Easily the least engaging experience in the Ace Combat numbered entries thus far. The story itself is about as morally black and white as you could possibly imagine with paper thin characters and twists you can see from a mile away. This in itself wouldn't be much of a problem if the gameplay and mission structure could make up for the shortcomings of the plot, however the vast majority of missions serve as well dressed ways to deliver lengthy dialog to you (often enemy targets respawn if you complete the mission too swiftly for the exposition to finish). Moment-to-moment gameplay can be engaging, but whatever works was lifted straight from 04 and for that reason I am not so quick to pile on praise for another game's successes. I don't mind the lack of mission checkpoints, but forgoing return lines makes the respawning targets sting all the more. None of these things are helped by the fact that it is the longest Ace Combat game by a country mile

AC5 is an exercise in tedium and for those fans that adore it, an exercise in mental gymnastics as well. The only saving grace is Ace Combat 5's challenge missions which (wisely devoid of story content) see you playing as Mobius 1 from AC04 with limited combat resources. These missions are short and, as the title suggests, quite challenging. Replayability is also high thanks to the multiple branching pathways (a feature the main game could very well have benefitted from)

Perhaps it would be best if some wars went unsung