|
PS2
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War -
Shipping Today |
 |
 |
|
 |
NCS
Game Synopsis
«©NCSX»
The
nation of Belka only has itself to blame for its
woes. Years ago while suffering in the throes of
economic depression, it allowed the Eastern territory of Ustio to secede and establish itself as an
independent nation. Years pass and a wealth of
natural resources are discovered in Ustio which
provides riches for the fledgling nation. Eyeing
their former territory with claws outstretched, a
newly resurgent Belka launches an offensive against
its neighbors and makes a move on Ustio. The
powerful nation of Osea sides with Ustio and
provides military support to contain the Belkan war machine.
Ace Combat Zero follows the
story of mercenaries and fighter pilot under the employ of Ustio who
beat back marauding Belkan fighters...
In the first mission of a normal game, the player throttles into
the theater of conflict with a wingman named PIXY
who shadows your jetfighter with precise control.
Belkan bombers and a few fighter escorts are on the
way to destroy the Valais airbase which provides the
last line of defense for Ustio. If the base is
destroyed, Ustio falls. That simply won't do. |
|
|
NCS
Game Notes
» Game teaser line: Project Zero - New Blood, New Battles.
» In the title screen of the game, crimson skies and
wispy clouds slowly move towards the viewer while
the crackling echo of jets racing across the sky may
be occasionally heard in the background. If you
don't make a move for roughly a minute, a fast paced
cinematic sequence plays where a pilot is shown from
the nose down with his arm wrapped around a rifle.
From his position, it appears that his leg might be
hiked on top of a chair. His mouth may be seen and
he appears to chewing gum and talking:
"Oh Him, yeah I know him. It's going to take a
while. It happened years ago. Did you know there are
three kind (sic) of aces - those who seek strength,
those who live for pride, and those who can read the
tide of battle. Those are the three. And him, he was
a fighter pilot they called Solo Wing Pixy. This man
was his buddy. He is the man I seek. It was a cold
and snowy day."
As the voice over trails off, fighter jets are shown roaring
through the skies and dog fighting while thundering
engines sound off - a few pilots are also shown but
no one's face is ever revealed, they're either
viewed from the back or below the neck. Perhaps
pilots love anonymity. The voice over starts anew
with:
"The Belkan War is shrouded in mystery. Everyone
is a hero and no one knows who is the victim and who
is the aggressor. And what is peace?"
Pilots who are known as Knights of the Round
Table are shown during the intro and they're
nicknamed:
A Pilot that Lives by Pride
The Strategist
A Man who Upholds Honor
The Fallen
A Bringer of Death
A Man who lived for Battle
The Reborn Veteran
A Man of Honor
A Woman of Undying Faith
The Revolutionary
At the end of the intro, movie-like credits are
shown and below the text, a dove roosts on top of a
pilot's helmet while clucking its head left and
right.
» The voice overs in the game are entirely in
English and the subtitles are in Japanese. The
introduction sequence features actual video where a
pilot recounts the tale of Solo Wing Pixie. Note
that the game may be played in English by toggling
the language setting which makes AC0 very import
friendly.
» After pressing START, the following options appear:
CAMPAIGN
/ NEW GAME - Four difficulty levels from VERY
EASY, EASY, NORMAL, HARD
/ ACE STYLE - View flight data and gallery of
assault records and medals
/ GAME DATA - Save and load data to memory card
VS MODE
/ Two player dogfighting
OPTIONS
/ CONTROLLER SETTINGS - Control type, scheme, L+R-Analog
settings, Vibration toggle
/ LANGUAGE SETTINGS - Toggle to Japanese, English,
JP/No Sub, EN/No Sub
/ DISPLAY SETTINGS - Set Wingman commands, HUD, HUD
scale, and Quick Select
/ SOUND SETTINGS - Set Mono/Stereo/Surround and
volume levels
/ SCREEN SETTINGS - Screen position, brightness,
screen ratio
» Upon starting a game, the pilot voice over resumes
with more details on Solo Wing Pixy and the events
leading up to the Belkan war.
» Mission #01 Glacial Skies
A squadron of Belkan Bombers are on the way to attack
Valais Airbase which is the last line of defense to
stop Belka from taking over Republic of Ustio.
The first mission requires that the player destroy the entire fleet of
Belkan bombers that are on the way - they arrive in five
waves.
»
The two fighter heroes are Cipher and Pixy. The
first wave of attackers consists of two B-52 bombers
followed by two more B-52 bombers and an F-5E, next
up is an F-4E and another F-5E and 1 B52 bomber. The
fourth wave consists of four BM-335 bombers and an
F-4E and F-5E escorts. The last wave is made of two
more B-52 bombers.
