	Ace Combat: The Belkan War
	Developer: Namco Publisher: Sony Release Date: Out Now Players: 1-2	Words By:
Ever since the release of Ace Combat: Distant Thunder (AC4) I’ve been hooked on Namco’s series of aerial combat games. Their mix of flight sim attention to detail and arcade action always seemed to be balanced just right. And I wanted to be a pilot in the RAF when I was little… ACBW is technically a prequel, even though it’s really the sixth in the series. The game is set 15 years before the events of the previous Ace Combat (Squadron Leader) and those dastardly Belkans have gone and started a war! It’s up to yourself as a mercenary fighter pilot and your wingman to take down the entire aggressor nation! The gameplay is essentially more of the same, although the rather uneven balance between dogfighting and ground targets has been addressed and tweaked. At several points in the game you can choose which attack wing you join on a sortie; their objectives are different but are not vastly, as one is for ground targets, one for air and one which fights a mixture of both. This means that the main missions now have a fair balance of ground and air combat missions but if you prefer one to the other then you can errr.. do more of one than the other. The graphics have always been astounding in the AC games as a rule and they’re no exception this time around. The planes are all modelled beautifully, from the flaps to the jetports that expand and contract when you kick in the afterburner. The mountain ranges look much more picturesque; you can for a minute really think you’re flying above some snow-capped European peaks. The Sun looks beautiful too, thanks to some neat lighting effects. Unfortunately the graphical problems from the previous games are still present in ACBW – close to the ground the environments turn into a pixellated, blurry mess that looks more PSone than PS2 at its best. Also, the graphics, however pretty haven’t actually improved all that much over the last couple of titles, which starts to bring up the question of why they didn’t wait until the launch of the PS3 to launch a true sequel… What has improved some is the intelligence of the enemy planes, which was quite surprising given the fact that they’re always a bit tough in AC games anyway! This time around they act more as a squadron: You’ll be cutting around the sky trying to get missile lock on a plane while two are coming around on your arse to make things particularly annoying. This is good because it feels like you’re fighting an organised enemy that belong to the same airforce rather than the previous games where it felt like you were just chalking the planes off individually. When you play AC games you have to wonder about the realism of one pilot and his wingman being able to take down 20+ planes in one mission, but in ACBW you get the feeling that you’re not the only ace pilot around. After taking out the main squadrons you’ll sometimes bump into elite enemy squadrons, often led by an enemy ace with a differently coloured plane. You’ll know when they arrive because, like a dodgy Western they get their own introduction. These boys are worthy of their fame though, because they are tough; I mean “Viper” from Top Gun tough. You can spend fifteen minutes splashing twenty normal planes and another fifteen just trying to bag three or four of these “aces”. It’s satisfying when you finally take one down and it splits the action perfectly between quantity and difficulty of kills. It’s just a shame that when you’re fighting the aces it really shows up the inadequacy of your wingman, who struggles against the normal fighters, but against the aces is left choking on their jetwash. What I’ve always loved about the AC series are the storylines: Hidden Thunder followed the story of a young boy who was fascinated with an occupying enemy ace and Squadron Leader was from the point of view of a journalist following a squad of ace pilots led by you. In Belkan War the story is what was the backdrop for the conflict in AC5: SL - the war started by the evil state of Belka. Again it’s narrated by a reporter trying to learn about a flying ace which captured the “hearts and minds” of the people and all that. It sounds like an AC story and it has all the elements that make one but for some reason it just doesn’t feel right. Maybe it’s that instead of the cool cut scenes that were in AC5 you’re treated to slow panning shots of various files and desk paraphernalia and live action interviews with aces that fought against the Mercenary ace. One of the interviews is with this “Apples ‘n Pears” geezer in a diner over pie. I could only laugh at the stupidity of the whole thing and how someone at the top actually watched it and thought “Yup, that looks really emotional and believable. No-one will wonder why all the aces from the same country speak cockney English, Italian and American…”. I know the in-game dialogue is usually pretty naff, but the storyline is usually its saviour, this time it’s just silly. The inclusion of a two-player mode is probably one of the best improvements over earlier games because it’s something that’s actually been thought out from scratch rather than simply improved upon. It’s good to have a competent wingman by your side but the coolest option has to be being able to go head-to head with each other, each with a squadron of fighters. Usually I prefer my AC experiences to be alone but the MP mode is great arcade fun and I’ll be looking forward to an online mode when the series launches on PS3. Ace Combat: The Belkan War is a good flight sim/arcade game and most of the imbalances of previous games have been tweaked now. The graphics are improved and there are plenty of varied missions to keep you busy. However, the frankly poor storyline (which feels like a cheap update) and lack of any really noticeable improvements since the last outing makes this game look like it should be marketed by EA than Sony, and it’s hard to recommend at full price.