HG101 2023 Game Finish Challenge
Jan 30, 2023 20:13:34 GMT -5
Post by personman on Jan 30, 2023 20:13:34 GMT -5
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War (PS2, emulated on Steam Deck, replay, 4 hours)
I got stuck with a security detail since we called in Boeing to work on one of the planes so that meant I had a ton of time to sit back and blow through this game a couple times (as well as work on Tunic). After how happy I was with 5 I was so stoked for this one when it was announced but it didn't really occur to me that this thing had a real fast turn about. Production started immediately after 5 in fact on top of being developed along side 6 which had a lot of challenges for them to work through since they had to build an engine from scratch to work with the decently new 360 at the time. They were spread real thin here and I feel like it shows. On one hand it has a lot of cool ideas like fleshing out the big war that preceded 5, adding a kinda sorta morality system and emphasizing enemy aces and characterizing them kinda like what 4 did with its main antagonist.
Problem is the execution of these things I feel just needed more time. The story is cool but moves at such a break neck pace things easily get glossed over or don't feel like they deserve any impact because they just came out of nowhere. Like a long standing tradition of the series is super weapons and this entry technically has three. They were cool because they menaced you and the itch to finally get a chance to take a stab at them built tension and made it fun to blow them up. This time they show up and you immediately take them out next mission and said battles against them are so lack luster compared to how 5 handled them.
On top of that the level design settles into the same trap of AC4 but even more so. It only had like maybe three missions that do anything different other that 'its sandbox time, blow up much as you can'. What they were banking on is the games main gimmick: Ace Style, where you get this sort of morality thing based on how to carry yourself between three distinctions. You've got Knight where you spare defenseless targets (marked in yellow) and go out of your way to defend allies in trouble. Mercenary who just destroys everything with all disregard to get the most money (and supposedly makes enemy squadrons harder but I never found that to be the case) and then Solider who may not be such a dick as to drop a bomb directly on enemy barracks but will certainly make sure all your weapon depots and power facilities are leveled, perhaps a couple disabled planes will get picked off here and there. This is a neat idea and even adds a tiny little roleplay element to things like, again bombing barracks is technically free game, its war after all but at the same time that's just where people sleep you know? But ultimately what does it do for gameplay? Well if you go Knight it just means you just ignore a lot of things which is just rather lame and mercenary you go ham like you usually have in the series so it feels no different. At least for Solider you have to actively try and balance it and it brings up the most thought like the little example above.
What would have been great is if the different paths changed the missions or something. Like if you just want to nuke stuff go mercenary and get more missions to do just that. Knight may get more missions concerning special objectives rather than score. Instead the only thing that changes are what Ace squadrons you go up against at certain times in the campaign which is okay but they rarely behaved differently from anything else mostly just serving to deliver flavor dialogue. Just came off to me like a proof of concept more than anything. I feel like they had this idea to a point but just didn't have the time to implement it since many missions give you the choice in what part of an operation to participate in. Makes it look like there is a ton of variety but then you realize all it means is 'do you want spend this one going after air, ground or both this time?'.
In the least its not as bare bones as the missions in 3 and with currency in place you have more incentive to not just go for the objectives and nothing else (unless you're playing Knight) though on the subject of 3 its like this was meant to be another stab at that style again. It's the shortest of the PS2 trilogy by far with only 18 missions so replay value was a focus especially with all the named aircraft having sets for every mission exclusive to one style. I mean I blew through the campaign twice in one night over 4 hours. Not a bad thing per say but the bare bones missions, fast as they are still stick in my craw and your actions don't have too much affect on things like they did in 3.
Even the story really just fell flat for me save for some key moments. For one you only have one wingman this time but hes not horribly annoying. Really the story is about him more than anything its just viewed from your perspective... which is so disappointing that it really doesn't get fully realized because things are moving too fast. Doesn't help that they tried to portray a really shocking event (if you know the story of 5 you know the exact one) but time or hardware constraints just really didn't do it justice. Then they replace him with another really annoying naive kid who belongs with the cast of 5, yaaaaay. What is sad is they tried real hard to sell this stuff, after you beat your first ace squadron the flight lead of that group will be interviewed by the narrator describing thier encounter with you. That's pretty cool and its all played by live actors who seem to do a relatively convincing job (the guy who plays 'your buddy' is actually the same actor who played characters in some nickelodeon shows funny enough. Small world.) but these too only go so far for me. I mean they just showed up out of the blue, I can only care so much... and the fact one looks like he's posing for a subversive take on American Gothic doesn't help either lol.