»
Once the mission starts, you're in the aircraft
hanger where the camera rotates all around the
selected fighter jet - there are three available planes at
the outset - an F-5E Tiger II Fighter, an F-1
Attacker, and a J35J Draken Fighter.
» After launching, a camera takes in an
expanse of snowy mountains as two
GALM Ustio air force jets race towards the Belkan bombers. Radio chatter is
entirely in English and accentuated with the hollow cockpit
background sound. The two jets eventually join other
fighter jet friends already on course.
» Once control is handed
over, push the TRIANGLE button to check behind your
jet to see your fellow ace PIXY trailing dutifully
behind you. After a while, he'll speed ahead to let
you know he's with you.
Game Controls
R1 Trigger: Accelerate
L1 Trigger: Brake
SQUARE: Long range radar
TRIANGLE: Camera angle toggle / Target selector
HOLD R2+L2: Activate auto-pilot
PUSH R-ANALOG: Targeting scope
»
The L-analog moves the plane while the R-analog
moves the camera. The weaponry and damage may be
viewed on the lower-right corner of the screen while
speed, altitude, score, and time are ringed around
the main cockpit viewing area. To toggle between camera views,
push in on the R-analog pad and you'll change from
cockpit view, to HUD view, to third-person plane
view where your fighter jet is visible. As the first
wave of bombers appear on radar, players may lock
onto the targets and fire one missile to damage the
bomber and a second missile to wipe it from the sky.
After the first two bombers, more bombers and
flanking aircraft appear to bump up the difficulty
level. Controls are smooth with easy maneuvering of
the jet.
Once surrounded by enemy fighters and bombers, it's
fairly exciting action as you speed up to
catch enemies on the run, slow down to target
aircraft in the distance, and spin like
a dervish to avoid incoming missiles.
» The in-cockpit view of the action is incredibly
claustrophobic and feels cramped. No one should have
to pilot a big iron bird under those onerous
conditions.
»
After each mission, a replay automatically starts
where the camera angle may be changed by on the fly
through four available angles by moving the d-pad or
L-analog through four options on the lower-left
portion of the screen. You may also pan the camera
around by swishing the R-analog pad to view the side
of the aircraft, from the bottom or from the top.
While the replay is going on, the sound effects from
the game thunder as loud engines resonate. To view
the replay without the menu option, hit the SQUARE
button to toggle them away.
The four available camera angles for the replay are as follows
1) Views the plane from the front and from the rear
at an angle - automatically alternates between the two views
2) Views the planes from behind the thrusters and
slightly overhead for a view of the topside of the
plane at all times with the thrusters blazing purple
below.
3) Views the plane from a 3/4 view angle from behind
the plane and switches from the left side, the top
side, and from the bottom
4) Views the plane from the bottom at an angle, from
the bottom head on,
from the side, from the top,
from within the cockpit and in fast moving
sequences. This is the most comprehensive playback
view for a "whole" view of the action. It's like
watching war footage. There's also a missile cam
where the flight of a missile is followed by the
camera until it blows up on a target.
» The radio chatter between comrades is fairly
entertaining where they'll joke about poker, enemy
dispositions, and other things that guys will talk
about while battling enemies in multi-million dollar
jetfighters.
»
After the replay in each level, you may view the
progress of the entire battle as displayed on a grid
where the planes are shown as arrows which stream
across the grid. As enemies are destroyed on the
grid, kills are tallied as "TARGETS DESTROYED" and
your ranking of Mercenary, Soldier, or Knight is
displayed. If you've destroyed all targets without
mercy, you
might be pegged a mercenary but if you've damaged
enemy planes and allowed them to limp along and otherwise
spare them, you're a knight because of your air
chivalry. NCS basically destroyed everything that
moved. We would have fired on PIXY with both barrels
if we were able to...
» Progress may be saved to memory card after level.
After the first mission, its possible to purchase a
new plane - the MiG-21bis Fishbed Fighter which
costs 8500 credits and is faster than anything
currently in your fleet.
» Mission #02 ANNEX
The second mission charges the
pilot with regaining control over Route 171
which is a transit route for ground troops. Secure
the road so that Ustio can attack Belkan forces and
supply lines are opened between Osea and Ustio.
The mission is fairly straightforward and simple
where ground units are locked on and
blasted with missiles. You'll have to do a
loop-de-loop to get everything or slow your speed
down so that multiple targets may be taken out in
quick sequence as you roll through the battlefield. |
|
This document is ©NCSX 2006. All rights reserved. No
reproduction in whole or in part of this document
may be made without express written consent of
National Console Support, Inc.
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
