Air Combat
AMG AllGame Guide:
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Air Combat
- Release Date: January 01, 1995
- Genre: Simulation
- Style: Flight Combat Sim
- Similar Games: Agile Warrior F-111X (PlayStation), Black Dawn (PlayStation), Bogey: Dead 6 (PlayStation), Gunship (PlayStation), WarHawk (PlayStation), Strike Point (PlayStation), Top Gun: Fire at Will (PlayStation)
Game Description
In Namco's Air Combat, it is up to you to eliminate the enemy terrorist forces that threaten global prosperity. Intelligence has hinted that their main assault will be by sky and aircraft. You will engage in tactical dogfights and use any means necessary to shoot them out of the air and stop their devious plans. As you progress throughout the various missions, you are awarded cash that allows you to buy newer and better aircraft. There are a multitude of planes included, such as the Mig and the elusive Stealth Bomber. Naturally, you will have to start out with smaller, less powerful aircraft and slowly build your way up as you complete missions and earn more money.Each mission is different in objective, location, and strategy. Depending on what the mission requires of you, you must pick the aircraft most suited for the mission. Some missions require you to escort an important ambassador to safety, while others have you taking out a city's power supply, putting an end to illegal oil smuggling by destroying a refinery, and even taking out a bridge. Enemy planes come at you from all directions and you'll have to watch your craft's radar constantly. Unfortunately, resistance will come from ground forces as well as sea battle cruisers. In order to carry out missions successfully, you will need to be on your toes at all times, especially in heated battles such as dogfights.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide
Roots & Influences
Air Combat is Namco's first arcade conversion for the PlayStation. It was originally titled Ace Combat.~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide
Review: Overall
Here is the basic rundown of what you have to do in Air Combat. You have to stop a terrorist organization from either hijacking military planes or taking over government bases by taking to the skies. When you start out, you only have a few fighter jets to choose from, but as you get deeper into the game, you will be able to buy more from the money you make after a successfully completed mission. There are a lot of different aircraft to choose from and you will have to consider your next mission in making your choice. Each plane has different purposes and strengths and weaknesses; some are more suited for specific missions.For example, if you're about to take out an oil refinery or a terrorist base, you'll need a speedy jet with fierce firepower. If the mission calls for you to sneak up on unsuspecting enemy aircraft and ground forces, logic should tell you to go with something that has a cloaking ability. Escort missions require the use of a heavily armed plane that can fend off enemy fire. It's up to you to make all these choices, which gives Air Combat a great feeling of depth.
The missions are equally impressive with lots of variety and level design. You are required to bomb oil rigs and refineries, defend large cities and important ambassadors, stop enemy aircraft by engaging in dogfights, and go undetected in stealth missions. Additionally, the game moves in a fairly nonlinear fashion. Once you complete a certain mission, three different scenarios might open up. Which one you choose is entirely up to you, and this will change the course of the game until the very end.
The only thing really wrong with Air Combat lies within the graphics. While they are not terrible or anything, Namco's texture use is questionable. There are a lot of repetitive, bland textures used here and there are lots of seams in the polygons. You can hide some of the glitches by switching to a different camera view (either first person or a third person view) but no matter what, they problems are apparent.
Still, Air Combat is a very solid air combat game. There are lots of planes to choose from, a wide variety of missions, and immersing, action-packed nonlinear game play. Even if you're not a big fan of this type of game, you should probably go ahead and give it a try. It is a lot of fun and highly addictive.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide
Review: Enjoyment
With its non-linear game play, action-packed missions, and impressive range of jets, Air Combat is a highly enjoyable and fun game.~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide
Review: Graphics
While the textures are nice and colorful, there seem to be a lack of them and redundancy starts to rear its ugly head. There are also a lot of texture glitches, such as seams, that really detract from the overall look. There are also a few CG movies that are very nicely done.~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide
Review: Sound
The soundtrack is pretty rockin' and the sound effects sound like they should. Explosions and fire effects sound great and the minimal voice acting is decent as well.~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide
Review: Replay Value
There is a good amount of replay value here because of the nonlinearity. You can go back and take different paths and complete missions that you didn't see the first time through. There are also some hidden surprises waiting for you.~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide
Review: Documentation
The manual tells you everything from how to control the game to the technicalities of how to rate each plane.~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide
Production Credits
Published By: Namco Hometek Inc.; Designed And Developed by: Namco Ltd.; Namco Hometek Team: Chris Bull, Loan Vu, Jeff Yonan, Yuri Saito, Dave Winstead, Geoff Erickson; Manual Design: Darien & Kilburg; Special Thanks: Craig Erickson
~ Rolando Eccleston, All Game Guide
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Air Combat
This article is about the video game. For the use of aircraft in war, see Aerial warfare.
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2010) |
| Air Combat | |
|---|---|
 European box art |
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| Developer(s) | Namco |
| Publisher(s) | Namco |
| Series | Ace Combat |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, PlayStation, Mobile phones (Japan only) |
| Release date(s) | Arcade 1992-1995 PlayStation
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| Genre(s) | Arcade, Combat flight simulator |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Arcade system | Namco System 21 "Polygonizer" |
Air Combat, released in Japan as Ace Combat (エースコンバット Ēsu Konbatto), is a semi-realistic flight-sim action game developed and released by Namco in 1992 for the Namco System 21 "Polygonizer" arcade system and released in 1995 for the PlayStation home video game console. It is the first part of the Ace Combat series. All subsequent games retained the original Ace Combat name. Air Combat is an arcade game that simulates an F-16. The game mainly involves dog fighting and has three levels of play; Cadet, Captain and Ace. This game was the predecessor of the PlayStation series. It had an arcade sequel, Air Combat 22.
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Contents
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Story
A terrorist force starts an uprising and inflicts massive damage across an unnamed country. Efforts to defeat these terrorists through conventional means failed and the situation turns desperate; in response, a mercenary air force is assembled to take the fight to the enemy and free the nation from the terrorist forces.
Gameplay
Air Combat is mostly considered an "arcade style" flight game due to its semi-realistic physics and the fact that many planes can carry up to 65 missiles, an impossibility in real-life aircraft. The goal of the game is to destroy enemy targets dispersed throughout the various levels and earn money (extra money can be earned by destroying non-target, optional enemies) to purchase additional aircraft and special weaponry, a feature that continues with the current Ace Combat games. The player can choose from several different planes in the game ranging from F-4 Phantoms to Su-27 Flankers and Stealth aircraft, albeit painted in a special "Phoenix" color scheme. Later in the game, the player can select a wingman to accompany them during a mission, the player can "instruct" the wingman to perform one of three different actions.
Playable Aircraft
- McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II
- Grumman F-14A Tomcat
- McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle
- Lockheed Martin F-16C Fighting Falcon
- McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C Hornet
- Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk
- Lockheed Martin/Boeing YF-22A Lightning II
- Northrop Grumman YF-23A Black Widow II
- Sukhoi Su-27M (Su-35) 'Flanker-E'
- Mikoyan MiG-29S Izdelyie 9-13S 'Fulcrum-C'
- Mikoyan MiG-31B 'Foxhound-A'
- Saab JAS-39A Gripen A
- Dassault Rafale C
- Panavia Tornado F.2
- Eurofighter 2000/Typhoon F.2
- Fairchild Republic A-10A Thunderbolt II
Reception
Air Combat was awarded Best Flight Sim of 1995 by Electronic Gaming Monthly.[1]
References
- ^ Electronic Gaming Monthly's Buyer's Guide. 1996.
External links
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