Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War is a first person air combat and flight simulator. Like other Ace Combat games, each mission is determined by a level briefing and objectives. There are 32 missions in the main campaign mode, while an additional "arcade" mode puts the player in the role of Mobius One (from Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies) as he faces endless waves of enemy attacks. Regardless of the mode chosen, once in the air the player will have control over speed, direction, altitude, gun cannon, missiles and special weapon of their aircraft. A new feature from previous Ace Combat games, is the concept of Wingmen and being able to issue simple orders to them in the air. This allows the player to better coordinated group attacks as well as giving each wingman a personality of their own. Additionally, the player as squadron leader will be asked to make decisions ("Yes/No") while flying in the air. Between missions, the story is progressed through a series of cutscenes.
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I was thoroughly unprepared for the excellence of Ace Combat... or at least the impression that AC5 would make on me as my first game in the series. I had been told by people whose opinions I don't... UNCONDITIONALLY trust, that this was "the one with the good story" and that it was generally the most beloved. Going in, I expected the story to be "pretty good", and I expected to play this one, be content that I had pretty much seen all there was to see from Ace Combat, and happily leave the other entries alone.
Ace Combat 5 is the sort of game that inspires such a love in you that staying unacquainted with its siblings feels almost disrespectful, as if you owe it to Ace Combat 5 to meet its parents and treat them with kindness. I have no intention of rushing these meetings, but this desire is so much more than anything Armored Core stirred in me when I first inspected it last year. Ace Combat 5, and I suspect the same of at least a few earlier entries, is a dream realized. It is the dream of every boy who encountered Top Gun in the 1980s, delivered with love, joy, and generosity. It is a dream that pervaded video games as early as Jet Rocket in 1970, and only unmerged from Star Wars in the late 90's. Ace Combat indulges a specific fantasy in ways that cannot be found elsewhere, and that's because Namco Bandai or Bandai Namco or Namcai Bundo or Bonklo Numbdy knows what they're doing.
With as much shit as people give that particular conglomerate for their assembly line anime tie-ins, it's easy to forget that Namco, patron god of Actually Fun Arcade Games yet lives, and the blood remains strong. There is one element of Ace Combat 5 (and I presume, other entries) that surprised me more than any other, and that is variety. I very much presumed that Ace Combat's missions would almost universally revolve around "Kill Enemy Planes Until I Say Stop." In truth it has dogfights, stealth missions, air-to-ground escort missions, survival missions, flight maneuverability challenges and more. At no point did I feel that missions were overly repetitive, or that the mission I was playing did not bring something interesting to the table.
I did, however, experience spikes in frustration. Certain missions do not communicate certain nuances of their objectives in the best of ways, and some defense targets are frighteningly stupid. Sea Goblin, you could fly LITERALLY ANYWHERE that is not along this narrow strip of magically appearing SAMs, and you would be just fine. You are in a helicopter. Also, I didn't experiment with this too much, but I suspect that most of the special weapons just kind of suck? Definitely feels as if there's room for improvement with designing around them or making them more interesting.
In some ways, the story exceeded my estimations, and in others it did not. I played, quite intentionally, with the English dub, and I was not disappointed. I kept expecting the voice acting to tip over into "hilariously bad" or "just seriously actually bad", but that never really happened. Most performances are awkward, yes, as is a lot of the dialogue, but for a video game dub from 2004, Ace Combat 5 has survived the rigors of time surprisingly intact. The awkwardness is endearing, and not particularly distracting. It has a strong soundtrack, good looking cutscenes for its time, and lands some surprisingly emotional punches. I won't act as though there aren't times when it feels like the story stands still a little too long, or like every story beat is explored to its full potential, or like the ending doesn't feel a touch anti-climactic, but the game invests players in its characters and in the concepts of its war story well enough.
Ace Combat 5 has been enough to give me a genuine fondness for a whole new genre of thing. While playing it, I watched both Top Gun and Top Gun Maverick for the first time each. I at once understood that Fantasy Flight Simulators should have always been a video game genre held in at least as high esteem as the racing game. Sooner or later, I'm going to play more Ace Combat.
Ace Combat 5 is the sort of game that inspires such a love in you that staying unacquainted with its siblings feels almost disrespectful, as if you owe it to Ace Combat 5 to meet its parents and treat them with kindness. I have no intention of rushing these meetings, but this desire is so much more than anything Armored Core stirred in me when I first inspected it last year. Ace Combat 5, and I suspect the same of at least a few earlier entries, is a dream realized. It is the dream of every boy who encountered Top Gun in the 1980s, delivered with love, joy, and generosity. It is a dream that pervaded video games as early as Jet Rocket in 1970, and only unmerged from Star Wars in the late 90's. Ace Combat indulges a specific fantasy in ways that cannot be found elsewhere, and that's because Namco Bandai or Bandai Namco or Namcai Bundo or Bonklo Numbdy knows what they're doing.
With as much shit as people give that particular conglomerate for their assembly line anime tie-ins, it's easy to forget that Namco, patron god of Actually Fun Arcade Games yet lives, and the blood remains strong. There is one element of Ace Combat 5 (and I presume, other entries) that surprised me more than any other, and that is variety. I very much presumed that Ace Combat's missions would almost universally revolve around "Kill Enemy Planes Until I Say Stop." In truth it has dogfights, stealth missions, air-to-ground escort missions, survival missions, flight maneuverability challenges and more. At no point did I feel that missions were overly repetitive, or that the mission I was playing did not bring something interesting to the table.
I did, however, experience spikes in frustration. Certain missions do not communicate certain nuances of their objectives in the best of ways, and some defense targets are frighteningly stupid. Sea Goblin, you could fly LITERALLY ANYWHERE that is not along this narrow strip of magically appearing SAMs, and you would be just fine. You are in a helicopter. Also, I didn't experiment with this too much, but I suspect that most of the special weapons just kind of suck? Definitely feels as if there's room for improvement with designing around them or making them more interesting.
