Is this the BEST Ace Combat Game?

To all my new and returning viewers: let me know if you prefer longer-form content like this, where I get a little more detailed and show full cut scenes along with more bits of un-narrated gameplay. I felt that this struck a nice balance, but it still ended up being quite lengthy. Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

That last battle with Pixy I swear was pure art. The music, the dialog. I was yelling at my TV ''Damnit Pixy don't make me kill you!'' Great game. The whole PS2 franchise was amazing

Belka probably has the record for the most amount of friendly kills

I still absolutely adore the fact that Larry Foulke, the man we see being interviewed multiple times and the first character we ever meet in this game... ... is actually the FINAL BOSS.

In the final battle with Pixy, Eagle Eye has no idea that it is Pixy you are fighting. Eagle Eye only refers to Pixy by the plane name Morgan. Meaning, that what Pixy said to Cipher, is between Pixy and Cipher. I can only imagine what Cipher's responses to Pixy would be based on your Ace Style at the time. There is a lot of backroom lore about the Belkan War that people should look up. AC:Z is the Cipher of the Ace Combat series, though Ace Combat 1 takes place during this conflict. And just a bit of trivia Larry Foulke is voiced by Yuri Lowenthal, who voiced Saskue Uchida in the Naruto series.

Zero is without a doubt my number one favorite Ace Combat ever.

Zero is the peak of the franchise for me, it’s the best example of why I love Ace Combat so much Even though the game gets a bit silly and dramatic sometimes, I really feel like the anti-war themes of this game just rings more true as time passes.

"...I can only imagine the feelings and emotions it must invoke for those who played this oh so many years ago." "Tears." Tears is your answer. Come back in more than a decade. Every interview, not just the last one; the respect of the Knights, the fear of the Mercs, every one made me grit my teeth. The climax of "Zero" coming in as the Morgan report comes in, makes me lost in the past, the first time. The impact of the chorus of "The Unsung War" coming in; fresh, yet nostalgic from 5's release almost two years prior. This is a form of art so compounded; music, atmosphere, acting, narrative, and nostalgia, that it is so hard to replicate that I struggle to articulate it. The closest thing I can point to that's more commonly known is when "Vigil" from Mass Effect 1 is used later, but even then, as appropriate as each use is, they use it more often, maybe too often. "Zero" is a masterpiece, both song and game.

I love love love how pixy's final words have no hint of regret or hostility, but a sense of sentiment and comradery even though cipher and pixy found each other at the end of the game as opponents i don't think either of them had any sort of hatred toward each other except for a slight difference in their own personal morality. Cipher's quiet stoicism and want of following orders to the letter, and pixy's often questioning orders and misdemeanor chaos serves as antithesis of themselves, the coin motif brought up by the game as they are the same but facing different directions perfectly encapsulates them as characters and their final developments. It breaks my heart every time to see PJ tragically fall to Pixy at the end, as PJ did look up to Pixy for a lot of the game

Yes, the answer is yes. Played all AC games 4 and after even the psp / gba stuff. Zero is far and away the best. The storyline is gripping, the gameplay is flawless, the music is incredible

Yes. It is the perfect mix of 4's grounded writing and 5's theatrics. You should play 5 btw. Zero is a direct prequel to it.

Pixy also has cut dialog for hoffnung where he pretty much experiences a PTSD attack. it makes his actions a little bit more nuanced in the next mission.

I do think Zero is the peak of the series, the standard that has to be strived for by subsequent games. It have it's issues and other games have aspects that are individually better, but no other game in the series blends all the aspects so masterfully, especially between narrative and gameplay. Narrative-wise it's about on par with 04 and maybe 3, on presenting a nuanced perspective on war (they're the only ones that does this unfortunately), other conflicts in the series are mostly straightforward, if not cartoony (cough... AC5). Meeting and fighting various rival aces, hearing their thoughts, it lends to the idea that your actions (from the Ace style) matters even if it doesn't seem like much. Pixy's and PJ's dynamic is what made me love this game even more, PJ is AC5's idea of "peace" personified and Pixy is the realist who criticize such naive ideals; yet it is Pixy who fell into the trap of extreme idealism and it is PJ that persevered and died with his ideals intact, who became the true unsung hero. The game earned it's anti-war messages, unlike a certain game that directly follows this story. Gameplay-wise they carried off all the "improvements" from AC5 and trimmed off the fat, enemies are less tanky making the gameplay more faster paced closer to the series' roots of AC2 and 04, boresight target select is a welcomed feature, return lines from AC04 is back for the bigger missions, and the plane list is one of the best the series has ever seen; gone are 5's boring repetitive strikes on damage sponge targets, times when the game punishes you from being too good at the game, running out on ammo because you killed respawning enemies too quickly and not even have the reprieve from a return line, there's no more grinding on a specific plane to unlock something you actually want to get (if you want it). It also helps that the themes of this game are so unfathomably cool; Arthurian legend, knights in fighter jets, flamenco guitars, a mercenary story inspired by Area 88, how did they come up with this and actually pulled it off is a wonder. It's honestly hard for me whether to pick Zero or 4 as my number one favorite from the series, ACX as my 3rd and AC2 as my 4th. I highly recommend trying ACX as it's pretty underrated even among Ace Combat fans; branching missions that affects the big mission according on which order you tackled them, massive plane list, and the first time the series implemented plane upgrade part modification.

its right behind AC4. I thought it was strange that we did not see Bristows face. Actor called off that day or maybe because he was in jail they did not want to glorify him. tough to complete on the solider path. Mercenary path is canon.

About a year ago I replayed it for the first time in over a decade. I actually teared up through the end

“…I can only imagine the feelings and emotions it must invoke for those that played this oh so many years ago.” I cried bro. I fucking cried. When I heard Pixy’s last line, 40:23 “Will he see this video? Give him a message for me. Yo buddy, you still alive? And thanks, friend. See you again.” That message felt like it was for me 18 years later from when I first picked up the game as a kid in 2006. Hit me in the feels like a truck. Message received, Pixy. Thank you for everything. I’ll be seeing you.

The mission where Pixy tries to kill us. I feel like he knew that we would be his opponent after that. It was his only shot to get rid of Cipher, but wasn't able to get rid of him.

Excellent video. Can’t wait for your perspective of my personal favourite AC game: Ace Combat 5: Squadron Leader/Unsung War. There was a lot of small details they did to different countries versions of the game, for example, the Box Art on the American version featured the F-14 Tomcat, the French Version featured the Dassault Rafael and the UK version featured the Eurofighter Typhoon.

I remember picking this game up at gamestop for $4 when I was probably 8 or 9 years old... I will never forget how much entertainment this game brought me and how iconic it was in my childhood

Pixy was unforgettable. 1000/10 would like to get betrayed for a reasonable cause. It is my peak Ace Combat because its about betrayal and as usual, humanizing your enemy despite them being the villain. You get to understand both sides of the coin. This is what makes me like Japanese games and anime. My 2nd on the list would be Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. I'm totally fine with the DFM modes because it is closely accurate to reality simply getting closer as if you're doing hipfire on a maneuverable target that missiles couldn't deal with. Helicopters too Iove the sexy Apache but others don't and its understandable why they hate that game much.