Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War (Sony PlayStation 2, 2006)

Ace Combat Zero picks off after Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War for the Playstation 2.

If you played Ace Combat 5 obsessively, unlocked all the planes, unlocked the Special Paint schemes, replayed the missions, adored the storyline, and loved the characters THEN be prepared to be completely disappointed in Ace Combat Zero.

In contrast, ACZ is a simmered down version of AC5.

Let's start with the bad news: the planes have no air effects around them so you feel like you are piloting them in an airless environment. If you point the plane in a certain direction, it will stay that way instead of realisticly veering side to side like a real plane does and did in Ace Combat 5. This makes the flying seem flat.

Pixy is your sole Wingman for all the missions. While his character seems very friendly to be flying with, he is no Captain Davenport "Chopper" from AC5. Pixy seems like a wingman who only says what he wants to just to make you feel better. No matter how hard the producers of ACZ tried, you are never going to like Pixy as you liked/loved Edge, Chopper, Bartlett, and Archer from AC5.

The aircraft unlocking system is more random since there is fewer selection of planes and less variants, you unlock the planes of the enemy Aces you shoot down during the missions though you can only buy them after you have enough credits.

The missions are not challenging AT ALL. Playing on the Hard level, Ace Combat veteran players will find it way too easy. This is highlighted by the fact that many ground targets go down in just one missile shot! It's simply way too easy and makes the missions a joke.

The mercenary system is silly at best! There are different types of targets you can choose to kill or not kill to earn the rank of Mercenary, Soldier, Knight. Any hardcore player is going to kill all the targets! So the Soldier and Knight rank becomes useless unless you want to replay the missions and leave the targets standing which is just plain stupid.

So what is good about ACZ? Well, the menus have been revamped so you won't get lost in them as you did in AC5. The colors and background music choices are excellent. Thr storyline is quiet the same emotional war-story we all expect from the Ace Combat games though not at all as engaging and gripping as it was in AC5.

The aircraft selection screen is better with a circle graph that shows the stengths and weekeness of the machines. The best news here is the feature from Ace Combat 4 that was taken out in AC5: custom secondary weapons! Wooo hooo!! It was a major complaint in AC5 (thought it had more aircraft variants to make up for it). Now it's back...you can buy secondary weapons for each aircraft and choose which one you are going to use in battle!

The airplane models look the same but they seem to have better textures making them look more realistic. Enemy Aces are more lethal than ever before and are introduced in the missions with much fanfare in their customized enemy squadrons. An Assault gallery in the menu allows you to see all the enemy Aces you shot down while the Medals gallery shows all the medals you have picked up.

The introductions to each mission is better executed too.

So in a nutshell, if you LOVED Ace Combat 5 to death, you can save your money by not buying ACZ. The main problem is flat flight physics with no realism.

But if you are a Ace Combat fan that never misses any title, you can pick this up and play. Who knows? Maybe you will end up liking it. 3/5

Ace combat, from the days of the Playstation, has always been the one series I can remember immediately for air to air combat.

there have been others, but Ace Combat still kicks the tar out of them.

Ace Combat Zero is a prequel to the Ace Combat 5 game; detailing the fight between Osea and Belka in a war of atrocity, nationalism, and betrayal.

If you played Ace Combat 5 certain parts will be noticeable, but if you haven't played that then you wont be affected much.

What I found was a nice touch in this game, was the included interviews with pilots that you shot down during the game. The increased difficulty dogfights with rival Belkan air divisons, and the nitty gritty details of the planes itself, including the famed SU-47, along with other special unlockable planes.

What I disliked about this game was the lack of character development, and lack of motivational praise you saw in other Ace combat games. As you progressed in missions your call sign would be related to praise, honor and fear among your enemies. However in this game it is barely recognizable, and you remember your copilots name more so then your own (PIXIE stands out).

This game attempted to do that with "Demonlord" but compared to the "Razgriz" and "Mobius 1" it didnt cut it.

