2024 Game of the Year Countdown
#4: Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War
Sony PlayStation 2, 2004
AC5 is almost certainly the fan favorite of the franchise. It has a very complex story that focuses on characters and politics more so than just destroying targets. In a lot of ways, itâs a very âanimeâ story and game.Â
The game starts out with a lot of Big Eventsâ˘, tossing you into the role of squadron leader. You canât even change the garbage plane you get for the first four levels, which definitely makes getting an S rank more difficult, but also works well with the story since your base and squadron are struggling and being overrun as well. I think three missions occur on the same in-game date!
With the addition of Dolby Pro Logic II, the game also has an option for surround sound and itâs amazing. The music has a depth to it that wasnât apparent just coming out of the regular TV speakers, or even stereo, and sounds are dynamic. Firing a missile to destroy a jet in front of you, and then flying past the subsequent explosion creates a very real feel that makes me wish I had surround sound years ago. It also makes me wonder what AC7âs VR gameplay would be like on the PS4âŚ. Even if DPLII isnât true surround sound, as it merely interprets certain music and sound cues, it does a really good job to make the music and sound effects stand out prominently. This is a 10/10 experience in the sound department.
Ace Combat is well known for having great music, and AC5âs soundtrack was so big, it took up 4 CDs. Some favorites include the remixed âFree Flight,â the super chill âFour Horsemen,â the first track performed by an actual orchestra for an Ace Combat game, âRazgrizâ by the Warsaw Philharmonic, the grand finale and titular track of âThe Unsung War,â and lastly, the licensed rock tune used in the trailer and end credits, âBlurryâ by Puddle of Mudd. This would be the best soundtrack by far for an Ace Combat game, had it not been for a little prequel released less than two years later.
After playing dozens of JPRGs since the last time I played AC5, I see heavy influence from the genre. Ace Combat 3, the Japanese version at least, leaned heavily into the sorts of storytelling methods and plot twists that are more common in RPGs or story-focused games, and itâs obvious that they learned what worked there and combined it with what worked from a gameplay standpoint in AC04, combining them perfectly for The Unsung War. My replay has honestly been eye-opening as I was really getting a lot more out of it than I had in the past. While the big twist to the story comes a bit late in the story and makes some of the earlier levels feel a bit like âwhatâs the point?,â it also really thrusts us into a prominent position within the plot. Once that twist happens, everything we do feels just so much more significant and impactful, whereas stuff before felt like we were just a part of the machinery.Â
The only real critique I have of the story, aside from how the twist felt a bit late in the game to be able to enjoy it as much as possible, is that a few levels stand out as really uneventful. AC04 had one objectively boring mission, with another one Iâd consider borderline. AC5 has a number of boring missions that feel like filler in both importance to the plot and in actual gameplay. However, the highs are so high, these boring missions are forgiven and nearly forgotten as well.
One small thing that has always bothered me about AC5 involves the superweapons. There were only two superweapons and one superplane in AC04. The superplane there doesnât have any special weaponry or features; itâs just highly maneuverable and fast. The superweapons also are integral to the story, with Stonehenge being of utmost importance to the politics, timeline of the conflict, and gameplay in numerous levels. Megalith might feel tacked-on to some, but it is at least rumored in debriefings earlier in the story, and serves as a great climax to the game.
The superweapons in AC5, however, often spring out of nowhere. There are two submarines with devastating anti-aircraft weapons that show up out of nowhere with no fanfare and no lead-up, and then are dispatched immediately without causing any significant turning point in the story or the conflict. Then, we get two space-based superweapons. At least one of those has a bit of lore surrounding it, but in the level where we shoot it down, it feels much more like a boss fight from the game 1943 than it does an Ace Combat enemy. It also has magical lasers that one-shot you and an unending stream of UAVs that are unreasonably maneuverable and quick. The superplane also looks like it was made for a space arcade game, with the laser and overall design looking very sci-fi. These donât exactly follow the general mood of AC games, imho.
One somewhat controversial choice by developers, something that has since been almost lost to time, was the inclusion of novice controls. Normal controls on AC games require you to roll your aircraft before pulling up in order to turn. This is how an aircraft would execute a turn in real life, and AC5 added an option to change the controls to allow for pushing left to make the plane roll to the left AND pull up at the same time. So instead of handling like an aircraft, it handled more like an Arwing in Starfox. A lot of people saw this as the game going soft and being made too easy for people who couldnât take ârealâ controls. I was relatively indifferent to the inclusion of such an option, although I would never use it. There was a true downside, though, in that the novice controls wouldnât roll the aircraft completely upside down. Who doesnât want to fly upside down?? Anyway, this has been a standard option ever since and I canât recall anyone being upset about it in years. Itâs nice that people can have this barrier to entry removed, so overall, I think it was a good choice.
Rant on superweapons aside, AC5 is THE fan favorite Ace Combat game and I have a new appreciation for it after giving it a replay after so many years. Truly a masterpiece on the PS2 and in the franchise.
