My first Ace Combat game, I was torn between starting with 3 or 4 but after playing this I'm glad I made the right decision and started with 3.

I knew this had some anime in it but I didn't expect such a good cyberpunk/transhumanist story with plot twists and different endings.

With that being said, I'm all for it. I think the graphics are really good for a PS1 game, the soundtrack slaps and I love the fact that you can have different endings and mission branches; at first I was really bad at playing it but then I got the hang of it and love the gameplay as well.

I played the fan-translated JP version of course.

Not my favorite way to review a game (by comparison) but here are the thoughts of an AC3 fanboy -which also happens to be the first AC game I played-:
- Plot: AC4's plot is very simple but I'd say it's solid. I like the fact that the enemy is not portrayed as a monster and are also looked as humans; with this said, it has nothing on AC3's transhumanist/cyberpunk plot.
- Mission structure: this is my biggest gripe with this game, I don't like the game throwing me in a mission to "destroy as much as you can in 20 minutes", it's a step-down from most of the objective-based missions in AC3 and are also not as varied. With that being said, I loved Stonehenge Offensive and the last 2 missions.
- Plane variety: I like realistic jets but I miss the over-the-top designs from Neucom in AC3, you had both choices in AC3.
- Replayibility: because of AC3's 5 different endings the game has a lot of replayability. This on the other hand is more of a "you can keep replaying if you want better scores and unlock all the planes".

Maybe not as important for everyone but the cutscenes suffered a budget cut since they are not animated in this one as opposed to AC3.

It's still a really good game don't get me wrong but the mission structure and plot stop me from putting this in the same level as AC3.

The plot is interesting but the gameplay sucks

Edit: gave this another opportunity with more patience

NEW REVIEW