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| Ace Combat III,
PlayStation |
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| Games,
Richard Young,
20 January 1999 |
Rating: F2
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Air Combat, released for the Playstation was one of the very first games available for the console way back when they cost £250 (remember that?). It was a fairly uninspiring mix of slightly ropey graphics and arcade style, if repetitive, dogfight action. It has always been the black sheep of the otherwise impressive Namco family, which includes the awesome Tekken and Ridge Racer titles. Now, here we are five years and two sequels later, with the third in the series, Ace Combat 3 ("Air" became "Ace" with the second instalment, presumably to make the mediocre sequel sound more exciting than it really was).
What we can see is a progression similar to that of the mainstream Hollywood blockbusters of recent years: Increasingly impressive visuals, little content. The graphics are exemplary, and the first time you take to the skies, one does experience a slight thrill of anticipation, as your F-15 smoothly glides through the air above lovingly rendered and detailed landscapes. But the combat mentioned in the title is more of a token gesture as opposed to dynamic, full-on immersive gameplay. Missions vary from destroying ground based targets to taking out low flying satellites (!), and although fun while it lasts, the action is plodding, not pulse-pounding, with no real challenges waiting beyond the next cloud bank.
One consolation is that with the recent price drops of both console and software, you no longer have to risk spending £45 of your hard-earned on lacklustre games like this one (RRP is just £25). Even top titles like the new and very tasty looking Resident Evil 3:Nemesis (review coming soon) will hit the shelves at £30. Even so, don’t bother with this one unless you really are a dogfight fiend, in which case you why not go for the astonishing Anime-inspired Omega Boost. It’s a battle in the skies – but with robots! You know it makes sense.
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