is a 2006
combat flight simulation video game developed and published by
Namco
was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Namco Taiwan in Kaohsiung, ...
for the
PlayStation 2. Part of the ''
Ace Combat
is an arcade-style combat flight simulation video game franchise published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, formerly Namco. Debuting in 1995 with '' Air Combat'' for the PlayStation, the series includes eight mainline installments, multiple sp ...
'' series, the game was first released outside of Japan by the newly formed
Namco Bandai Games. 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, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any ...
fighter squadron
A squadron in air force, army aviation, or naval aviation 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, dependi ...
led by the
player character "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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
-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 game machine
** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware
** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board
* Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games
* ...
-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 toward its plot, graphics, and refined game mechanics compared to its predecessors, but criticism toward 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
The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing). Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force selected McDonnell Douglas's ...
,
F/A-18C
The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twinjet, twin-engine, supersonic aircraft, supersonic, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a Fighter aircraft, ...
, and several
second- and
third-generation fighters such as the
Saab 35 Draken
The Saab 35 Draken (; 'The Kite' or 'The Dragon') is a Swedish fighter-interceptor developed and manufactured by Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget ( SAAB) between 1955 and 1974. Development of the Saab 35 Draken started in 1948 as the Swedish air f ...
. The player begins the game with an
F-5E, 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 ADFX-01 Morgan superfighter (resembling 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 in ...
attack aircraft), but players can also access the ADF-01 FALKEN from ''
Ace Combat 2
is a 1997 air combat video game developed and published for the PlayStation by Namco. It is the sequel to ''Air Combat'' and the second in the ''Ace Combat'' franchise. The player controls one of 24 different fighter jets through 21 different ...
'' and the X-02 Wyvern from ''Ace Combat 04''.
The game revives ''Ace Combat 04''s aircraft customization system. Players can buy up to three special "SP" weapons per plane but can only choose one for the mission. Another returning feature from ''Ace Combat 04'' is the ability to withdraw from the battlefield to rearm at an allied airbase during long missions.
''Zero'' retains ''Ace Combat 5''s wingman command system. During most campaign missions, the player can issue orders to the
AI wingman using the DualShock controller's directional pad. The game also marks the return of the ability to pick each wingman's armament, though the ability to pick their aircraft remains absent.
The game continues the series tradition of taking on aces who fly aircraft with unique paint schemes. Aside from the pilots and their squadrons whom the player faces as 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 noncombatant 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 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 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, each plane acquired will carry color schemes representing each fighting style.
*Mercenary Ace: Mercenary Aces are pilots who destroy the opposition without mercy and are not concerned about their own allies. Players who kill all targets including non-hostile targets in a mission and ignore allied support requests, will see their ranking bar go left.
*Soldier Ace: Soldier Aces are pilots who can fight as circumstances permit and change the flow of battle. This ranking is achieved by balancing kills of non-hostile targets while sparing some, and accepting some requests for support.
*Knight Ace: 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 slider bar going right.
Synopsis
Setting
''Ace Combat Zero'' is set in the series' fictional universe of
Strangereal, where Earth has entirely different nations, geography, and history. Unlike most other entries in the series, ''Zero'' is set before the 1999 Ulysses incident, where an
asteroid struck the Earth, sparking mass destabilization and international tensions. Rather, the game's story is set during the 1995 Belkan War, when the Principality of Belka, undergoing an
economic crisis
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...
, invaded several of its immediate neighbors (most of which were former provinces of Belka itself) on the continent of Osea, after the discovery of valuable resources in their territory. Belka is opposed by the Allied Forces, an international military
coalition consisting of the Osean Federation, Sapin, Yuktobania, and other Osean countries and former Belkan territories. One of the first countries to be invaded, Ustio, is quickly overwhelmed and hires
mercenaries for their defense; the campaign follows one of these mercenary units, the "Galm Team"
squadron
Squadron may refer to:
* Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies
* Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...
led by the player character, a
fighter pilot that goes by the callsign "Cipher". Cipher's
wingman
A wingman (or wingmate) is a pilot or UAV who supports another pilot in a potentially dangerous flying environment. ''Wingman'' was originally the plane flying beside and slightly behind the lead plane in an aircraft formation.
According to t ...
, Larry Foulke, goes by the callsign "Pixy". An additional wingman, an Osean pilot named "PJ", joins Galm Team later in the conflict.
The game's plot is told in
retrospective, 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.
Plot
In 1995, Belka launches an invasion of its neighbors , and much of Ustio, a resource-rich country bordering Belka, falls to Belka's advance and the might of its air force. The Ustian government hires
mercenaries to offset the Belkan advantage; one of these, Galm Team, consisting of mercenary fighter pilots Cipher and Pixy, turns the tide of the war and narrowly saves Ustio from total defeat. Ustio is liberated with the help of Galm Team, and the Allied Forces soon begin their counteroffensive into Belka.
Galm Team, now joined by Osean pilot PJ, continues to assist the Allied Forces as they push into Belkan territory. Cipher gains recognition after successfully destroying a Belkan
anti-aircraft laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fi ...
installation, but Pixy becomes disillusioned with the war when Galm Team is ordered to support the indiscriminate bombing of a Belkan city. Unable to stop the Allied advance, the Belkans detonate seven
nuclear weapons on their own soil in a desperate attempt to halt the Allied invasion, killing thousands of civilians. While a
ceasefire
A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state act ...
is ordered by the Allied Forces, Pixy deserts Galm Team, nearly killing Cipher in the confusion.
Following the detonations, the Belkan government accepts surrender and its territories are divided between the coalition forces. Debates ensue among the Allied Forces over territory, and
ultranationalist
Ultranationalism or extreme nationalism is an extreme form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains detrimental hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its sp ...
and
anarchist defectors alike, including Pixy, form "A World With No Boundaries", a
Posadist
The Fourth International Posadist is a Trotskyist international. It was founded in 1962 by J. Posadas, who had been the leader of the Latin America Bureau of the Fourth International in the 1950s, and of the Fourth International's section in A ...
terrorist organization
A number of 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 fo ...
intent on erasing national
borders
A border is a geographical boundary.
Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film
* ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...
, believing they are the primary cause of conflict and strife; to bring about their utopia, they plan to
use nuclear weapons against nations across the world. Galm Team is deployed to eliminate the terrorists, culminating in the siege of a fortified dam that houses Belkan
ICBMs
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons ...
. Galm Team successfully destroys the facility, but PJ is killed by Pixy flying a laser-armed prototype aircraft linked to the ICBMs, which Pixy activates before challenging Cipher to a final duel. After a protracted dogfight, Pixy is shot down by Cipher, disabling the ICBMs and ending the terrorist threat.
With the end of the Belkan War, peace returns to Osea, but Belkan nationalists
secretly plot their revenge. Cipher is mentioned to have vanished after the conflict, with no records of his fate, personal information, or current whereabouts. The documentary ends with an interview with a reformed Pixy, who is revealed to have survived being shot down and is now fighting for ISAF during 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 a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
.
As of January 2008, it has shipped 792,000 copies worldwide.
''
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game 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 distri ...
''
'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'' 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 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson.
Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EG ...
''
'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
PlayStation 2 games
PlayStation 2-only games
Video game prequels
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Anti-war video games
Video games developed in Japan
Video games set in 1988
Video games set in 1991
Video games set in 1995