"15 years ago, there was a war. Well, war's broken out here plenty of times before."
With those two sentences, starts the most heartfelt Ace Combat game. In my opinion, one of the most heartfelt games ever. You're set up in a plane as a replacement for the deaths of most of your squadron and sent to the bitter frontlines for an amazing ride (flight?) with the most lovable wingmen you could have. You'll genuinely get to care a whole lot about those three guys: Chopper, your best bro - Grimm, the dilligent yet anxious rearguard - and Nagase, your 2nd in command with an undying loyalty and care for you.
You blast through hordes of enemy squadrons while taking care of your squadmate's gear and actions in a really ambiguous war where it growingly becomes clear that nobody really knows why the war is actually being fought. It's your job as the Osean Federation's ace squad to defend your allies and to reach the truth of the conflict - to a final extremely emotive conclusion.
The soundtrack is, in my humble musician's opinion, one of the biggest highlights for you to get this game right now. You go from a jazz fusion briefing theme, through bombastic symphonic arrangements and it all meshes up extremely well to make up one of the best ost's EVER, courtesy of the in-house genius Keiki Kobayashi, as always.
I don't even know how else to boil it all down to a single statement: You need to play this ASAP. The only thing keeping this game (and the whole franchise) from going mainstream in the PS2 days is the sadly niche concept that is a flight game. If you pay no heed to that, you'll encounter an absolute gem to be remembered for the ages.
With those two sentences, starts the most heartfelt Ace Combat game. In my opinion, one of the most heartfelt games ever. You're set up in a plane as a replacement for the deaths of most of your squadron and sent to the bitter frontlines for an amazing ride (flight?) with the most lovable wingmen you could have. You'll genuinely get to care a whole lot about those three guys: Chopper, your best bro - Grimm, the dilligent yet anxious rearguard - and Nagase, your 2nd in command with an undying loyalty and care for you.
You blast through hordes of enemy squadrons while taking care of your squadmate's gear and actions in a really ambiguous war where it growingly becomes clear that nobody really knows why the war is actually being fought. It's your job as the Osean Federation's ace squad to defend your allies and to reach the truth of the conflict - to a final extremely emotive conclusion.
The soundtrack is, in my humble musician's opinion, one of the biggest highlights for you to get this game right now. You go from a jazz fusion briefing theme, through bombastic symphonic arrangements and it all meshes up extremely well to make up one of the best ost's EVER, courtesy of the in-house genius Keiki Kobayashi, as always.
I don't even know how else to boil it all down to a single statement: You need to play this ASAP. The only thing keeping this game (and the whole franchise) from going mainstream in the PS2 days is the sadly niche concept that is a flight game. If you pay no heed to that, you'll encounter an absolute gem to be remembered for the ages.