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The Plot:   Although I haven't been reviewing games for vary long, at this point I'm now trying several new titles per week. Some I pick up and dislike, some I gradually get into and some I immediately fall for. "Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies" is one that definitely falls into the last catagory. It's not a perfect game - there are some things that I'd change - but it does provide gameplay that's highly addictive and remarkably fun. I've tried many flight combat simulators for home systems and I can easily say that this is one of the best - if not the very best. The story - regarding some sort of war that has broken out - is simply a finely done thin line to hang some of the most impressive (and fairly realistic) battle sequences that I've seen in a game. Not satisfied to be merely an air-to-air combat simulator, "Ace Combat 4" often is both an air-to-air and air-to-ground battle, as well. I was often impressed that the game was able to handle so many elements at once and still perform so smoothly. This certainly isn't one of those games where you strain to find another enemy to target; there's often plenty to do both in the air and on the ground. One particular highlight was a mission where your force's ground troops are advancing on a beach. When you take out the enemy troops and weapons on the beach, the ground troops advance towards the shore. Another mission has the player chasing enemy battleships as they try to escape out into a harbor. During each mission, the players are offered different objectives that have to be accomplished within a set amount of time - thankfully, the amount of time is not ridiculously short - usually, players are offered several minutes or more. One of the aspects of "Ace Combat 4" that I enjoyed most was the realistic feeling of actually being in an airplane. Where some other games have the plane feel as if it's simply drifting when it's supposed to be going 500 mph., you really feel as if you're going Mach 2 in the game. I had some genuinely thrilling moments during several of the air-to-ground battles, especially during one mission where I was barely flying in-between buildings at 800 mph. The terrain varies throughout, from flat landscape to enormous mountains to cities. To top things off, "Ace Combat 4" offers several little extras and tweaks. You can see replays of some great battle moments or crashes from several different angles. Although you start off with one plane, you build up money from completing missions which can be used to buy different planes that have different strengths. Although every plane has a machine gun option, there's different add-on weapons that range from rockets to long-range missiles and more. Varying levels of difficulty ensure that the game can be enjoyable for both casual gamers and hardcore gamers alike. Overall, great overall gameplay, high replay value and solid graphics/audio. An easy recommendation. Rating: 10/10 The DVD Graphics: The graphics of "Ace Combat 4" are excellent, if not quite outstanding. There are sequences in-between the game's 20 missions that are done in impressive Japanese-style animation. The game itself boasts pretty remarkable detail during each of the missions, too. Although most of the missions seemed to take place during bright sun, there were also missions that took place in well-rendered fog and/or rain. Explosions - whether as a result of a plane hit or ground target blast - are clear and well-rendered. Planes also break-up fairly realistically when destroyed. The jet models are also terrific and finely detailed. If anything, some of the ground textures are fairly limited when viewed close-up, but this wasn't a very major concern when the rest of the game looked as terrific as it did. Rating: 9.3/10 Sound: The sound of "Ace Combat 4" is equally superb. The roar of the jets and the frequent explosions are crisp and clear, as is the score. The game has a terrific score, too, which varies with each mission. The game has an awful lot of voice acting, as well - although most of these voices (fellow pilots and enemies) really add to gameplay, a few of the lines are rather corny. Still, this was a pretty minor complaint given how excellent the rest of the soundtrack was. Rating: 9.3/10 Gameplay: Controls are absolute perfection. Although there's quite a bit to do - switching between weapons, locking on to targets, general flying and more, I found moving between tasks to be remarkably smooth and easy. I didn't read the instruction manual and within 15-20 minutes of gameplay, I completely learned my way around controling the aircraft. As for replay value, the game is overflowing with it. I often found myself hitting "retry" after several of my favorite levels instead of going forward, as all of the levels have tons of different targets and most of them have several ways of approaching battle. Rating: 10/10 Rating Issues: "Ace Combat 4" is rated "E" (Everyone). Given that the game involves some pretty intense air-to-air and air-to-ground combat, it's not quite a "T" (Teen) game, but it's pretty close to that rating. Final Thoughts: "Ace Combat 4" offers suspenseful missions, very nice graphics, solid audio and a great deal of replay value. I was greatly surprised with this fantastic game - it's a thrilling and highly entertaining PS2 effort from Namco. Highly recommended. |