I've been really negative so far. But I promise this is still a real good game. The plot being rushed as it is is still fun with a heavy emphasis on Arthurian legend mixed with Norse mythology and has all sorts of fun details. Like your wingman having the nickname of 'Solo Wing' isn't just a silly videogame thing of some guy doing the impossible and landing with a missing wing. An Israeli pilot in the same plane actually pulled that off back in the day and its a subtle nod to the Norse God Tyr as well which fits perfectly with the climax of the game. It's a little on the nose of course like a giant laser weapon being called Excalibur and yes someone yells "You pulled the sword from the stone!" when you destroy it. Otherwise its not so overt like most anime things I see as to be annoying.
Most importantly though is the final level. I think all three of the games had good climaxes with 4 being hilarious, 5 being a decent collection of set pieces but Zero? Zero takes the damn cake and them some. For one it starts with a what feels like an aerial version of storming the beaches of Normandy, then a pretty tight corridor flying challenge under a strict time limit and finally one of the most intense, overly dramatic and really challenging and fun duels with the final boss, easily the best boss in the series by a mile which ends you with having to freaking joust the bastard four times before claiming victory.
All the while this track plays and seriously just give this a listen and tell me this isn't the most beautiful blood pumping fight song you've ever heard:
Course I may just be the biggest simp for spanish guitar lol.
But it's due to this final sequence I think this game is lauded so much among the community. It leaves such a mark that I can't help but assume people just tend to over look the rest of the damn game which I must stress again is still very fun. I even remember back in the day I was disappointed with the game but this last level? I would replay it over and over again all the time. I guess I'm showing my fan boy colors right now but it has to be one of my favorite set pieces in gaming ever and even today I still think its one of the best climaxes in the medium. Look among the community and you'll still see everyone referencing it, slapping the final boss theme over all thier fan creations and hell the indie title Project Wingman was pretty much a love letter to this game. I'm sure someone will point out better and tastes vary but I still stand by that sentiment lol. It's enough to save the game for me though again even if I find the over all package lacking its still solid and if you're new to the series or prefer the more straight forward mission you'll love it just fine. I'd still reccomend it to most I just don't believe it deserves the heights people hold it up to.
Rating-7
Fortunately this one seems to be a lot easier to emulate then 4 (and possibly 5). I ran some deinterlacing patches with it but I don't think they really even had any effect so Go fire it up in an emulator and try it out sometime I say. Again, try them all they're some of the finest action games on the PS2 that are easy to get into.
And damn the credits theme is beautiful too:
That was a great revisit. I love these games. Suppose next is to give 6 enough fair shake which I actually disliked quite a bit. Need to wait for 360 emulation to iron out more though before I'll get that chance... I'm in no rush, after this I think I'm a little burnt out on the series. Time for a break and next time I'll be talking about Tunic which is another game I was disappointed by lol.
I got stuck with a security detail since we called in Boeing to work on one of the planes so that meant I had a ton of time to sit back and blow through this game a couple times (as well as work on Tunic). After how happy I was with 5 I was so stoked for this one when it was announced but it didn't really occur to me that this thing had a real fast turn about. Production started immediately after 5 in fact on top of being developed along side 6 which had a lot of challenges for them to work through since they had to build an engine from scratch to work with the decently new 360 at the time. They were spread real thin here and I feel like it shows. On one hand it has a lot of cool ideas like fleshing out the big war that preceded 5, adding a kinda sorta morality system and emphasizing enemy aces and characterizing them kinda like what 4 did with its main antagonist.
Problem is the execution of these things I feel just needed more time. The story is cool but moves at such a break neck pace things easily get glossed over or don't feel like they deserve any impact because they just came out of nowhere. Like a long standing tradition of the series is super weapons and this entry technically has three. They were cool because they menaced you and the itch to finally get a chance to take a stab at them built tension and made it fun to blow them up. This time they show up and you immediately take them out next mission and said battles against them are so lack luster compared to how 5 handled them.
On top of that the level design settles into the same trap of AC4 but even more so. It only had like maybe three missions that do anything different other that 'its sandbox time, blow up much as you can'. What they were banking on is the games main gimmick: Ace Style, where you get this sort of morality thing based on how to carry yourself between three distinctions. You've got Knight where you spare defenseless targets (marked in yellow) and go out of your way to defend allies in trouble. Mercenary who just destroys everything with all disregard to get the most money (and supposedly makes enemy squadrons harder but I never found that to be the case) and then Solider who may not be such a dick as to drop a bomb directly on enemy barracks but will certainly make sure all your weapon depots and power facilities are leveled, perhaps a couple disabled planes will get picked off here and there. This is a neat idea and even adds a tiny little roleplay element to things like, again bombing barracks is technically free game, its war after all but at the same time that's just where people sleep you know? But ultimately what does it do for gameplay? Well if you go Knight it just means you just ignore a lot of things which is just rather lame and mercenary you go ham like you usually have in the series so it feels no different. At least for Solider you have to actively try and balance it and it brings up the most thought like the little example above.
