Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War

Ace Combat 5
Ace Combat 5
Developer(s)	Namco
Publisher(s)	Namco
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release	October 21, 2004 (JP); October 24, 2004 (NA); February 18, 2005 (EU)
Genre(s)	Simulation
Mode(s)	Single player

Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War (エースコンバット5 ジ・アンサング・ウォー) is a game for the PlayStation 2 developed by Namco. It is a semi-realistic fighter pilot simulation. It is part of the Ace Combat series of games. In Europe and Australia this game was released under the title Ace Combat: Squadron Leader.

Game premise

Template:Spoilers With the campaign mode the player takes on the role of the trainee Blaze of the Osea Air Defense Force (OADF). After a routine training mission resulted in the death of two instructors and numerous trainees, Blaze is bumped up to being an active member of the Wardog squadron that includes Kei Nagase (Edge), Alvin Davenport (Chopper), and squad leader Jack Bartlett (Heartbreak One). Osea is subjected to strange recon activities by an unknown nation, believed to be the nearby Yuktobania, a massive superpower that equally matches Osea in military might. Tensions rise between Osea and Yuktobania, and the Wardog squadron is sent to investigate. Soon, The Union of Yuktobanian Republics declares war on the Osean Federation. But, this war was not instigated by Yuktobania, as is believed early in the game. The fallen nation of Belka (Squirrel in Russian), which was defeated by the allied forces of Osea and Yuktobania in The Belkan War of 1995, sought revenge and pitted the two nations against each other. Template:Endspoilers

With the arcade mode the player takes on the role of Mobius 1 from Ace Combat 04 in a more fast-paced game with different missions and objectives than the campaign mode.

Gameplay

During the course of the game, the player has the opportunity to buy 53 different planes (however the player and his wingmen are restricted to the F-5E for the first four missions), from those that actually exist to prototypes to fantasy planes. All planes have alternate paint schemes, gained by meeting certain goals in missions, such as shooting down "ace" pilots. There are a total of 32 missions in the campaign mode, but due to multiple mission paths, there are a total of 29 missions flown in a single campaign.

The difficulty mode affects how many enemies are in a stage, how smart/accurate the enemies are, how much damage the enemies can take, and how much damage the player's airplane can take. On the hardest difficulty level a single missile from the enemy will down the player's airplane, whereas on the easiest level it takes several missiles.

The player ultimately gains control of a squadron of his own, and must purchase planes for squadron members. When preparing for a mission, the player gets to pick each airplane that each squad member will use. During missions, some orders can be given to wingmen, such as whether to actively engage enemies, spread out, and use special weapons.

The player must purchase all airplanes that he wants to use — up to four of each model(one for each squad member).Players gain money by destroying enemies. Once the mission objectives are complete, the player is awarded bonus money for performing above and beyond the requirements of the mission objectives. With missions that require landing or refueling in mid-air, bonus money can be earned by doing them quickly.

Criticisms

Most criticism are of the lack of realism as is often the case with games that place a greater emphasis on entertainment than more realistic flight simulator or combat flight simulator games. Such compromises are common with games designed for console platforms as opposed to those designed for personal computers, since the target market includes younger, less sophisticated players.

Some areas lacking realism:

Aircraft carry a greater number of missiles (in some instances nearly 80) than real aircraft.
The afterburner has no limit in usage, whereas in reality fuel constraints would be one limiting factor.
Flying through trees does not incur damage.
A player's wingmen can sustain unlimited damage.
There are no system malfunctions (other than stalls, but even those are easy to get out of), blackouts, or G-Force effects

Apart from these concerns there are also error (software bugs) such as computer controlled aircraft occasionally flying through terrain or under the ground or water surface.

Differences between Ace Combat 04 and Ace Combat 5

There are a number of key differences between Ace Combat 04 and Ace Combat 5. These include:

AC5 does not have support for more than one player
AC5 added the ability to give orders to the player's wingmen
AC5 does not allow the player to rearm his airplane during missions
AC5 awards medals for accomplishing various goals
AC5 unlocks some planes by having the player destroy targets using the preceding plane in the same family
AC5 awards credits to the player even if his wingmen shoot enemies (because they are squadron kill points); allied non-wingmen kills remain unrewarded
AC5 wingmen may destroy mission objective targets
AC5 allows the user to choose between two missions at points in the game
AC5 gives players the option to select their wingmen's planes for optimal air to ground or air to air power for each mission
AC5 restricts the player to one aircraft (F-5) for the first four missions
AC5 has two missions (other than the first four) that restrict the player to use a preselected aircraft, mission 12B (Mirage 2000D), and mission 19 (Hawk T.1R)

Aircraft

The following aircraft are pilotable. Other aircraft are in the game, but are not pilotable.

