Some Thoughts about Ace Combat 4
I'm gonna start this by mentioning I completely failed to notice that my last post marked one year and one day anniversary of me blogging. No further thoughts on that, but thanks for whoever has kept up, it's been a nice hobby that brought me great things. Anyway.
Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies is good. It's really really good. I think this is the first game series where I'm actually trying to play the games in order, from the beginning (excluding series that are obviously sequential), and it's so cool seeing it evolve. I love Air Combat and especially Ace Combat 2, but compared to 04 it feels like a very humble beginning. There's AC3 of course, a very ambitious game that I found very interesting, but it's kind of its own thing, and people talked about it plenty since the fan translation for the Japanese version came out, and it's become a cult classic for a reason. Not that I'm excluding 3 from discussion or saying it doesn't fit here — the Ace Combat series is always trying new things and moving in bold new directions, and Electrosphere is part of that. What I mean is that 04 feels like going back to its roots after experimenting with branching paths and cyberpunk.
It's always been an arcade style flight game, that hasn't changed, but in 04, like 1 and 2, there's a less involved story during the missions. You're a silent protagonist that has to do missions with your jet, there are sci-fi weapons and fortresses, there are no characters, really, it almost feels like you're flying on your own. What sets it apart is that, apart from the missions, between them, you get these gorgeous 2D cutscenes that are all told with still images, written and directed by anime legend Sunao Katabuchi. He's the reason I've been looking forward to this game so much, and oh did he deliver.
These scenes are quiet, atmospheric, and melancholic monologues of a man narrating his childhood experience as the Eurusian army (AKA the player's enemies) occupy his hometown, and how he befriends the elite Yellow Squadron, who are essentially your rivals during the game. I grew really attached to that storyline as the game progressed, and it's a great touch that most of the humanity of the game is around the guys you're fighting. It just hits that much harder when the missions and the cutscenes eventually get to the same place.
For example, the Old Towne mission is awesome by itself — the whole stage is dark cause of the mandated blackouts and flying in the dark is tough —, but knowing you're fighting over that little boy's hometown makes the whole thing much more memorable and dark. A little before that, there's a haunting moment that I don't really want to spoil but it hits that quiet melancholy I love so much in videogames, particularly with the factor of player/character separation — that's kind of what Mother and Boku no Natsuyasumi do, so I wasn't expecting it in a game about flying and shooting. And to be fair, I don't necessarily think that was the intention behind the stage, but the fact an Ace Combat game of all things can make me think about such a thing is awesome. Videogames are so cool.
(In all fairness Electrosphere also does that, but until recently I thought it was an exception in the series.)
In general, though, regardless of anything I've talked about, it's just a blast to play. Keiki Kobayashi is on the soundtrack firing on all cylinders, and the appeal of the series from the beginning has been doing plane stuff while a really awesome guitar solo plays on the background. This time we also have really good orchestral themes that give you the sense of scale you need for some of the setpieces.
And the setpieces are really the secret to the AC formula that they already honed on their first PS2 title. The Stonehenge — a superweapon made to destroy asteroids, that now is being used to war —, every time it fires it's the coolest shit. You only see this giant white ray of light in the sky, and everyone's telling you at comms that if you don't go to a lower altitude you will die. Other times, you have to blow up missiles or bombers that are very quick and maneuvering fast, and maybe your own missiles are almost running out so you have to make sure you'll hit the next shot for sure (this one is a bit too specific to my playthrough though). My favorite mission was number 08, called Shattered Skies, where you're on an open sky with what feels like 45 planes at the same time (that doesn't happen in the PS1!!!), and there's so much happening in the audio comms it feels like everyone there is having their own little saga, all that while the most energetic song plays. Its got its downsides (some score missions can get a bit tiring), but, mostly, the selection of stages is fantastic and those big moments really solidified why I love these games to begin with.
And, you know, I don't even like planes or military stuff in general, it comes with a bit too much of real life baggage for me to enjoy. I even tend to have an issue getting into war movies, depending on the setting. I think in Ace Combat's case, it probably helps that this isn't the real world and there's world-ending sci-fi machines so I can pretend fighter jets aren't real. It's some fun fantastic thing like giant robots, that's all. It was definitely worth giving a shot looking at it through those lens.