"3, 4, 5, Zero?! Can't these guys count?"

Years ago, I was somebody who completely hated anything in relation to military weapons/aircraft/army, and any games revolving around them. That was, until I bought Ace Combat 3 (JP), which, despite me not understanding a word, completely changed my attitude towards such games (at least the AC series). Since then, I bought and completed every single ace combat game up to AC5. Now with AC0 released, I wanted to try it out. The game in general continued the trend of the AC games, and its twisting storyline.

Graphics 8.5/10

The graphics in all games under the Ace Combat title had superb graphics, and this game continues the trend. The planes look very similar to their real life counterparts, and the terrain is beautiful. The clouds and sun glare can still shine in your eyes. The graphics simply deserve an easy 8.5. Why not a 10? A 9? Well, if you fly at low altitudes, the terrain loses its charm, which is the case with all AC games. But still, that isn't a big deal.

Sound 10/10

If AC games don't get a 10/10 in sound, no game ever will. AC0, however, EXCELS over the other AC games in this category. I'd give it a 11/10 if there was any such thing. The music is extraordinarily charming, and well fits your situation. All the sound effects you'd expect from a plane are there. Afterburners, tires screeching on landing, planes flying adjacent to yours... etc. Namco did a well done job in this category, especially in AC0.

Features 7/10

Multiplayer from AC4 is back in the series. Yes. Campaign mode layout hasn't much changed since AC5, you are still able to buy planes, special weapons, view your medals, etc. The standard mission layouts are still there, tunnel missions, "destroy the superweapon" missions, "destroy an unidentified megasized aircraft" missions, escort missions, and the extremely boring "achieve a certain score" missions. The ranking system is still there, so you would still aim for an S rank in all missions.

The aircraft selection isn't bad, and of course, there are bonus aircraft, except that half of them are reimplemented from the previous AC games (the X-02 and the Falken, as an example). An advice: don't delete your saved games from AC4 and AC5, it'll make unlocking these planes much easier. One thing is, I hoped the X49 Nightraven from AC3 shows up, but oh well.

There is a completely new feature, though, which is the ace style. Some objects are neutral (or were targets and have been neutralized). These cannot harm you by any means. One thing is, if you shoot all neutral targets, you become a "Mercenary", "Knight" if you spare them all, and "Soldier" if you destroy half of them. All what the ace style get you as far as I know are medals.

This game has all features you would want, except online mode. However, it does not drag the score down much. I'd still give it a 7.

Gameplay 8/10

This game is fun to play. Some missions are fun and interesting, and some are creative, but some are VERY boring. The story is impressively addictive, even though you might know some of its aspects if you played AC5. This game takes place in the same world as AC5, AC4, and possibly AC3, which means that you should notice some regions in common between the games, even though AC5 wins the award of "the most regions in common with these of AC0".

However, the game is just plain pointless for new people in the series to start with. The storyline would be fully understanded if you played AC5, and so it's better to start with that first.

Squadron battles are fun on higher difficulty levels. They start providing some challenge. Missiles don't hit them as common, and you'd find yourself being damaged, probably destroyed by them if you don't act in time.

Oh, and the final mission. I must say that namco finally put some creativity in it. It finally puts you in a proper boss fight, one that has not been seen since AC3. Its relatively hard as well as you go up the difficulty modes. If you barely know the basics of flying and aren't skilled in taking down the Squadrons you met in the storyline, you'll have some big trouble here. The rest is for you to find out.

One drawback is the short storyline. Only 18 missions, half of which are very short, and half of the other half are excessively long and boring. Despite all that, the gameplay of this game takes a good 8.

Replay Value 5.5/10

To start with, 5.5 score in Replay Value is not bad. Most games take a 2, 3, and possibly 4 in this category IMO. Playing through this game again to unlock more planes (especially the bonus ones) isn't as boring as you'd think. You can also play through branches of the same missions you haven't chosen on your first playthrough, all of which racks up the replay value of the game.

Overall 8/10

Good game overall. I'd say its barely as good as AC5, but still is good enough. It still has enough stuff to be considered as a good AC game that will remain in your memory.

So...?

The worst thing about this game is its short storyline. You can go through the first mission down to beating the last in just like, 3 - 4 hours continuous playtime. Multiply that by 3, for each ace style, and thats 9 - 12 hours and you unlock everything in the game if you know what you are doing. Think well about this aspect, then go for a buy.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/14/06, Updated 05/03/06