Ace Combat 4 is an arcade-style combat flight simulator developed by Namco. Released in 2001, it was the first Ace Combat game for PS2 and was a reboot of the series that had suffered mediocre reception on the PS1. Ace Combat 04 would begin what would become known to fans of the series as the Holy Trinity.

We play as the unnamed pilot of Mobius 1. Set in an alternate Earth where an asteroid crash in 1999 caused worldwide devastation. In the wake of the crashes, the Federal Republic of Erusea dominates most of the planet. It's up to us and the other members of the Independent State coalition to fight back.

Ace Combat 04 is an arcade-style combat flight sim. Before each mission we will outfit our jet fighter and then be launched into the combat zone. We can switch between various first and 3rd person views to engage in air to air combat with our targets. Combat is usually on a large aerial battlefield where we will be given targets to either shoot down or protect.

The Good

The story.

Honestly, that's pretty much all I should have to say. I cannot stress enough how absolutely brilliant the story is. You wouldn't think in a combat flight simulator of all things we achieved the pinnacle of video game story telling...but here it is. No game before, nor any game since, as far as I'm concerned, has ever gotten it so well, and so right.

The story is told through the eyes of a child living the war and it's absolutely amazing. It has strong Studio Ghibli vibes. Often we the story being told has little/nothing to do with the missions you'll be on and it doesn't matter it's that good.

Beyond that the gameplay experience is solid. Combat is fun, the planes feel a bit heavy but that's fine, you're supposed to feel like the inferior combatant. Your triumphs and accolades feel absolutely earned instead of many games where you're just be default the hero because of course you are. At the time having an adaptive AI that responded to what else was going on in the battlefield in a non-scripted way was a rarity so that's really cool.

Did I mention again that the story is really freaking cool?

The Bad

The worst thing about Ace Combat 04 is how difficult it is to play it. It's never been released for PC or any kind of virtual console. You can nudge, nudge, wink, wink it but even that is more difficult to do than most games due to how the engine worked.

However, this is patient gamers so I'm sure more than a few of you have a PS2 or backwards compatible PS3 yet. In that case the only other real pitfall of the game is that it relies very heavily on you caring about the story. If you don't then the missions are usually a pretty generic "Shoot down a group of 1~4 enemies, 1~4 times for reasons." Rinse repeat 20 times. However, if you don't like the story then you're probably some kind of soulless monster anyways.

The Ugly

It's still a 2001 first generation PS2 game. As such...it's all polygons my friend. The ground is often a flat repeating texture, if that. Your plane is about 50 triangles glued together. It's not exactly a looker but thankfully it won't make your eyes bleed.

As much as I enjoy the story, the character building is actually a little weak. We never really learn much, if anything, about the people involved. There's more of a mystique about everything and everyone. Who are these people? What's their motivation? It's never really explored which for some will come across as really cool, but others it will create a sense of distance from what's going on.

Final Thoughts

I consider this a must play if you happen to own a PS2. If nothing else, do yourself a favor and watch the story on YouTube. It's much more impactful if you're living it yourself and there's are moments later in the game where I found myself going, "Hell yeah it's me. I'm here to save the day!" It's basically a 6 hour interactive movie being told about you and your arch-nemesis through the eyes of a child. It's...blissful.

Thank you for reading!

100 reviews in 100 days (Day 43)

Each game reviewed was played within the last few years to completion. In accordance with sub rules I last played it at least a year after release. I look forward to hearing what your experiences were with this game!