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is a 2006 combat flight simulation video game developed and published by
Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...
for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
. Part of the ''
Ace Combat is an Arcade video game, arcade-style Combat flight simulation game, combat flight simulation video game series by Project Aces, an internal development team of Bandai Namco Entertainment, formerly Namco. Debuting in 1995 with ''Air Combat'' fo ...
'' series, the game was first released outside of Japan by the newly formed
Namco Bandai Games is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game video game publisher, publisher, and the video game branch of the wider Bandai Namco Holdings group. Founded in 2006 as it is the successor to Namco's home and arcade video game ...
. Set in the ''Ace Combat'' series' fictional universe of Strangereal, the game's story takes place before the events of most other entries in the series, and follows the actions of " Galm Team", a
mercenary A mercenary is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather t ...
fighter squadron A squadron in an air force, or naval or army aviation service, is a unit comprising a number of military aircraft and their aircrews, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, ...
led by the
player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional Character (arts), character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters tha ...
"Cipher", as they fight to repel an enemy invasion during the titular Belkan War, a
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
-esque conflict that was mentioned but not elaborated upon in previous entries. ''Ace Combat Zero'', like the rest of the ''Ace Combat'' series, has a more
arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...
-like format compared to other flight simulation games. Its mechanics are a mixture of features from its predecessors, '' Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies'' and '' Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War'', with the addition of a unique reputation system that affects the player's progression and how the story is told. The game received mixed but generally positive reception on release, with praise for its plot, graphics, and refined game mechanics compared to its predecessors, but criticism of its lack of innovation and melodramatic storytelling.


Gameplay

''Ace Combat Zero''s gameplay is split into a single-player campaign mode and a two-player versus mode. The mechanics themselves are a mix of features from ''Ace Combat 04'' and ''Ace Combat 5''. The game features primarily older versions of fighter aircraft seen in its predecessors, such as the F-15C, F/A-18C, and several
second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...
- and
third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...
-generation fighters such as the
Saab 35 Draken The Saab 35 Draken (; ''The Kite'', ambiguous with ''The Dragon'') is a Swedish interceptor aircraft, fighter-interceptor developed and manufactured by Saab AB, Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (Saab AB, SAAB) between 1955 and 1974. Development of ...
. The player begins the game with an
F-5E The Northrop F-5 is a family of supersonic light fighter aircraft initially designed as a privately funded project in the late 1950s by Northrop Corporation. There are two main models: the original F-5A and F-5B Freedom Fighter variants, and th ...
, an F-1, and a J35J, but is able to unlock and purchase more advanced aircraft by completing missions and destroying targets to earn credits. The game introduces the fictional ADFX-01 Morgan superfighter (which resembles the cancelled
PZL-230 Skorpion The PZL-230 Skorpion (''scorpion'') was a proposed Polish low-cost attack aircraft. It was being developed by Polish manufacturer PZL Warszawa-Okecie in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the late 1980s, PZL started developing a new aircraft int ...
attack aircraft), but players can also access the ADF-01 FALKEN from ''
Ace Combat 2 is a 1997 Combat flight simulation game, combat flight simulation video game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation. It is the sequel to ''Air Combat'' and the second in the ''Ace Combat'' franchise. The play ...
'' (the Morgan's successor) and the X-02 Wyvern from ''Ace Combat 04''. The game revives ''Ace Combat 04''s aircraft customization system. Players can purchase up to three special weapons per plane (including
air-to-surface missiles An air-to-surface missile (ASM) or air-to-ground missile (AGM) is a missile designed to be launched from military aircraft at targets on land or sea. There are also unpowered guided glide bombs not considered missiles. The two most common prop ...
and thermobaric bombs), but can only choose one per mission. Another returning feature from ''Ace Combat 04'' is the ability to withdraw from the battlefield to re-arm at an allied airbase during long missions. ''Zero'' retains ''Ace Combat 5''s
wingman A wingman (or wingmate) is the pilot of a secondary aircraft providing support or protection to a primary aircraft in a potentially dangerous situation, traditionally flying in formation to the side and slightly behind the primary craft. The t ...
command system. During most campaign missions, the player can issue orders to the AI wingman using the DualShock controller's
D-pad The D-pad (short for directional pad) is a compact input method developed for video games, designed to translate thumb movement into directional control through a flat, cross-shaped surface that rests on four internal switches. Each switch corres ...
. The game also marks the return of the ability to pick each wingman's armament, though the ability to pick their aircraft itself remains absent. The game continues the series tradition of taking on enemy
aces An ace is a playing card. Ace(s), ACE(S) and variants may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Awards * ACE Awards (Award for Cable Excellence) Comics * ''Ace Comics'', a 1937-1959 comic book series * Ace Magazines (comics), a 1940- ...
who fly aircraft with unique paint schemes. Aside from pilots the player faces as
boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...
characters, many missions have other enemy aces scattered throughout the game map; defeating them will list their unique plane and short pilot biographies in an in-game digital album.


