Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War

Take to the skies in Namco's Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, perhaps the best installment in the flight-action series yet.

Without the Ace Combat games, the flight simulation genre would be even moldier than it is now. But they aren't simply the last of a dying breed. The Ace series has always combined the best of pure aerial simulation with arcade style gameplay successfully, and continues to do so in Ace Combat Zero, the sixth game in the series.

Versus the World
Zero contains a meatier story than its predecessors that takes place fifteen years before the events of Ace Combat 5. You play a mercenary who has been hired by a small country to a tear through the skies and defend them from the might of the Belkan military with your life. The odds are against you and the air battles you fight in will ultimately lead up to the Belkan War.

By destroying enemy units and completing missions, reward money can be used to purchase new aircrafts, like the A-10A Thunderbolt II and the Su-27 Terminator, and special weapons that will give you a better advantage at conquering the Belkans. You can also earn a variety of war medals for your skillfulness in sending your opponents spiraling into the afterlife. The crucial thing to keep in mind is that you have a severely limited number of missiles, so you're going to have to aim well and not puke from constant spinning and midair maneuvering you must do to avoid enemy fire.

Fire from the Sky
Ace Combat Zero offers a range of mission types: you'll be able to protect ships from rival aircrafts, wipe out ground forces, dogfight with enemy ace pilots, annihilate structures, restock and repair your plane midway through a mission, and even dodge a massive laser beam that slices through planes like they are toys.

There are a couple negative aspects of the game. One thing is that it's not radically different from number 5. I also wasn't fond of the generic music in the game. At some points it even impedes you from hearing the tone that is made when your weapons have locked onto enemy targets. But those are minor drawbacks.

Ace Combat Zero is, without a doubt, the most fun I've ever had with a flight simulator, and it's the best one in the series yet.

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