Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War
Developed by: Namco
Published by: Namco Bandai
Designed by: Namco (PROJECT ACES division)
PS2 only
2006
(Rated Teen for Mild Language & Violence)
Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of World War II [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.145860]
The Arrival by Shaun Tan [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.67522#600389]
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.86412]
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Gang Garrison 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.77975]
Lego [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.72355]
The Arrival by Shaun Tan [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.67522#600389]
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.86412]
Sid Meier's Railroads! [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.68483]
Gang Garrison 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.77975]
Lego [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.72355]
All is not well in Belka. Due to economic constraints, the principality of Belka launches a full-scale invasive war against neighboring Ustio in a bid for material wealth. This does not sit well with the wealthy Ustio or it's neighborhood big brothers and friends, the Allied forces of Osea, Yuktobania, and Sapin. In order to repel the invasion, the Allied forces must push Belka back to their home country. Welcome to the hot-seat of callsign Cipher, the captain of Galm Flight, a couple of mercenaries who fight the Belkans and unravel a mystery of the airborne mercenary forces over the skies of the fictional skies of the planet Strangereal.
Ace Combat Zero is the sixth installment of the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 Arcade flight-simulations that are not only regarded as some of the best, but probably the standard-setting flight games there are. Released in 2006 to high praise but not the loudest fanfare, Zero was the last installment Namco released of the Ace Combat series for the PS2. Full of adventure for the player, varied levels, dozens of aircraft, an intriguing story and thorough background, it's the best of any world, whether one wants to play for story, grind, or a challenge.
The story goes as told in the first paragraph, where somewhat-modernist Strangereal-quasi-Nazi counterpart Belka invades simple Ustio, bringing down the fire from big brothers USA/Russia/Spain stand-ins Osea/Yuktobania/Sapin. Over the course of 18 missions, Belka is repelled and defeated,
And a new enemy arises from the brought-together mercenary squadrons hired by the other nations, whom you as Galm 1 must defeat and prevent another global conflict, lead by your former Wingmate.
Gameplay-wise it's every bit as fun as a flying game can get, with polished controls and simple logistics (like unlimited fuel and 70+ missiles, occasionally limitless gun magazines, the pilot being able to take any g-force with not even a twitch in response) to accompany the various missions, ranging from ground, sea or air attack (or all three at once occasionally)
As you play through the game, all of the 40 or so fighter planes (with the exception of about four) are entirely real aircraft, although some liberties are taken with construction dates and numbers (like the Su-47 Berkut [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-47] not only being approved for combat, but being so on a massive scale). The more times you play through the game on different difficulties, the more aircraft you can buy and fly. If you shoot down special enemy ace squadrons, you can unlock special paint schemes for those aircraft. Another feature of the game is giving different endings (sort of) depending on how you play through the game. The endings or 'Ace Styles' being not "Perfect Good" and "Supreme Evil", but actually "Mercenary", "Soldier" and "Knight". Knights only pursue mission-critical targets and being noble in living, let live. Mercenaries leave nothing in the entire mission field standing, obliterating everything in their wake, and Soldiers strike a balance between letting some neutral targets get away, and some not. Depending on how quick you can finish some missions, or how well you execute a mission, you can be awarded Medals and make Assault Records, which are ways of unlocking some of the special [fictional] super-aircraft. [img_inline align=left width=300 caption="FRICKEN LASER BEAMS- (ADF 01 falken)
Only if you get three Surpeme Ace Medals. Looks like you're gonna be getting real good real fast, now, aintcha?
(Disclaimer: its totally worth the effort)"]http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/9896/requestadf01falkenbythe.jpg[/img_inline]A disclaimer can be that while some aircraft [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKpfQiaGNRk] are worth the investment of effort due to their insane level of awesomeness, some aren't [http://eaa119.org/images/f117.jpg], and you won't know which is which for your personal play style until you've actually earned it, so, buyer beware.
The game delves somewhat deep although superficially into the emotional struggles of war and peace. Superficially deep as in digging a large mine into the earth if the crust was made of a thick sauce made of plots written intelligently but simple enough for 14 year olds to comprehend and still give an illusion of distant complexity [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ptitletyjnalqs]. Which is where the analogy falls apart and ends up on some pancakes.
-Nevermind.
Technically speaking it's not the most advanced video game in the world of 2006, but it's not a super simple one either. The specifics of large scale air combat level design elude me apart from large photo-realistic landscapes and having dynamics for a player that can be anywhere from 300 to 2050km/h to-scale at all times, so I'll just say that the self-occluding shadows are pretty on the flaps when you pull the airbrake, and that no one will notice when you're trying to take down the Espada squadron while trying to peck away at a gunship the size of several football fields on Expert difficulty.[img_inline align="right" width="500" caption="You will wish I was making this up"]http://www.freewebs.com/unionofpower/Air%20Forces%20Pix/Hresvelgrback.jpg[/img_inline]
Which segways me from the gameplay to gameplay difficulty. The game is broken up into several difficulties which are aptly titled and accurate in their description entirely, consisting of Very Easy, Easy, Normal, and Hard. Beating the lattermost unlocks Expert, which upon winning that one all the way though unlocks Ace difficulty.
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Regardless of mypathetic ability to play the game compared to some of the aces out there, Zero is a fantastic game and an excellent place to start if you so feel like it for getting into Flight Combat games.
Regardless of my