Bottom line, I probably would wait until its 20.00 or less for this game, because I don't believe its worth the brand new price. However, it has solid game play, a good development staff, an easy to use interface, and a simplistic control scheme (you literally will pick it up in seconds)

If I had a game to recommend over this one, it would be ace combat 4, and 5. Simply because they are about the same price, includes a great story, and provides the same, if not more intense action that Zero provides.

but if you like the series, this wont disappoint you.

Ace Combat Zero is a prequel to the Ace Combat series, You get fully up to date graphics and gameplay, while finding out what happened to set up the wars in the Ace Combat series. There are fewer yes-no types of questions than in previous games, and less character development, but the mission tree is much more nicely done - you often get to choose from "land missions" or "air missions" depending on your personal preferences. Also, your aircraft can now be configured to have the missile types that you enjoy using the most. The cut-scenes have been improved with a more realistic look to them, but in game graphics are about the same as Ace Combat 5. That's not to say they are bad - you get high quality views of the planes you're in, the landscapes you fly over and detailed towns beneath you. It's really rather impressive how well they can render an entire "world" in 3D, in real time as you zoom over it. The voice actors seem reasonably good, helping you feel involved in the air battles, and the soundtrack is epic in scope without overwhelming you or bombarding you with inappropriate modern music. You only have one wingman at a time, compared to previous games where you could have multiple wingmen. Occasionally there are other flyers on your side in the sky - it's just that they are not under your direct control. You can specify what types of targets your wingman goes after. If you're a two player fan, there's now a versus mode where you can fly head to head against a friend and test out your skills. On the downside, the game is MUCH shorter than Ace Combat 5, so if you're a good flyer, you'll finish quickly. Still, you can go back and replay multiple times to get all the endings and to earn all the medals. A great game for flying combat fans - and especially for those who enjoy the Ace Combat series and want to learn more about its history. Well recommended.

I've been playing Namco's Ace Combat series since the original incarnation on the PSone through the subsequent releases on the PS2. Each new Ace Combat game brough better graphics, cooler missions, detailed airplane models, unique weapons - except Ace Combat Zero.

As a whole the game graphics aren't terrible, they're just exactly like Ace Combat 5. The missions don't provide anything new to veterans of the series and the story is almost laughable.

Story has never been a hallmark of Ace Combat. Mostly cut-scenes were added in to give the player some reason, however terribly written, to take to the skies and shoot down the "bad-guys". Ace Combat Zero I'm sad to say is a new low for the series. Not only are the cut-scense poorly written they're also very poorly acted. This game is a throw back to Warhawk for the PSone. Except Warhawk had passable missions for its time.

Another step back is the overall length of the game - featuring just 18 levels. If you're a veteran of the series expect to blow through this game in a few hours. This is a huge step backward when you consider Ace Combat 5 featured 36 levels.

Gone too is the ability to issue orders to three wingmen a la AC5. Now you'll just have one wingman for each mission. Unlike AC5 where you could assign aircraft to your individual wingmen, in AC6 your wingman is stuck with whatever aircraft they start out with.

All in all this game isn't terrible, its just not that good either. Given the alternatives of flight combat action games on consoles though, you could do worse than picking up AC6. But to those who haven't played AC5, pick up a copy of that instead.

ace combat is pretty much the best game in airplane sims. what i like about this game is the variety of airplanes you can use. however, this prequel to ace combat 5 was a bit of a disappointment. the mission gameplay repeats all over. the graphics are the best as always and it shows in the cinematic dog fights. there's a new twist to the game which shows you your fighting style as an ace which are mercenary, soldier and knight ace. each style generates different message transmissions during the game. enemy ace squadrons also appear for you to fight. each squadron has their own strategies and each ace style has its own set of aces for you to encounter. overall, it's a good game to play. if your new to the ace combat series, this game wont disappoint you.