In some ways, the story exceeded my estimations, and in others it did not. I played, quite intentionally, with the English dub, and I was not disappointed. I kept expecting the voice acting to tip over into "hilariously bad" or "just seriously actually bad", but that never really happened. Most performances are awkward, yes, as is a lot of the dialogue, but for a video game dub from 2004, Ace Combat 5 has survived the rigors of time surprisingly intact. The awkwardness is endearing, and not particularly distracting. It has a strong soundtrack, good looking cutscenes for its time, and lands some surprisingly emotional punches. I won't act as though there aren't times when it feels like the story stands still a little too long, or like every story beat is explored to its full potential, or like the ending doesn't feel a touch anti-climactic, but the game invests players in its characters and in the concepts of its war story well enough.
Ace Combat 5 has been enough to give me a genuine fondness for a whole new genre of thing. While playing it, I watched both Top Gun and Top Gun Maverick for the first time each. I at once understood that Fantasy Flight Simulators should have always been a video game genre held in at least as high esteem as the racing game. Sooner or later, I'm going to play more Ace Combat.
This review contains spoilers
R.I.P. Chopper
esse jogo é bizarramente bonito graficamente, não conheço a cultura acerca de "Ace Combat". Nunca gostei muito do game, mas darei uma boa nota porque eu nunca dei uma devida chance dele e ele foi meu único jogo de ps2 original
One of the best and most inspiring stories I've ever played. Some of the missions were kinda annoying but that's like every AC game. I probably have it tied with 0 for my favorite. Project Aces needs to bring back choosing planes and giving commands to squad mates.
Amidst the eternal waves of time
From a ripple of change shall the storm rise
Out of the abyss peer the eyes of a demon
Behold the Razgriz, its wings of black sheath
The demon soars through dark skies
Fear and death trail its shadow beneath
Until men united wield a hallowed sabre
In final reckoning, the beast is slain
As the demon sleeps, man turns on man
His own blood and madness soon cover the earth
From the depths of despair awaken the Razgriz
Its raven wings ablaze in majestic light
From a ripple of change shall the storm rise
Out of the abyss peer the eyes of a demon
Behold the Razgriz, its wings of black sheath
The demon soars through dark skies
Fear and death trail its shadow beneath
Until men united wield a hallowed sabre
In final reckoning, the beast is slain
As the demon sleeps, man turns on man
His own blood and madness soon cover the earth
From the depths of despair awaken the Razgriz
Its raven wings ablaze in majestic light
AC 5 is the grandest and longest AC game of the PS 2 era, however it's also the worst one. It's by no means a bad game, it has all the core components of AC - arcade flight controls, slight sci-fi, large plane selection and varied missions, but the storyline and at times bad balancing made it the least enjoyable for me.
Story
Another war in Strangereal, (Yes, that is the name of the alternate universe AC is set in) that continent can't ever get enough. AC 5’s storyline is about a war between two major superpowers that turns out was instigated by a shadowy organization. It doesn't use any unique storytelling methods like others in the series and overall, it's just a save the day kind of story without any of the elements that made the others special. Your character develops the gigantic vocabulary of two words - yes and no. Choosing either has no almost no effect on the story.
Gameplay
Gameplay is mostly okay. The same arcade flight mechanics of the other games with some additional features. These are a progression meter to unlock better planes by playing with a similar one and a way to give orders to your squadron. These orders however aren't very effective. My biggest problem is the low missile count of the planes. I failed multiple missions just because I didn't have enough. Whether or not this will be a problem for you is dependent on whether you play with a keyboard or controller. Since the MG’s (that are much easier to aim with a controller) are the most effective in any AC game.
Graphics and artstyle
The game is from the PS2 era so you can expect some outdated graphics. Unfortunately, the cutscenes have not been spared for this installment. The closest comparison I can make is Toy story 1.
Atmosphere
The hero that saves the day's atmosphere is still there, but it’s weakened a bit by having the whole squadron take the credit, rather than only you.
Soundtrack
Soundtrack is as good as always. “The Unsung War” is for me the best part of the ost.
Final Thoughts
President Harling, we NEED 5 million rockets to bomb Yuktobanian children. PLEASE
Story
Another war in Strangereal, (Yes, that is the name of the alternate universe AC is set in) that continent can't ever get enough. AC 5’s storyline is about a war between two major superpowers that turns out was instigated by a shadowy organization. It doesn't use any unique storytelling methods like others in the series and overall, it's just a save the day kind of story without any of the elements that made the others special. Your character develops the gigantic vocabulary of two words - yes and no. Choosing either has no almost no effect on the story.
Gameplay
Gameplay is mostly okay. The same arcade flight mechanics of the other games with some additional features. These are a progression meter to unlock better planes by playing with a similar one and a way to give orders to your squadron. These orders however aren't very effective. My biggest problem is the low missile count of the planes. I failed multiple missions just because I didn't have enough. Whether or not this will be a problem for you is dependent on whether you play with a keyboard or controller. Since the MG’s (that are much easier to aim with a controller) are the most effective in any AC game.
Graphics and artstyle
The game is from the PS2 era so you can expect some outdated graphics. Unfortunately, the cutscenes have not been spared for this installment. The closest comparison I can make is Toy story 1.
Atmosphere
The hero that saves the day's atmosphere is still there, but it’s weakened a bit by having the whole squadron take the credit, rather than only you.
Soundtrack
Soundtrack is as good as always. “The Unsung War” is for me the best part of the ost.
Final Thoughts
President Harling, we NEED 5 million rockets to bomb Yuktobanian children. PLEASE