Non-pilotable aircraft

Operation Katina

Ace Combat: Operation Katina puts the player in control of Ace Combat 04's pilot "Mobius 1," the legendary Ace fighter pilot who brought the ISAF to victory singehandedly. The player's mission is to play through a number of stages filled with enemies and defeat a certain number of them in order to advance to the next stage. As the player progresses the game naturally gets more difficult and the player will have to adopt new techniques for countering the increasingly aggressive enemies' attacks. The mini-game is split into four branches, levels 1-4: 1 being the least difficult and 4 the most challenging. "SkyEye," the AWACS from Ace Combat 04 returns as well and provides mission support for the duration the game.

Unlike the Campaign Mode of Ace Combat 5, the player starts off with a low ammunition count and must carefully make his or her shots meet their mark. However, throughout the various levels there are different aircraft and ships that can be destroyed by the player to collect extra weapons from these special targets. The special target will be marked as for example, "C-130 M." In this case the C-130 is carrying extra missiles and shooting it down will result in the player being restocked with 10 missiles. The player can refill missiles and special weapons only; the machine gun uses unlimited ammunition.

Background

During the Usean Continental War (see Ace Combat 04) that spanned from late 2004 to mid 2005; the nations of Erusea and the ISAF (Independent States Allied Forces) fought a long and vicious conflict. Erusea was trying to crush the ISAF resistance and totally conquer the Usean continent whereas the ISAF was struggling to liberate their constituent states from the Erusians' clutches. Eventually the ISAF were victorious, but at an enormous cost in lives. About a year after the ISAF's hard-earned victory, there are still remnants of the Erusian military that refuse to accept the surrender and are calling for uprisings across the land. After some time, they have succeeded in capturing an old military factory and a very large quantity of weapons.

It seems that only one person can stop this rising threat. That person is a quiet pilot that goes by the callsign of Mobius 1.

List of major characters

File:Razgriz Logo.jpg

Insignia of the Razgriz squadron

Wardog/Razgriz Squadron

"Blaze" is the callsign of the player, his real name and his appearance are never revealed. Blaze rises from trainee to squad captain of the Wardog squadron after Bartlett is shot down.
Captain Jack Bartlett, 42, callsign "Heartbreak One", is the leader of the Wardog squadron. He has been a Captain in the Osean army for many years. Additionally, he helped Pops after they were both shot down over enemy territory. During the events of AC5 he is shot down and was thought to have been captured, until is revealed that he escaped before he was placed in an internment camp, and rejoins his former pupils after helping in the rescue of Yuktobania's Prime Minister.
Kei Nagase, 23, callsign "Edge", is the only female pilot in the Wardog squadron. She remains dedicated to protecting Blaze after seeing Bartlett shot down. She is shot down during a mission to rescue Osean POWs (Ice Cage), but is rescued shortly thereafter.
Alvin H. Davenport, 29, callsign "Chopper", is a member of Wardog squadron. Very talkative, Bartlett refers to him as "Motormouth" during the first mission, he is often the favorite of many a player. Enjoying Rock and Roll music, he collects albums and holds them in the "Crews Quarters". He is killed in action when he intentionally crashes his badly-damaged aircraft in the middle of November International Stadium, rather than risking having it crash into the evacuating crowd. It happens while flying cover for the Osean Vice President's speech in the stadium (Journey Home).
Hans Grimm, 19, callsign "Archer", is a trainee pilot who ends up taking the fourth spot in Wardog squadron after Bartlett is shot down. He has a brother who is part of the ground forces.
Captain Marcus Snow, 34, callsign "Swordsman", is leader of Kestrel's air wing (CVW-7, VFA-206). He joins the Wardog squadron after helping them fake their deaths (Final Option).

