Great in NEARLY every regard: great flying, great sound, great, but poorly told story.
The second you load up the single-player campaign for the first time, you get a real feel for Ace Combat 6. Why? Your capital city, Gracemeria, gets the crap beaten out of it and taken over by the "evil" Estovakians. The proceeding missions are all about you as try to liberate your nation, Emmeria, from the "Stovies" (hence the subtitle "Fires of Liberation). The main story is told straight from the cockpit of whatever plane you're flying, but there are side stories told in the cutscenes. One cutscene character is a woman who has lost her child, another is a crippled former enemy pilot. These WOULD be awesome... if the lipsynch weren't obviously made for the original Japanese audio track. Also the voice overs aren't particularly great - not THAT bad, but not great either.
Moving on to what makes this game awesome: the gameplay. Right from the beginning of the game you feel like Maverick from Top Gun. Yes, references like these are cliche, but it really is that great. You feel awesome when you've been tailing an enemy plane and then get hear the AWACS tower tell you, "Garuda 1 locked-on!" and then you fire your missile and destroy him. Flying feels great and natural: the controls are just right. What's more is that every plane is different. While, they really are subtle differences, it's the subtle differences that matter.
There are other perks to gameplay, such as the ability to call in friendly units to deal with your 9,000 airborn problems. The catch? You have to unlock the allied support first. How? You complete the operations on the map, such as helping destroy enemy radar jamming planes or saving the tank battalions by doing their job for them. The most immediate support you always have is your wingman Garuda 2 "Shamrock". He's always there for you. If you order him to "cover" you, he'll take missiles for you. If you tell him to "attack" he'll go forth and start wreaking havoc. In short? Awesome.
The graphics are superb. There are times when you'll just want to sit back and enjoy the view from your aircraft... or of your aircraft. There are points when you'll forget you're playing a game, yes, that good. The planes look real. The landscapes are brilliant and are photorealistic until you get really close, which you probably won't do.
The sound. The voice acting and aircraft sounds are awesome when you're playing. The roar of a passing jet followed by your wingman Garuda 2 announcing that he just made a kill sounds simply incredible. However, as a I mentioned, the voice acting isn't great during cutscenes.
Now, games like Ace Combat 6 often include sour replay and you'll only play once. Not the case here! There is loads of unlockable content and there is no way you'll have used every plane by then end of a campaign. There are also objectives you won't have done in missions and various small things. Ace Combat 6 is truly a diamond in the rough in the regard of value.
Finally, I'm going to say something for the story. There are points where it's dorky, for instance the "Golden King" is pretty stupid. How many times are they going say "dance with the angels"?!?! Seriously... almost every sentence of the game has to include "dance with the angels!" But that's not too big of a problem! Why? The story is awesome. No, it isn't on Mass Effect's level of story, but it gets to you. When you finally get to the liberation of Gracemeria, you really feel it. You'll wanna shout "YEAH!!!" as you save your hometown.
THE SCORE:
Graphics: 9. They look brilliant, but the humans aren't as great as the landscapes or the planes.
Sound: 9. Not-so-great voice acting in cutscenes.
Gameplay: 10. What's not to love?
Value: 10. Loads of stuff to do and unlock.
Tilt: 9. I would give it a ten if they'd fix the story up a bit, it's not broken but there are things that would have made it better. Either way, it's awesome!
TOTAL, FINAL AVERAGE: 9.4, adjusted is 9.0.
Why do I not adjust it upwards? Because 9.5 is reserved for games that are just shy of total perfection, or 9.5 and above.