Air Combat

"ACE!"

Being a fan of Role Playing Games (RPG), Platforming games and Adventure, I don't usually find time or the effort to play many fighting games, driving games or dogfight games. I found a lot of dog-fighting games that I played in my time to be boring and all the same, the best air game I played aside from Pilotwings 64 was WINGS for the amiga, what a classic that was!

I vcouldn't get in to this game much either, to me at the time, Air Combat was another plane game where you go around shooting down other planes and flying over buildings (Oh how fun flying over the cities are) and shooting down more planes. I eventually got in to the game though, I found how great it was to have exciting chases above the towns, the seas and farmland, having the best air chases are availible in this game, too bad that the enemies go down with a low number of bullets though.

You choose your plane and go in to combat on the battlefield, that is the general rule in Air Combat, it may seem wooden, but that is what the objectives are, games like this should never be complicated like shooting planes when they are on the X square on the radar, Air Combat just garentee's the fun of missions such as ''Shoot down so and so''.

The air fighter which you battle with is very easy to control, it makes it fun just to go and have a good old dogfight or a fly about when you feel like it for five minutes. Unfortunatley, the game is quite easy, unless the difficulty is turned up.

Air Combat was one fo the very first games to come out on the Playstation, and I must say that the graphics are great. Unlike the blocky games we get offered now, Ace Combat provides great backgrounds, detail on cities and planes, it is magneficant.

The sound and music are both up to scratch as well. The engines make soft noises for the planes, and the game has an above average soundtrack, which ties in more atmosphere.

I recommend this game for Dogfighting fans, it is an old game and should be found for a very low price. The box art is not nice to look at, but it is what is inside the game what counts

Good/ ACE!

- Great Graphics
- Good sound and music
- Great fun
- Bargain price

Bad/ Not Ace!

- Ugly boxart
- It is a little bit old and is over-shadowed by it's cousins, Ace Combat 2 and Ace Combat 3.

Summary:

Graphics - 8/10
Sound - 7/10
Music - 6/10
Gameplay - 9/10
Enjoyment - 8/10
Challenge - 7/10
Lifespan - 7/10
Overall - 7.5/10

Alternatives: You might want to try Ace Combat(I typed Ace Bombat then...) 2 and 3, Air Combat's two sequels or try something better such as WINGS or something which involves stunts, Pilotwings and Pilotwings 64.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/15/02, Updated 08/15/02