0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Air Combat (Ace Combat)

     

Air Combat, known in Japan and more commonly as Ace Combat, is a action flight combat sim developed by Namco and Arsys Software and published by Namco for the Playstation 1, the game was released first in Japan on the 30^th of June 1995, in early September in North America and an October release for Europe, the game originally released in 1993 as an arcade game.

Air Combat like future Ace Combat games is more of a arcade style combat flight sim, with is partially realistic physics and the ability for aircraft to carry up 65 missiles, something that no fighter aircraft can do, during the course of the game the player will destroy enemy targets throughout the various missions in the game, doing so earns the player money which can be used to unlock additional aircraft or deploy a wingman, you can also earn extra money by destroying optional extra enemies.

The game has a total of 16 aircraft to choose from or unlock with the F-4 Phantom, Su-27 Flankers as well as stealth aircraft in the game these however have a phoenix colour scheme, the original colour scheme for these plains can be unlocked by beating the game once.

Missions are chosen on the campaign map with multiple missions spread over it, with it being a distinct possibility that no all missions will be played in a single playthrough of the game, during later missions the player can choose a new pilot as their wingman and assign them one of three tasks, when choosing a new wingman a fee is deducted from the players credit haul at the end, the different wingmen, have their own distinct aircraft.

The game is set in an unidentified country, a terrorist organization has started an uprising and inflicted massive damage across the nation, the country was later identified as Skully Island, this country forms part of continent Usea, which is a common setting in the Ace Combat universe, efforts to defeat the terrorists using conventional methods fails, a mercenary air force is assembled to take on the terrorists and take the fight to them and free the nation.

A good number of reviews for this game with a good spread of rating for the game, starting at the top as always GameFan Magazine were by far the most generous with their score giving the game a 92/100, with their review concluding Flight sims are usually PC clunkers disguised as video games, but not Air Combat! The feeling as you cruise over the amazing texture-mapped landscape is unbelievable. It's a complete dogfight atmosphere, from the voices blaring in your ears to the enemy bogeys on your tail. Tons of jets, multiple missions and the incredible split-screen vs. mode.

Game Players were the next highest scoring review for the game with an 84/100, while saying Air Combat is a total blast and a game Playstation owners need to have, they were still critical of the game, with flickering  graphics, cheesy soundtrack and ugly colours that just don’t match up to 32-bit standards, Electric Playground were positive in their 8/10 review saying, Air Combat is a real treat to play and a worthy addition to anybody's fledgling PlayStation library. And, if you're not a fan of flight sims already, it's easy to become a convert with gameplay such as this.

GamePro (US) while they found substantial flaws in the game they did have some praise for the game in their 3.5/5 writing, Despite Air Combat's substantial flaws, patient arcade-shooter fans will gradually get caught up in the gripping gameplay. This disc's worth an exploratory test flight.

One review and the most recent review coming In 2012, from Splitkick who’s return to the game after 17 years was not a rosy one with their 5/10 review concluding The return to Air Combat was a rough one for me. Revisiting the game shed light on how future titles evolved, but regressing to digital-only control and having to readjust to the sluggish handling of the aircraft made this experience a difficult one to enjoy. Dogfighting rarely felt intense, thanks to the lack of speed, and the ground missions weren’t varied enough to add to the game. Playing through to the end felt like going through the motions until the final mission raised the stakes a bit. Nostalgia can sometimes mask flaws in older games, but those blinders had no effect in this case.

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 I’ve 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, where if you are looking to trade in your copy of the game, you are looking at just a $1 return for your copy of the game, if you are in the market for a copy from Gamedude, then you can expect to pay $5 for a copy.

Heading over the pond to the UK and Retrogames.co.uk who do not stock Air Combat, they do however stock the Japanese version of the game with the Ace Combat title, a used copy in excellent condition will cost you £5 which converts to $6.41 in the US, in Euro zone countries it will cost you €5.45, and in Oman it will set you back 2.47 Omani Rial, please be aware you will need a Japanese console to play this copy.

Heading now to eStarland.com who also have Air Combat in stock a used complete copy of the game will set you back $5.63 you can also trade in your copy of the game and they will give you a slightly better deal than Gamedude for your copy, handing you $2 for you copy.

Now to Amazon.com where copies of Air Combat are prolific at the time of writing this over 80 new and used copies are on sale, for a used copy in very good condition you can pick up a copy for a few cents short of $5.50 once shipping has been added in, a free shipping very good copy can be picked up for a similar price as well.

If you are looking for a used like new copy then one can be picked up for $5 but once you add shipping cost the price will be around the $9 mark this converts to 3.47 Omani Rial’s, in the Euro zone countries you will be looking at €7.65 and in the UK you will be looking at an outlay of £7.02, again please remember to check the region the game is from when buying.

New copies of the game is where the price really starts to shoot up with a minimum price on Amazon for a new copy currently sitting at $54.99 and once you add in shipping that price comes up just short of the $60 mark, at the time of writing this there are only 2 new copies on the market both with similar prices.

Ebay.com like Amazon has an abundance of copies of the game on sale including a complete longBox copy of the game this is priced at $23.50 adding in shipping costs however this price rockets up to $45, a platinum copy of the game from the UK is currently priced at $12.84 this copy comes with free international shipping (again as before check the region of the game before buying).

Cheaper options are available, a disc only copy of the game can be picked up for between $2 and $4 these all ship from the UK so are likely PAL versions of the game, all come with free international shipping as well, a complete copy of the game can be picked up cheaply as well with one currently priced at $4.50 and again comes with free international shipping from the UK, for a complete copy from the US you are generally looking at a minimum of $10 once you add in the shipping costs.

Written by

P J Gibbon