Namco once again delivers a pulse pounding action-flight sim.
Even though this is the fifth game in the series, very little has changed since AC4. In this iteration, Namco took the approach, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" method. While this works for the most part, the game could've used some more refreshing elements to its all ready stellar bag of tricks. Nevertheless, Ace Combat 5 The Unsung War is an excellent game that will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to the end. Like AC4, this game keeps with the trend of photo realistic graphics. Everything from the plane models, to CG cinema's looks realistic and detailed. The enviroments too, being how large they are, also look great, but from afar. While the eviroments are fairly detailed with buildings and other everyday structures, up close these textures look flat and lesser detailed than from way up in the sky. The enviroments still look good and vary slightly from level to level, but the overall look is rather flat, which is where the graphics also ran into trouble in AC4. In the game's array of missions you'll be flying through cities, moutains, canyons, deserts and over huge oceans. You'll also encounter various weather elements such as rain, and cloudiness, but nothing to extreme ever unfolds. As you might imagine, some of the levels do end up looking like one another, but for the most part missions stay fairly mixed up.
The CG cinema's is where the game really shine in the graphics department. They're so well done that you'll swear your watching a anime movie, complete with your choice of english or japanese dialogue. Though most of the cinema's do lie heavily in the beginning and end of the game, so don't expect fifteen minute cinema cut scenes after every mission.
The sound in AC5 is also very well done. You'll hear the sound of your engines roaring, explosions, weather effects, and radio chatter. Trust me, you'll hear A LOT of radio chatter, which for the most part adds atmosphere and tension to every mission. But sometimes the chatter does end up being annoying, but this only happens every now and then. The voice acting is also really good, only running to a few walls every now and then. This game also supports Dolby Digital Pro Logic II, so if you have the connections nessecary this game only sounds one hundred times better.
Now onto gameplay, the core component in this game. This is the area that hasn't changed a whole lot from the last game. New to the game is the ability to give orders to squad members. By pressing different directions on the D-Pad, you can tell your wingmen to attack, cover, use special weapons, and disperse. The dissapointing thing though is you don't really use this feature a whole lot. In fact, you can go through most of the missions by not even giving orders to your wingmen, which shows that they importance during combat is very low. So the whole feature of giving orders to your wingmen is exectued pretty poorly. Thats the only new feature in AC5, which isn't too much of a bad thing, but as I said before, the game could've used some new elements to keep it from being a little repetetive later on. The core gameplay is you have to destroy any target that is indicated on your map. You engage in combat with other fighter jets and a wide array of various ground targets. You can use missles, guns or the fighter jets special weapon to defeat enemies. AC5 has 29 missions to complete, plus a very extra if certain circumstances are met. There's also a arcade mode that follows Mobius One from AC4, which is refreshing to those who played the previous installment. Overall the game will take about 12-15 hours to beat the first time through. Which means if your consistant in playing you can beat the game in about 2-5 days. This is a pretty good amount time considering the game's genre. Also there's some other incentives to keep you playing like new fighter jets, and paint jobs. Ace Combat 5 The Unsung War is a very fast paced action game that will kep you hooked to the end. The games complicated, yet intriguing storyline will keep you playing till the game's end. But the real success of the game is its ability to create a roller coaster ride, that will keep your knuckles white and make you feel proud of your accomplishment once a tough mission is beat. Not many games envoke strong emotion through a player, but AC5 does it very well, by introducing characters you end up caring for, and by having very powerful gameplay along with it. With Ace Combat 5 The Unsung War, Namco once again delivers a pulse pounding action-flight sim. The option of the now-rare Hori Flight Stick makes for an even more imersive experience, and if you can find one on eBay, it's a lot of bang for the buck.