0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Ace Combat 3 Electrosphere

         

Ace Combat 3 Electrosphere is a flight simulation/ flight combat game developed by Namco for the Playstation 1 console, and is the third game in the series, Electrosphere takes the contemporary setting of the first two games and moves the game to a mid 21^st century setting involving a war between multinational corporations.

The game has two drastically different versions available the Japanese version of the game has an extensive campaign spread over two discs with 52 missions in total that ran down different story paths depending on the players decisions as well as having multiple endings  and factions for the player to join, the game also featured fully voiced anime style cut scenes and in game radio chatter.

The International version of the game however which was released a full eight and nine months after the Japanese release was a cut back version of the Japanese release, while nothing much changed with the Gameplay, the campaign was by a large extent shortened with just a one disc game being shipped with only 36 missions available, even worse the branching paths to the story were axed as well.

English voice acting was planned for the international release as well and the recordings were in the early stages, however Namco cut funding to the translation team Namco never went into details on why they did this but it is believed that the lack of sales for the Japanese release combined with the news of the Playstation 2s release where big deciding factors on the slimmed down international version, worse however was the axing of all the cut scenes and the plot of the main story being somewhat dumbed down something that western reviews would criticize the game on.

The game features a single player mode where the player can open a new campaign under a specific username, depending on actions made by the player during certain story moments during the campaign the main plot will veer towards one of five possible endings, with some of these story paths finishing on the first disc while others run much longer into the second disc.

Ace Combat 3 is the first game in the series to introduce a 360 degree camera  that can be rotated on all three axis using the right thumbstick, it also allows the player to focus on the current target by holding the triangle button.

The five endings outline the final fates of the main characters however once you have unlocked all these endings you will get a sixth ending one that shows a simulation programmer  suggesting the five previous endings were all part of a simulation which was successful resulting in the programmer deleting all his files.

The game in total features 23 playable aircraft with 21 being playable in the North America/European versions of the game some of the aircraft are current day aircraft (well current day in 2000) that have been modified to match the futuristic look of the games setting, the game also features for the first time a spaceplane for the one orbital mission in the game

The game is set in the 2040s. USEA (The United States of Euro-Asia) a time when the rule of governments and the rule of law have been superseded by the sheer economic power of multinational corporations (seems familiar) two of these corporations General Resource and Neucom have finally waged war upon each other after years of corporate tension.

The player begins as a fighter pilot working for the UPEO (Universal Peace Enforcement Organization) which tries to suppress the conflict (because that works) as you have probably guessed from my sarcasms the war rages on, the player discovers that everything is not what it seemed and the resolve of the UPEO and your allies will be put to the test, the conflict is complicated even further with the arrival of a terrorist group

Upon initial release in Japan, Famitsu magazine gave the game a solid 31/40, the game was highly rated by several review sources with PSM magazine awarding the game their maximum of 5/5, Game Vortex awarded the game a 92/100 while IGN opted for a slightly lower 9/10 with the review concluding the game delivers the same action-packed air combat experience that you've come to expect from the series, and does it with an unmatched style and flair that's never over the top. If you've never had a chance to try out the Ace Combat series.

Game Boyz, Play UK, and Total Video Games were also positive on this game with those outlets awarding the game 8/10 with Play UK slightly high with an 82/100, the game was however not without criticism Gaming Age only awarding the game a C while Electric Playground and EGM only awarded the game a very average 6/10

GameSpot were also critical of the game with their score of 6.2/10 their review of the North American release while positive on the production values present they could not overlook the severely hobbled content especially with the fairly large gap between Japanese release and the rest of the world release.

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 of you are looking to sell your copy of Ace Combat 3 Electrosphere then Gamedude will be willing to pay $8 for your copy, on the other hand if you are in the market for a copy of the game that will set you back around the $19 mark.

Moving onto the Retrogames.co.uk, sadly they don’t stock either the western version of the game or the original Japanese version of the game, so lets move quickly on to eStarland.com who have two copies of the game on sale, first up is the Japanese import version of the game a used complete copy of this game will set you back $17.50 which is £13.50 in the UK, €14.88 in the Euro zone or 504.26 Uruguayan Peso.

The second copy on sale at eStarland.com is the North American version of the game, again this is a complete copy so disc, manual, cover and case which will set you back $19.95, which converts to 574.86 Uruguayan Peso, €16.97 in the Euro zone and £15.40 in the UK.

On to Amazon.com which has a plentiful supply of used copies on the market with a minimum price of around $8 which will get you an acceptable quality copy of the game for a couple of dollars more though you can get your hands on a good quality copy of the game.

If you are looking for a much better quality used copy of the game for a used like new copy wyou are looking at a minimum outlay of $50 for a like new copy which converts to £38.59 in the UK, €42.53 in the Euro zone and 1440.75 Uruguayan Peso, with like new used prices going up as high as $83, which is around the starting price of a new copy of the game with prices for a new copy reaching a high of $99.99 which converts to 2881.21 Uruguayan Peso, €85.02 in the Euro zone and £77.15 in the UK.

Ebay currently has a Japanese version of the game up for auction with a opening price of 99 cents + $4.00 shipping to outright buy a copy off of Ebay you are looking at a minimum of around $10 again for Ebay the shipping costs really do bump the price up, also if you are buying from Ebay please keep an eye on the version you are buying as there is a mix of North American, European and Japanese versions of the game on sale.

Ebay is cheaper for a new copy of the game however this is a European copy of the game that ships from the UK and comes with free international shipping is available for $45.45 or best offer.

Written by

P J Gibbon