	Ace Combat: Squadron Leader
	Developer: Namco Publisher: SCEE Release Date: Out Now Players: 1	Words By:
Ace Combat: Squadron Leader, or Ace Combat 5 to you and me, is the welcome return to the series after a 3 year absence. AC5 has you playing the role of a young trainee pilot known as Kid to your squadron captain or Blaze to everyone else. But on a routine flight above your island nation (Sand Island) unknown aggressors appear on your radar and your captain is shot down and captured. You may have guessed from the name of the game that you then step up to become the Island’s Squadron leader. The whole game is set in a fictional world with its own history. The unknown aggressors turn out to be pilots from the Republic of Yuktobania on a planned invasion of Osea (your home), but nobody was expecting it as the world had been at peace for 15 years since the last war that ended in tragedy. The campaign missions are strung together through cut-scenes told through a reporter’s perspective that is stationed at the Sand Island base, and as you go along a rather good story and history unravels about the pilots and the war, and you soon realise that this war isn’t all it seems. Parts of the story and pilots personalities come through when in flight, over the radio as well as in the cut scenes. Often as you fly towards the battle zone one of them may be either nervous or super confident for example. Your allies will even ask you questions that you answer with a simple yes or no using the D-Pad, these questions will be anything ranging from “do you think we’ll make this one?” or “we need support, can you destroy the tanks?” and of course you get a different reaction depending on how you reply. There is a lot of radio chatter but it really adds to the atmosphere and intensifies the battles. Enemy chatter also comes up from time to time and through your reputation you soon become known to them as the Razgriz which is the tale of a demon that exists in the fictional world. So that’s the details taken care of, but how does it play? If you’ve played an AC game in the past you’ll feel right at home. The left analog stick is used to pitch the aircraft by pulling the stick left or right, and you make the aircraft pull up or down by pulling down or up. The L2 and R2 buttons are the rudder which is used to change course to the left or right (or Yaw) without having to pitch the aircraft. There’s a handy tutorial that teaches you all the basics. It’s really easy to pick up and get the hang of. If you’ve played any AC game before you’ll know what to expect from the missions; dogfighting and destroying ground targets, but there are a few new objectives thrown in like taking recon photos as well. Helping you on these missions will be the other members of your squadron; you can give them basic orders by pressing the D-Pad. Their AI is pretty good (they do shoot down enemies but can’t get shot down unless it’s part of the plotline) and it’s fun just watching them shoot down the enemy or protect your “six”. The missions take place over land and sea in varying terrains from mountain regions, deserts and tropical islands. Before most missions you’ll be able to choose which plane you (and your wingmen) want from your list of purchased planes, and more aircraft become available to buy as you progress, or by getting enough kills with certain planes. As well as the campaign mode the game also features an arcade mode that’s more action orientated (even though the game itself is pretty action-packed) which puts you in the role of AC4’s Mobious 1 in various missions. AC4 was known to be a bit of a looker when it arrived on the PS2 a few years back and AC5 is no different. The game just looks really nice. The planes are highly detailed and smooth, with subtle shadows being cast from every bulge and fin, which you can look at using the right analog stick on the exterior view. The sun reflecting from the sea looks ace as well, so do the mountains, explosions and missile trails. The only bad point about the looks of the game is that as in AC4 the terrain gets blurry the closer you get to it. The game sounds pretty nice too; the cut scenes have managed to avoid the stupid voices that some games from Japan have had lately, and the music is good as well - very suited to the moment. The sound of the thrusting jets and enemy planes flying past sounds really cool with all the whining jet noises and combat sounds that you’d expect to hear. Radio chatter could be annoying for some but I think it adds to the overall chaos of the battles. So overall Ace Combat Squadron leader is the best PS2 fly-em-up I’ve played - well probably the best one I’ve played on every platform this generation. With its great looks and 30 mission campaign mode, this’ll keep you airborne for a while, though lack of a 2-player option is a bit of a puzzler. Bring on AC6

Best Bits
- Looks great.
- Loads of missions and planes to unlock.

Worst Bits
- No 2 player?
- Sometimes blurry terrain.
- Radio chatter may irritate.


by: SteMacD