0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Ace Combat 2




       
Ace Combat 2 is a semi realistic flight simulation and flight combat game for the Playstation 1 and was released on the 30th of May 1997 in Japan, on the 31st July 1997 and in October 1997 in Europe, the game was developed and Published by Namco, the game was designed by Asahi Higashiyama, Takahiro Miura, Takuya Iwasaki, in 2005 the game as re-released as part of the NamCollection to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Namco.



Players complete missions by destroying various air and surface targets to acquire credits for their airforce, prior to the mission the player receives a mission briefing detailing the players objectives, expected route of attack and what the enemy opposition will be using a 3D map display, the player can also choose the control setting novice or expert.

The mercenary wingman system from the first game in the series Air Combat returns however instead of choose pilots who have their own specific aircraft, you are given the choice of one male and one female pilot to choose for the mission, the player can opt to choose neither and do the mission on their own.






The games story is mostly a linear story however later the game the story will split into two braches called Alphaville and Belissima, the main story a group of rebel military forces launce a massive invasion all over the Usean continent, 

The takeover takes place as the political leaders of the Usean continent are away at a peace conference, the speed of the coup allows the rebels to acquire special strategic weapons, the immediate danger of these weapons prompts the deployment of Scarface an elite mercenary air force to quell the coup.



Metacritic and Gamerankings have this game ranked at an 83% and 81% respectively with some very good reviews for this game Games Domain giving Ace Combat the full 100% with them saying, Bottom Line: Palm sweating in your face explosive action that will please both Rookie and Veteran flight sim pilots. Some of the most exciting and realistic dogfighting you'll ever experience in a PSX game, likewise Official US Playstation Magazine gave the game the maximum score possible with another 100%.

Just below these two scores IGN, and Electric Playground both awarded the game a 90/100 while GamePro gave the game an equivalent 4.5/5  the majority of other reviews awarded the game between 75/100 and 85/100 their were however a few lower scores given to the game.

 Gaming Maxx only awarding the game 6.6/10, their review blurb saying, I was truly amazed by how much fun this game actually is. The planes all look amazing, the action is exciting, and it is an admirable attempt to bring high-flying antics to the Playstation... That said, it's the very simplicity of the gameplay that scuppers the game, as it is at times far too easy.while Computer & Video Games UK giving the game a very average 5/10.



This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit five online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com,  eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific but from a podcast I listen to and  I have heard they have a huge stock of older games, I will also be including Ebay.com as well

So lets get down to business with Gamedude if you are looking to trade in your copy of the game you are looking at $7 from Gamedude, if you are in the market for a copy of the game from Gamedude you are looking at an outlay of around $14.
Retrogames.co.uk don’t have a Europe or North American version the game available, they do however have a copy of the Japanese version of the game, this is a complete copy of the game so, case, cover, disc and manual this will set you back £7 which converts to around $9 in North America, in the EU region 7.73 and 86.12 Moroccan Dirham.

Moving on to eStarland.com they have both the US version of the game and the Japanese Import version however neither are currently in stock, when they are in stock the US version is priced at between $7.92 and $14.95 and the Japanese version priced between $4.98 and $9.95.

Amazon.com has a plentiful supply of used copies on the market with prices starting at $12.45 this comes with free shipping on orders over $25 this is for an acceptable quality copy of the game for a good quality used copy you are looking at a minimum spend of $15 these again though have issues one is the disc only while the other comes with no manual, for a complete used copy of the game you are looking at around the $17 mark this copy comes with free shipping on orders over $25.

Prices for a used copy go as high as the $40 mark for a used like new copy which is 379.26 Moroccan Dirham, £30.82 in the UK and 34.04 in the Euro region as usual the token over priced copy Is available at $253.94
+ $4.54 shipping.

One new copy of the game is currently on the market which will set you back more than a few pennies with a price of $249.98 plus an additional $7.98 for shipping which comes to a total cost of $256.09 which converts to 217.90 in Euro countries £197.29 in the UK and 2428.12 Moroccan Dirham.

Ebay in comparison is much cheaper than Amazon for this game one copy that is up for sale in very good condition for $3.99 or best offer, all three version of the game the Japanese, North American and European versions of the games are on offer with prices going as high as $68 for a copy of the Japanese version.




Written by
P J Gibbon

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