Air Combat

"A solid flight"

The PlayStation is a system that caters to a plethora of genres that suit the taste of any gamer, be it casual or hardcore. From Racing to RPGs, this console pretty much has you covered. But what about the flight simulator genre? Well, what about it? Truth be told, many flight sims have a home base on the PC because flight sims aren't all that popular on the consoles. That and the term ''flight sim'' may scare away most console gamers due to the complex controls that they enforce. Thankfully Namco had the guts to produce a flight game anyway and while Air Combat has been dubed a flight sim, it actualy plays very much like an arcade game and that's a good thing.

Several countries have been invaded by terrorists and as the leader of a mercenary force hired by the world governments it's your job to eradicate the threat. Since the terrorists have stuck by air, you'll have to do the same. Not much of a story, but it helps to have a reason to shoot the bad boy pilots who make the skies unfriendly.

The first few missions of Air Combat are pretty standard fare, mostly consisting of ''kill the bad guys'' which is fun, but the latter missions are more varried and exciting. One of the more memorable stages has you flying through a narrow canyon to destroy a satilite dish and the last few missions can get tough as the enemy fleet size increases. Some stages have you destroy an enemy tanker before it docks or escort a VIP plane to safety. Not the deepest of mission objectives around but they are enjoyable and Air Combat makes sure you aren't bored over the game's 16 levels.

Thankfully the government hands out a ton of the green stuff for your heroic efforts. Each mission rewards you with a copious amount of cash which can be used to buy different planes ranging from F-22's to F-15's. You may want to buy some planes just for the simple fact that they look cool but alas, you're only able to stock up to 8 planes at a time. Fortuneatly you can sell off any planes you don't want. The plans have five statistics that can be the deciding factor in whether you succeed of fail a mission. Power indicates the acceleration of your plan, mobility indicates how well your plan can maneuver in heated combat, stability shows how well your plan will function in dogfighting conditions, defenese is for your planes armor and offense measures how good your plane's weapons are. While it may sound good to take a plane that has maxed out offense into a tough mission, you may sink faster than a person in cement shoes if your plane has low defense. You're better off with a well-balanced plane than having a jet that's only armed to the teeth.

What would a flight game be without voice overs? Sadly, Air Combat's are pretty repetitive, but they do help by yelling ''Dive! Dive!'' when a missile is locked on to you. The bright spot comes in the mission briefings, which are very well done and add a military feel to the game.
Air Combat's tunes are pretty solid although they may not be what you expect. Most of the music all sounds the same with the stand out instrument being the electrical guitar and little else. However, it still sounds pretty good. Two of the game's best tracks are ''Head First'' and ''Last Refuge.'' But if Ace Combat's tune don't suit your ears you can always listen to your own music. Just pase the game during a mission, take out the game and put in whatever CD you feel like listening to. Just make sure you put Ace Combat back in once you've completed a mission. Otherwise the game won't load.

Air Combat was the start of what has now become the best flight simulator series on the PlayStation. It doesn't look too good visually by today's standards, but for a first gen PS game, it's not too bad. The gameplay may be a little primitive, but its still solid. Even players who don't like flight sims can get into the game thanks to the insanely simple controls. It may not be for everyone, but overall, Air Combat is a flight you won't regret taking.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/21/01, Updated 10/21/01