Ace Combat 5: Update

Yup, this is going to be the best air combat game on the console.

Ace Combat 5 is looking like one hell of a follow-up to last year's stunning Ace Combat 4. It's prettier, tighter, more exciting, and a lot bigger.

Graphically, Ace Combat 5 is not physically possible. Not only is every ship and plane intricately detailed, the environments also come with an absurd level of polish we just haven't yet seen in the series. Texturing has been improved considerably, but low flying pilots will still notice the smudgy ground, as it has been since the dawn of Flight Simulator. Regardless, the dynamically lit models, cluttered cities, cascading mountains, and real weather, will make you feel...there. The clouds are thicker, smoother, and have a kind of perceptible density, while the water shimmers and laps over beaches. It's pretty amazing. The only sore points -- if sore can even be used with a straight face -- are the explosions that still amount to bright orange puffs. At least now there is more billowing smoke and swirling fire, making even them feel cooler. And that's our only real visual problem. Heck, it even sounds great! Ace features full-on Dolby Pro Logic II support. We kicked it through our setup and it was most impressive.

Ace Combat 5 should also be a much tighter experience than before. Missions not only seem more interesting, they're also delivered with more finesses and involve more involving interactive dialogues, in-game cutscenes, and logical mid-mission briefings. It all just feels more developed and polished than anything Shattered Skies offered.

In the first mission we played, we were charged with protecting the Kestral, a carrier that found itself trapped in a small bay near a bustling city when the enemy attacked. It was daytime and partly cloudy, but the sun was shining. After fooling around for a bit we immediately found ourselves locking on to bogeys, pitching, banking, and then busting out a hard yaw mid-bank at slow speeds to cut some bastard's flank just before we afterburned into the back-end of him with vulcans firing. Flight controls were dead-on. Unfortunately, the POV still needs a lot of work. It's simply too sensitive and disorienting right now to be functional. Slightly pushing the right analog stick in any direction will cause nothing to happen and pulling it hard will flip your eyes around like mad. We're also a little saddened that the cockpits weren't as alive as we had hoped. At some points they even feel as if they could pass for totally static backgrounds.


As for the real additions, the wingman command system is a little basic, but it should still manage to add quite a lot to the game. Disperse, attack, and form up aren't very exciting commands, but your team is competent and acts like they're made up of more than simple flying distractions. They actually play significant roles in the game and help deliver its story, too. This makes every yes / no question they pose mid-flight that much more engaging.

Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to test out mid-air refueling or see some of the later missions like the blizzard, shuttle escort, or canyon runs, but we did get to play through a bit of the game's Arcade Mode. This throwback is like a timed survival trial. In order to succeed, players must down enemy aircraft in an allotted time. The counter never stops ticking down and the only way to proceed is to take out baddies that help build the clock. Kill enough and you advance to open new areas and unlock new goodies. Attainable items include around 50 planes, and a variety of color schemes.

It was hard to come up with legitimate problems during our brief experience. The game was simply that good. Swinging around the Kestral, ducking under bridges, splitting destroyers, tailgating MiGs, and scraping seawater has all turned out to be a genuine rush that reminds us why we've stuck with the series ever since Air Combat. If there is one significant shortcoming about the Unsung War, it's that there is no multiplayer at all. Simply, we were told that there just wasn't the time.

If you're as excited as we are, please add the game to your watched list so that we might be able to email you the latest updates as they become available.

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