With a few exceptions, many games quickly devolve into a case of uninspired, purely ‘average’ gameplay after their fourth or fifth iteration. I think Tomb Raider is probably a painful example many gamers are aware of (though it seems to be on the verge of a possible bounce-back with Tomb Raider: Legends…) – a lot of games are good for the first run, and maybe even a sequel or two, but beyond that a drastically new approach is required. One of these aforementioned exceptions however is the Ace Combat series – a game series which has consistently delivered a fun and enticing gameplay experience with each iteration – this may be due in part to a lack of other games to choose from in the jet-combat genre for gamers, but Ace Combat has always expressed it’s dominance in an impressive and entertaining manner. Now, Namco has taken a slightly different turn with Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War. While many of the Ace Combat games have been largely unconnected to each other plot-wise, Zero instead focuses on the massive conflict that took place fifteen years prior to Ace Combat 5. From a gameplay standpoint, it also offers a number of interesting tweaks and changes to increase replayability and add a lot more intrigue to each mission.
To begin with, the major change in Zero’s presentation is that everything is presented from a kind of History Channel-esque documentary. While doing an investigation into the past conflict between Belka and the rest of the world (side note for the uninitiated: Ace Combat is focused on a fictional world, though it does resemble our own in a number of ways, this journalist uncovers numerous reports on a fighter pilot, nicknamed simply “The Demon Lord”, and his wingman, “Pixie”. Much to the reporter’s surprise, not much information is easily found on these two pilots, in spite of the fact that they played a very significant role in the Belkan conflict and were effectively considered heroes. To learn more, this reporter (whom I’m certain is voiced by the same person that played Genette in Ace Combat 5) digs deeper into the conflict, even interviewing several of the “aces” who had fought against the Demon Lord and his wing during the war. These interviews are surprisingly presented through FMVs filmed with live actors, but in spite of my skepticism, they turned out very well.
What makes this style of plot presentation interesting is that the game itself will change depending on the player’s style. The missions themselves are ultimately the same as you’d expect from the other Ace Combat titles, in that you start the mission, fly around blowing up as much stuff as possible, and then review your after-mission performance to see what new goodies you unlocked and how much money you gained. However, Zero introduces an “Ace Style” system, which offers three ranks; ‘Knight’, ‘Soldier’, and ‘Mercenary’. The player starts the campaign in middle-ground as a ‘Soldier’, but their choice of targets during a mission will depend on how the slider moves. Destroying optional, unnecessary targets will give you more money and more points to work with, but will also shift you towards the ‘Mercenary’ rank, while focusing only on mission-critical targets will point you more towards a ‘Knight’ rank. This can allegedly affect not only the dialogue in future missions, but also what kind of opponents you may fight and perhaps even the objectives provided – though one would need to play through the game several times to fully verify this. I consider this a mark towards replay value on the campaign.
I’ve also mentioned “aces” a number of times in this article so far, so permit me to clarify further; during given missions, players will actually have the chance to engage and shoot down enemy ace pilots. These pilots are usually equipped with beefed-up hardware and AI, and are presented as either singular secondary-targets, or larger scripted engagements (complete with a brief introductory in-game cutscene and change of music to beef up the drama). Shooting down these aces can award the player with an addition to the “Assault Records” on their profile, where they can review small biographies on all of the aces they’ve shot down so far. Shoot enough down and you can even be rewarded with some secret toys to use.
There are some other tweaks and changes fans of Ace Combat 5 will probably immediately pick up on as well. For example, the sub-weapons are no longer locked to a specific plane, but instead players can now spent their cash to purchase a specific plane, and then purchase a sub-weapon for them to use. In addition, the aircraft your wingman will use is actually pre-scripted, and instead you only get to choose their sub-weapon (regrettably this doesn’t have much effect, as I never actually witnessed my wingman actually use his sub-weapons, even if I issued the appropriate command).
Aside from the above complaint however, the fact that the player only gets one wingmen is augmented by some improved AI scripting. No longer are your wingmates useless – in fact, I would often issue the generic “Attack” order to have my buddy attack a pair of planes in front of me, and I’d find that I could reliably take one plane out in the first pass, and have him shortly annihilate the other. Enemy AI is also improved and will put up more of a challenge, though sadly any Ace Combat veterans will probably find themselves breezing through most of the game regardless of the actual chosen difficulty level. Really though, I found the AI’s lack of special weapon usage to be especially annoying when making vague attempts to co-ordinate my attacks – the responsiveness of your team mates is definitely something that still needs improvement. Regardless, fans of the series will find a much more intense level of combat in Zero than that of previous titles, especially thanks to the ace engagements.
As an interesting note, multiplayer is also included. It’s nothing particularly outstanding or fancy (splitscreen one-versus-one support), but the novelty of being able to square off against your buddies in your favorite type of plane is quite enticing. Some of the scripted engagements, such as challenges to accomplish specific objectives, or even larger-scale scenarios involving player and AI planes make for some interesting combat, but I feel this kind of implementation may have been better spent on co-op support and a larger, more complex online-based multiplayer mode.
Sound is another driving aspect to the Ace Combat series, and Zero is no exception. Most of the themes are actually focused on guitar-riffs and almost western-styled overtures, which suit the game perfectly given the duel-esque focus of the gameplay and plot. Many of the other tunes are based on casual remixes from that of previous titles in the series, as well as a few other scattered works which really help set the mood.
Sadly, the voice acting falters a little, and I don’t quite think it’s the fault of the actors. The pacing of the game itself and the way the story is presented didn’t really provide me with as much of a window to become attached to the characters as I had with Ace Combat 5 (Nagase’s slightly annoying obsession over the “Arkbird” aside…), but in my opinion, this is only because each mission isn’t directly “connected” to the next in a continuous line, but instead recounts the individual experiences of the “Demon Lord” throughout the Belkan war, and while this is an unquestionably an intriguing and unique way of presenting the story, it ultimately lessens any semblance of a continuous plot. Then again, I could just be arguing semantics – the action is no less fierce, and I still felt the massive ego-boost every time enemies started shouting “Ha-ha, we’re just about on the verge of victor-OH GOD IT’S THE DEMON LORD” in the middle of a battle.
So to wrap this up, Zero really is a worthy addition to the Ace Combat series that any fan shouldn’t hesitate to pick up – the game even works flawlessly with the Ace Combat 5 HORI Flightstick bundle for those of us lucky enough to own it (*cough*). However, the game is also disappointingly a little on the short side, and a dedicated player could probably blast through the game’s missions (of which there are less than 20) in a good day of playing – it’s primarily in the unlockables and different avenues of play which give the game any semblance of staying power. For new players to the series, I’d recommend first picking up Ace Combat 5 before moving on to Zero, as both games will make much more sense that way (assuming you’re not stricken with apathy for the plot). As I mentioned, there aren’t exactly many choices out there for fighter-combat enthusiasts out there, but Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War carries it’s muster quite well, and is one game I’d wholeheartedly recommend – if only on the cautious note that there is still plenty of room for improvement, room which I hope is taken for possible future iterations of the series onto the next-gen consoles. Here’s hoping.
