Ace Combat 2

"Blow away some rebel arse in this excelent flight sim!"

Introduction:Hmm where to begin? Well this is a great flight sim ''lite'' with. I say that because this game is very light on the realism besides the stalling but I'll talk about that later. Nothing much else to say here so let's get on with the review!

Story:Well the story doesn't really effect the game in anyway except it gives you a reason for all this mass destruction. Basically a bunch of rebels took over their nation while their leader were away on a diplomatic mission.

Control:Control is very good in this game. Nice and simple. Accelerate, airbrake, rudders, maneuver, fire missiles, and fire guns. That's about it. But the good thing is that it was executed nicely. mainly because of the simplified flight model but I'm happy to say that it didn't affect the fun factor at all (and I'm a fan of the real complicated flight sims).

Sound:The music was well, I didn't pay much attention to the music... I was too busy trying to avoid anti-aircraft fire and dodging missiles to really listen to the music. I'm asuming it was OK but oh well, I'll just stop while I'm at it. Anyway the sound was pretty good! Except for the horrible explosion sound! The explosion sound was pretty muffled but you get used to it.

Graphics/Menus:Well the graphics were very good. I might even say that they rival that of Ace Combat 3. The planes looked very good for a PlayStation Fligth Sim but some of the ground textures were I'm assuming unavoidably pixilated and ugly. The menu systems were very simple and easy to use which gave me a good first impression.

Gameplay:Gameplay is very good. I already talked about the simplified flight model already but now I'll go into it a little more. Well for one thing you can pull crazy stunts in those planes that might even kill a human pilot if you were going fast enough and that brings up another point. You can excede 1,800 knots, and to my understanding that would be bad for the pilot. As far as I know you don't want to go much faster than 700 knots if that fast. Another thing, how could a A-5 carry 60 missiles? How can an F-15 carry 72 missiles? I don't know either. This one seems to alude me. Oh well who cares?! More missles to blow crap up with! Also for every enemy you destroy you earn money to buy new planes and when you complete certain missions you gain access to these new plains but you cannot use them until you but them. Also you can hire a wingman, which I found almost completly useless. All they do is get shot down in the middle of the mission with out hitting anything but they still take your money! Oh yeah! You have to pay your wingmem no matter how much they suck. Most missions are just blow this up but be sure not to blow this up. Or blow everything up. Or fly really low so the enemy can't see you until your really close to their base and then blow everything up. Not much mission variety but enough to keep me entertained.

Replay Value:Great because you can unlock new planes when you beat the game, or unlock new missions. I beat it 3 times myself.

Rent or Buy:I would say rent and then buy

~DW

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/05/00, Updated 12/05/00