Other Characters

Captain Nicholas Anderson, 61, is the Commanding Officer of the aircraft carrier Kestrel.
2nd Lieutenant Peter N. Beagle, 56, a.k.a. "Pops", a.k.a. "Huckebein the Raven", is a mechanic for the Wardog squadron, but was a very accomplished ace many years prior when fighting for the Belkans. Ace Combat Zero suggests his real name is "Wolfgang Buckner", and that he was pursued by Schwarze Squadron during the events of 'Mayhem'. He owns a black lab.
Albert Genette, 32, is a photojournalist assigned to Sand Island. He covers many of Wardog squadron's battles and turns them into living legends. Albert is also the voice narrating most of the game.
Captain Allen Hamilton, 28, is the Adjutant Base Commander at Sand Island. It is revealed that he once flew with the Grabacr Sqaudron, and that he is actually working for the Belkans ( Final Option ). He was killed during operation Aces by a richocheting plane in the tunnel.
Vincent Harling is the president of Osea who was kidnapped by the 8492nd Squadron and later retrieved by the Ghosts of Razgriz.
Seryozha Viktrovich Nikanor is the Prime Minister of Yuktobania.
"Major", a.k.a. Nastasya a female Yuktobanian Army intelligence officer that was rescued along with Prime Minister Nikanor by Captain Bartlett. She was also the one who broke Bartlett's heart 15 years ago and was referred to by "Pops" as Bartlett's lady friend during a discussion with Genette.
Colonel Orson Perrault, 48, is the Commander of the Sand Island base. He is duped into thinking that Wardog squadron are spies, forcing them to escape with Pops' help (Final Option).
AWACS Thunderhead is the Osean AWACS for Wardog squadron.
AWACS Oka Nieba (Means 'Eye of the Heavens' in Polish) and ('Sky Eye' in Yuktobanian, which is also the name of the AWACS in Ace Combat 4 and Ace Combat: Operation Katina) is the Yuktobanian AWACS for Razgriz squadron's last official and bonus mission.

Trivia

In the scene where the Yuktobanian Ships fight, the frigate that maneuvers in front of the fleet of ships and says "I don't know what we're fighting for anymore." is named Pitomnik. Once that ship is shot and sinks, the next ship to respond says "This is missile destroyer Gumrak of the glorious Yuktobanian navy. We cannot follow a fleet commander willing to sink one of his own ships, we will protect Prime Minister Nikanor." is obviously the Gumrak. In real life Pitomnik and Gumrak were two airfields involved in the Battle of Stalingrad.
Kei Nagase has two resembling characters with similar names in previous Ace Combat games:
- One of the two wingmen you can select in Ace Combat 2 has the callsign 'EDGE', whom bears a striking resemblance to Nagase.
- In Ace Combat 4, in the mission "Escort", the co-pilot of Air Ixiom flight 702 has the last name of Nagase, but has a different voice compared to Kei Nagase in Ace Combat 5. It is unknown if the two characters are related.
Vincent Harling, the Osean President mentions the neutral country of "North Point" during a transmission in an early mission. This is an area of land that served as the ISAF's Headquarters at the beginning of Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies. ISAF and Osea are otherwise unrelated.
Pops owns a black lab, which is interesting because his last name is Beagle (he may have gotten his alias from his dog).
The song "Blurry", of the band Puddle of Mudd, was featured as a main theme song in the game.
It has been suggested that the game holds many ties to The Cold War. Some obvious analogies are Yuktobania and the USSR, and Osea and The United States.
Sand Island is the site of an airfield in the Midway Atoll, which was likely an inspiration for the air base of the same name in AC5. Both the real world airfield and the fictional one in the game look remarkably similar.
Eielson AFB near Fairbanks, Alaska probably served as inspiration for Heierlark Base as well.
The mission where Chopper sacrifices his life may be based on Col Anatolij Levchenko who, when hit by ground fire, was unable to eject and crashed his aircraft into the gun position destroying it.
When Pops talked with Capt. Anderson on the OFS Kestrel, he said that he was run away from the "gray men" and when 8492nd Squadron chased them in mission 8492nd part two, Pops recognized their voice as "Vulture". Vulture and Gray Men that Pops means is Belkan Fighter Pilot Dominique "Vulture" Zubov, from Schwarze Squadron. Schwarze is German word for black.
Mission 17, Journey Home, there is the CN Tower, which is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
On the two last missions, the AWACS is change to Oka Nieba, that means "Sky Eye" in English, both Oka Nieba and the AWACS from AC4 have the same codesign.

Reviews

Gamespot - 8.3/10 (great)
IGN - 9.3/10 (outstanding)

External links