What would have been great is if the different paths changed the missions or something. Like if you just want to nuke stuff go mercenary and get more missions to do just that. Knight may get more missions concerning special objectives rather than score. Instead the only thing that changes are what Ace squadrons you go up against at certain times in the campaign which is okay but they rarely behaved differently from anything else mostly just serving to deliver flavor dialogue. Just came off to me like a proof of concept more than anything. I feel like they had this idea to a point but just didn't have the time to implement it since many missions give you the choice in what part of an operation to participate in. Makes it look like there is a ton of variety but then you realize all it means is 'do you want spend this one going after air, ground or both this time?'.
In the least its not as bare bones as the missions in 3 and with currency in place you have more incentive to not just go for the objectives and nothing else (unless you're playing Knight) though on the subject of 3 its like this was meant to be another stab at that style again. It's the shortest of the PS2 trilogy by far with only 18 missions so replay value was a focus especially with all the named aircraft having sets for every mission exclusive to one style. I mean I blew through the campaign twice in one night over 4 hours. Not a bad thing per say but the bare bones missions, fast as they are still stick in my craw and your actions don't have too much affect on things like they did in 3.
Even the story really just fell flat for me save for some key moments. For one you only have one wingman this time but hes not horribly annoying. Really the story is about him more than anything its just viewed from your perspective... which is so disappointing that it really doesn't get fully realized because things are moving too fast. Doesn't help that they tried to portray a really shocking event (if you know the story of 5 you know the exact one) but time or hardware constraints just really didn't do it justice. Then they replace him with another really annoying naive kid who belongs with the cast of 5, yaaaaay. What is sad is they tried real hard to sell this stuff, after you beat your first ace squadron the flight lead of that group will be interviewed by the narrator describing thier encounter with you. That's pretty cool and its all played by live actors who seem to do a relatively convincing job (the guy who plays 'your buddy' is actually the same actor who played characters in some nickelodeon shows funny enough. Small world.) but these too only go so far for me. I mean they just showed up out of the blue, I can only care so much... and the fact one looks like he's posing for a subversive take on American Gothic doesn't help either lol.
I've been really negative so far. But I promise this is still a real good game. The plot being rushed as it is is still fun with a heavy emphasis on Arthurian legend mixed with Norse mythology and has all sorts of fun details. Like your wingman having the nickname of 'Solo Wing' isn't just a silly videogame thing of some guy doing the impossible and landing with a missing wing. An Israeli pilot in the same plane actually pulled that off back in the day and its a subtle nod to the Norse God Tyr as well which fits perfectly with the climax of the game. It's a little on the nose of course like a giant laser weapon being called Excalibur and yes someone yells "You pulled the sword from the stone!" when you destroy it. Otherwise its not so overt like most anime things I see as to be annoying.
Most importantly though is the final level. I think all three of the games had good climaxes with 4 being hilarious, 5 being a decent collection of set pieces but Zero? Zero takes the damn cake and them some. For one it starts with a what feels like an aerial version of storming the beaches of Normandy, then a pretty tight corridor flying challenge under a strict time limit and finally one of the most intense, overly dramatic and really challenging and fun duels with the final boss, easily the best boss in the series by a mile which ends you with having to freaking joust the bastard four times before claiming victory.
All the while this track plays and seriously just give this a listen and tell me this isn't the most beautiful blood pumping fight song you've ever heard:
Course I may just be the biggest simp for spanish guitar lol.
But it's due to this final sequence I think this game is lauded so much among the community. It leaves such a mark that I can't help but assume people just tend to over look the rest of the damn game which I must stress again is still very fun. I even remember back in the day I was disappointed with the game but this last level? I would replay it over and over again all the time. I guess I'm showing my fan boy colors right now but it has to be one of my favorite set pieces in gaming ever and even today I still think its one of the best climaxes in the medium. Look among the community and you'll still see everyone referencing it, slapping the final boss theme over all thier fan creations and hell the indie title Project Wingman was pretty much a love letter to this game. I'm sure someone will point out better and tastes vary but I still stand by that sentiment lol. It's enough to save the game for me though again even if I find the over all package lacking its still solid and if you're new to the series or prefer the more straight forward mission you'll love it just fine. I'd still reccomend it to most I just don't believe it deserves the heights people hold it up to.
Rating-7
Fortunately this one seems to be a lot easier to emulate then 4 (and possibly 5). I ran some deinterlacing patches with it but I don't think they really even had any effect so Go fire it up in an emulator and try it out sometime I say. Again, try them all they're some of the finest action games on the PS2 that are easy to get into.
And damn the credits theme is beautiful too:
That was a great revisit. I love these games. Suppose next is to give 6 enough fair shake which I actually disliked quite a bit. Need to wait for 360 emulation to iron out more though before I'll get that chance... I'm in no rush, after this I think I'm a little burnt out on the series. Time for a break and next time I'll be talking about Tunic which is another game I was disappointed by lol.