Flying the Digital Skies: An Ace Combat Retrospective
I’ve been playing Ace Combat games for something north of two decades now, starting with Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies on the PlayStation 2. I’d always had an interest in aviation generally and military aviation in particular, and going back to Flight Simulator 95 I’d been an avid player of flight simulation games. I found Ace Combat 04’s mix of real military hardware, an impressive audiovisual presentation, and shamelessly arcade-oriented gameplay (“Yes, this F-22 carries sixty missiles, what of it?”) to be relentlessly engaging. The series has been a favorite ever since.
The next entry, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, is due out later this year. I’m taking the opportunity to revisit the earlier games, including those that released before I came aboard the franchise circa 2001. I’ll be looking back at most of the mainline Ace Combat titles in chronological order, assessing how they hold up today and how they figure into the series’s overall evolution. Reviews will be posted somewhat sporadically over the next months as I find time to play and write about these games. Thanks for reading!