Ace Style

A unique element of ''Ace Combat Zero'' is the Ace Style system, a reputation system that greatly affects gameplay. The player's Ace Style is affected by the player's actions during the campaign; for example, if the player shoots down a crippled aircraft, destroys a surrendering enemy, or attacks a neutral or non-combatant entity (all marked by yellow icons, as opposed to red and green for enemies and blue for allies), their Ace Style will change, as it will in a vice-versa scenario where the player spares them or simply leaves them alone. A horizontal bar with three boxes marked "Mercenary", "Soldier", and "Knight" is shown in mission debriefings, and depending on the player's conduct, the bar will slide toward one of these three boxes. The player's Ace Style determines radio chatter, which enemy ace squadrons the player encounters, and which FMV
cutscenes A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...
play. Different Aces earn different planes, and at the end of the game, color schemes representing each fighting style will be unlocked for each acquired plane. *Mercenary Aces are pilots who destroy the opposition without mercy and are not concerned about their own allies. Players who kill all targets in a mission, hostile or not, and ignore allied support requests will see their ranking bar go left. *Soldier Aces are pilots who can fight as circumstances permit and change the flow of battle. This ranking is achieved by destroying some non-hostile targets while sparing others, and accepting some requests for support. *Knight Aces are pilots who believe in fighting fair during the battle and protecting the weak. Players can attain this ranking by coming to the aid of allied units and not destroying non-hostile targets, which will result in the bar going right.


Plot

In 1995, the Principality of Belka, suffering from a severe
economic crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and ma ...
, launches an invasion of its neighbors on the Osean continent including Ustio, a resource-rich country formerly part of Belka. Overwhelmed by Belkan forces, Ustio's government hires
mercenaries A mercenary is a private individual who joins an War, armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rath ...
to offset Belka's military advantage, including Galm Team, a squadron consisting of elite
fighter pilot A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a Military aviation, military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, Air-to-ground weaponry, air-to-ground combat and sometimes Electronic-warfare aircraft, electronic warfare while in the cockpit of ...
s "Cipher" and Larry "Pixy" Foulke. The game's plot is told in
retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in software development, popular culture, and the arts. ...
, in the form of a
television documentary Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. * Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...
about Galm Team and the Belkan War, broadcast a decade after the events of the game; the player's actions and Ace Style affect how the documentary is told and who is interviewed in the cutscenes. Galm Team's actions turn the tide of the war and lead to Belkan forces being repelled from Ustio, while the
international community The international community is a term used in geopolitics and international relations to refer to a broad group of people and governments of the world. Usage Aside from its use as a general descriptor, the term is typically used to imply the ...
forms the Allied Forces
coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...
to liberate Belka's neighbors and mount a counteroffensive to force Belka's capitulation. Now joined by Osean Federation pilot Patrick James "PJ" Beckett, Galm Team gains recognition for destroying Belka's
anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...
laser weapon A laser weapon is a type of directed-energy weapon that uses lasers to inflict damage. Whether they will be deployed as practical, high-performance military weapons remains to be seen. One of the major issues with laser weapons is atmospheric ...
Excalibur, but Pixy becomes disillusioned with the war when they are ordered to support the indiscriminate bombing of a Belkan city. Unable to stop the Allied advance, Belka detonates seven
nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...
s on their own soil in a desperate attempt to halt the Allied invasion, killing thousands of people. In the chaos, Pixy deserts Galm Team and nearly kills Cipher. Following the detonations, the Allied Forces order a
ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce), also spelled cease-fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions often due to mediation by a third party. Ceasefires may b ...
and the Belkan government formally surrenders. Debates ensue among the Allied Forces over territory, and
ultranationalist Ultranationalism, or extreme nationalism, is an extremist form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its specific ...
and
anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
defectors including Pixy form "A World With No Boundaries", a Posadist
terrorist organization Several national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and former ...
intent on erasing national
border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...
s under the belief they are the primary cause of conflict and strife; they plan to commit
nuclear terrorism Nuclear terrorism is the use of a nuclear weapon or radiological weapon as an act of terrorism. There are many possible terror incidents, ranging in feasibility and scope. These include the sabotage of a nuclear facility, the intentional irrad ...
against nations to usher in their utopia. Galm Team is deployed to eliminate the terrorists, culminating in the siege of a fortified dam that houses a Belkan
ICBM An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...
carrying nuclear warheads. Galm Team successfully destroys the launch control mechanisms, but PJ is killed by Pixy flying a laser-armed prototype fighter jet linked to the ICBM, which Pixy activates before challenging Cipher to a final duel. After a protracted dogfight, Pixy is shot down by Cipher, disabling the ICBM and ending the terrorist threat. With the end of the Belkan War, peace returns to the Osean continent, but vengeful Belkan nationalists secretly plot their revenge. Cipher is revealed to have completely vanished after the conflict, with no records of his personal information or fate. The documentary ends with an interview with a reformed Pixy, who is revealed to have survived being shot down and is now a mercenary soldier fighting in the Continental War. After musing on his experiences, Pixy thanks Cipher for serving alongside him, and expresses his hopes that they will meet again.


Reception

The game received positive reviews. It holds a 75/100 score on
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
. As of January 2008, it has shipped 792,000 copies worldwide. ''
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
'''s Juan Castro graded the game at 8.8/10, stating that Namco took a chance in slowly evolving the series, and that it offers "slight modifications" in the engine. He also noted the story as being different from other console flight games and praised the cooperative mode. ''
Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') is a British-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot web ...
'' lauded the game's release date as a refresher from the multiple games of different genres that came out at the time. He noted the good graphical presentations and the sheer difficulty provided by the aces. ''
Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network. In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...
'''s Rob Fahey, however, said the game's "incremental" changes confuse players with what changed between ''Zero'' and ''Unsung War''.


Notes


References


External links


Official website
{{Authority control 2006 video games Ace Combat Combat flight simulators Multiplayer and single-player video games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation 2-only games Video game prequels Video games developed in Japan Video games set in 1988 Video games set in 1991 Video games set in 1995