game pushes boundaries back even further. Though they deleted the 2-player funtion which is how I got so good (playing against my brother who is just as good as me.)

Controls: Easy to master with practice although autopilot has been changed and it took me a while to figure out how to access this function. Don't give up when you first get this and the first thing you do is try to climb and the next thing you know you are plowing the ground(very nicely too). Apart from that all the controls are the same. 9.5/10

Gameplay: Very good, Apart from The second last mission where you have about 5 gun towers shooting you at once, the game never lags. With more than fifty planes, it will take you a VERY long time to unlock them all. All the planes have great detail and if your like me, you'll spend at least 10 minutes examining the planes with the square function. Also the explosions are more realistic now. The planes actually blow up(eventually) instead of falling tens of thousands of feet before hitting the ground and blowing up. The 30 something missions are great and even though I've played 40ish hours, I haven't even gotten half of the planes. One thing I don't like is how useless some planes are. One very good example is the A-6e. with 26 maneuverability I have shot down 2 planes with it so far, with 5 sorties. Overall it is great although I would prefer if SAM's actually pointed in your direction(only noticeable at <200 ft. Not recommended as It is very likely to fire a missile at you. 9/10

Storyline: Great storyline. It really surprises you to find what the source of the war is. Your wingmen are great at causing a laugh, especially Chopper. You actually will care about your wingmen. You will miss all Chopper's chatter after he.........In addition there is a arcade mode that continues from AceCombat 4. I haven't tried that yet. That's how good the campaign mode is10/10

Difficulty: At higher difficulty it isn't as annoying as Acecombat 4 where in addition to having to dodge missiles, you also have t o avoid the ground on some missions. Sadly, AA guns seem to be far more accurate and more powerful at higher levels. Instead of the random 180 degree sweep, you have the 45 degree cone of death. I managed to finish Ace in one day though with a very cheap formation of 4 falkens. 10/10

Replayablilty: I've completed the game 12 times already and I know I won't stop till I have 4 of every plane. In AceCombat 4 I had well over 3 million credits and I had every single plane. I think for this game I'd get 5+million before I finally get bored of this

This game is definitely worth the $60 I paid for it. The only thing I would like is online capabilty. Imagine being able to make yourself a squadron with all your friends....Overall rating is 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/24/05