Game Description

Dogfights galore is how the creators of Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere would describe their game. Actually, they say it is a "Bogey Bustin', G Force Pullin', Insanity Ride!" Namco has updated the classic Air Combat and it's sequel Ace Combat 2, to come up with this game.

There are over twenty different aircrafts, featuring the F-16XF Grayfalcon, the UI-4054 Aurora, and many more. All have their own weapons, can be refueled midair, controlled by autopilot, landed, or flown in the dark.

There are over 35 missions in Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere. Choose from easy, normal or hard to start your game, and you are off.

First, a briefing on your mission where you learn the details of the battle and find out what your targets are. Following that, you must choose an aircraft (if given the option). Next, you must choose a weapon (again, if you are allowed to). After that, the game begins.

To keep your mission going, there are a number of conditions. Your damage rating must be under 100%, you cannot crash or be shot down over land or sea, you cannot exceed the time limit, and you cannot leave the battle area. If you do not meet all of these conditions, your mission ends, and you must restart.

The game consists of piloting your aircraft around the battle arena, attempting to destroy targets while you complete missions. Doing this allows you to move on to a new mission with new aircraft and weapons. ~ Mark Kanarick, All Game Guide

Review: Enjoyment

This is where Ace Combat 3 really shines. Flying is fun, and shooting things is close to exhilarating. It is really a lot of fun to play. ~ Mark Kanarick, All Game Guide

Production Credits

Published by: Namco Hometek Inc.

Designed and Developed by: Namco Ltd.

Producer (US): Yas "Pooka" Noguchi

Assistant Producers (US): Noriko "Pukey" Wada, Paul "Buddha" Guirao

Director of Marketing: Mike "Havana" Fischer

Marketing Consultant: Neil "Waxer" Johnston

Lead QA Analyst: Ed "Ed.O.L." Chennault

Assistant Lead QA Analyst: James "Squeak" Guirao

Manual Design: Price Design Team

Quality Assurance: Corey "Dolomite" Chao, Karl "Snarl" Chen, Raymond "G2" Chung, Eric "Mankind" Coker, Jared "Thumper" Jackson, Jose "Sparky" Martinez, Hall "Sleepy" Nguy, Mark "Markachu" Sau

Special Thanks: Moto Aida, Norna Cash, Garry Cole, Joey Headen, Tak Hyodo, Alex McLaren, Yoshi Niki, Brian Schorr, Jesse Taylor, Yoshi Homma ~ Joe Lamb, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere is a game chock-full of excitement and dog-fighting fun. The game is a great way to be a pilot without actually having to have a license. This fun game will leave you asking for more.

There is not much of a story to go along with Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere, but a story is not really needed. There are briefings before each of your missions, and that is all that you really need.

Missions are much the same here as in other shooting games: fly to search-and-destroy. The only things you do not shoot are objects denoted in yellow on your radar screen. Everything else is up for explosions. Enemy planes, oil tankers and lots more are here for your shooting pleasure.

Flying is a treat. It is not at all difficult, and it really is fun to get from one place to another. Accelerate by pressing down on the R1 button. Decelerate by pressing the L1 button. Flipping, a cool feature, allows you to turn quickly, but be careful not to stall out and crash. As long as you have a steady hand, crashing should not be a concern.

Blowing things up has got to be one of the best things in this game. Use the machine gun to shoot things that are close to your plane. Otherwise, use a projectile of some sort. Once your gun locks onto a target, use a missile to shoot it down. The computerized voice will tell you if it was a "bull's-eye" or "nice shot." The sparingly used voice is effective. You know when you really hit the target head on.

Maneuvers are something else to utilize. Besides flips, try to corkscrew, nose-dive, or perform a number of other tricks that can get you out of trouble and free you up to find a new target. The only problem is damaging to your plane. Luckily, hitting into things is not necessarily an automatic crash. If you hit into the ground on an upswing, you may cause some body damage, but slamming into something, will likely cause a wreck. To your advantage, you can retry the mission by saving and restarting from the same spot.

I did find some problems with Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere. The first thing I disliked was the game's menu system. Namco chose a terribly small font for the on-screen menus, making it difficult to read the choices and their explanations. The same thing applies to the mission-briefing screen.

Another thing lacking was the lack of options. There really is no other way to play this game other than playing mission by mission. A multi-player mode would have added immeasurably to the replay factor. Imagine getting into a dogfight with a friend. You would play for hours!

Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere is an excellent game with some minor flaws. Anyone who has ever dreamed of being Tom Cruise in Top Gun, or thought about flying, should try Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere. ~ Mark Kanarick, All Game Guide

Review: Graphics

The planes look fine, and backgrounds are good, but nothing extravagant. ~ Mark Kanarick, All Game Guide

Review: Sound

Sound effects are cool, crashes sound like metal crunching, but background music is almost non-existent. ~ Mark Kanarick, All Game Guide

Review: Replay Value

Although you have to restart missions, they are not exactly the same each time, adding to the replay value. ~ Mark Kanarick, All Game Guide

Review: Documentation

Screenshots explain what the text is describing and cover all aspects of the game. ~ Mark Kanarick, All Game Guide