![]() Then there are the replays at the end of each mission. ![]() And the true beauty of it all is that at no point does the framerate drop. There are times when you just have to say, "screw it" and veer off into the city, narrowly dodging the skyscrapers all the way.Įverything, from the perfect vectors that missiles take to seek out and destroy their target, to the slick explosions, and to the sleek, almost spaceship like plane designs, looks splendid. Bridges, tunnels, and skyscrapers are literally heaped into the game's environment, all without bogging down the framerate. The cities that Namco's developers have created drip with personality. There's definitely draw-in, but it's not usually a case of popup, it's a gradual fade in of horizon details. Sunlight glints off the water, while the same light splays across the wings of your plane. I don't know of any other game that lets you scream through skyscraper-filled neo metropolises with the same sense of speed, while still piling on the effects and detail. They honestly left me uttering the word "wow" about every five minutes for about an hour and a half. Graphics I really can't gush enough over this game's graphical prowess. The fact that you can both steer your craft and simultaneously look around for bogeys is completely intuitive, and should be a standard in ALL flying games. The shoulder buttons control yaw and thrust, and the machine gun, missile, and targeting button have stayed the same as the previous games. The left analog stick control the plane's pitch and ascent and descent, and the right offers a more precise version of the d-pad. The d-pad now controls the view, showing you the top, bottom, left, and right views of your plane. Speaking of handling, AC3's control scheme has been refined to fully utilize the Dual Shock controller. The beauty of the mission design is that you may be called upon to do some stratosphere-height fighting, and the only plane that can handle the high-altitude flight is the SR-71, which handles like a whale. ![]() There are, of course, differences beyond the different craft's looks early designs are power- or stability-heavy, while some of the later designs handle just as well at they fire off a salvo of rockets. ![]() The aircraft designs are as sexy as they are fun to fly, but you'll have to work to unlock some of the more truly outlandish designs. You didn't play the game for it's depth, you played it for the fun, and that's exactly how you have to play AC3, for the fun, not for an amazing amount of depth. The same thing held true in R4, where you raced around the track, visuals brimming with eye candy. It took me a day or so to realize it, but that's exactly what you SHOULDN'T be looking for. It's when you start to look for more that the game tends to be stretched a little too thin. It's this sort of diversity thrown in a just the right time that keeps the combat fresh, and playable for hours on end. In another, your custom space shuttle-esque ship is strapped to a rocket to take out satellites. A few short bursts of fire from your Vulcan cannon and a couple of well placed missiles, and the plant is toast. For instance, in one mission all you have to do at first is tail a stealth bomber through a canyon rife with twists and turns (and, of course, enemy aircraft), but after you follow it to what seems like a dead end, a secret chemical weapons plant is uncovered. Yeah, you'll spend a lot of time dog fighting or taking out ground targets (it is called ace combat after all), but at certain times during the story, you'll be called upon to try other methods of combat. Your duties go from simple peacekeeping missions to full-on warfare where you may end up shooting down as many as 20 planes. While the story itself is a little thin (you fly for the UEFO, keeping the peace and generally just scream through the skies being the bad that you know you are in a million-dollar death-dealing winged angel of death), the action more than makes up for it. This time around, corporate mega giants provide the catalyst from some turn n' burn fun. Gameplay The Ace Combat series takes place in the near future (say, 20-30 years), which provides the perfect vehicle for a futuristic semi-storyline, while keeping with current, recognizable aircraft designs (well, most of them anyway). Just as R4 redefined what a crisp stylized racer can be, AC3 ups the ante on the air combat genre. This is Namco quality at its finest, and perfectly shows what the PlayStation is capable of. Consoles were created to provide an arcade-quality experience at home, and for me when I pick up a flying game, I'm expecting a dive-bombing, dog-fighting, missile-locking, gun-jamming adrenaline rush, and the Ace Combat series has always delivered.
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