Can the sequel prevail over the original Air Combat?
It most certainly can. Air Combat was a fun game in it's time. But compared to games these days, it really lacks in creativity. Yeah it's one of those games you don't find everyday, having dog fights 5,000 feet in the air with other aircraft and zooming by buildings at Mach speeds, but it still could've been better. Ace Combat makes up for this lack a little bit, but it doesn't really get better until the PS2 versions. You will like the improvements over the first Air Combat game assuming you're a fan of the series.
Gameplay - 6/10
Gameplay pretty much envelopes this game. Without it, it's crap. By comparison to the first game, it's certainly better. But not much has changed. You don't lose your aircraft when you crash though! You just get money deducted from your total for the cost of the aircraft. Which oddly, isn't anywhere close to how much you purchased it for, oh well. The missions have a lot more objectives, mostly dealing with taking out such and such or taking out specific targets. Of course that's what you do in a jet fighter! Blow things up!!
Controls - 8/10
The setup is generally simple. You got your machine guns, missiles, afterburner, brake and map overview(I think I'm missing something). Most classic Aerial games will have the up and down keys inverted. Just how it is, get used to it! There is another setup that changes left and right to rolling. This is what flying is really like for the most part. It's VERY hard to get used to for newcomers and generally tricky for veterans unless you've mastered this for years. It certainly holds it's advantages in fights as it is a lot quicker with turning and avoiding missiles and the such. L2 and R2 now become something called "yaw". It controls the rear fins rudders so you can have a little left or right turn. Nothing special, but can come in handy for a few missions you can't lock missiles onto with.
Storyline - 3/10
As much as they try to involve the storyline in the game, it just doesn't work very well. You're briefed the mission(the storyline) and set on your way to lay destruction to the opposition. It builds as you play through the missions, but for the most part it's the same objective. I guess if you're a war fan, it might catch your curiosity as to what is going on in the storyline. I didn't find much interest in it personally.
Graphics - 7/10
And improvement from the first game. The ground actually looks like ground and not giant blocks of color. However, just smaller blocks of color... that look better. Though you're in the sky most of the time dog fighting so you may not notice much except for some AAA guns, Missile launchers or warships. This is Playstation, it's an old system. The best graphics you'll find is the opening intro of the game. At least they tried to make the planes look nice!
Sound - 6/10
There isn't much to hear. The jet... other jets... missiles and machine guns... and that annoying voice that alerts you a Missile is coming to blow you to shreds. Other than that, it's kind of peaceful. Too bad your enemy isn't.
Replay Value - 5/10
To be honest, once you play one round through, it's hard to play it again unless you pull this game out of the cupboard 3 years down the road. It's just the same missions over again with some alternate routes for multiple mission choices. Try blowing up all the ACE fighters to earn better jets? Can't say much else, unless you love dog fighting.
Overall - 6/10
A definite improvement over the first Air Combat, but not by a huge margin. It's worth a weekend rental to play, but maybe not worth the extra space in your game collection.