Here at The Den we break down games based on four categories

GRAPHICS

SOUND

GAMEPLAY

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

GRAPHICS

After you get through countless load screens the wait is made worthwhile once you start your first mission. This is the supreme flight combat game when it comes to visuals. The attention to detail is incredible (from the way the flaps are synchronized with button presses, down to the resolution of the land targets) Ace Combat 4 gives you more graphics for your buck. The visual distance in which you can gaze upon is lenghty to say the least. I am very impressed that the developers did not opt to FOG OUT! There is fog mind you, it's just not overly used in my estimation. The main flaw I found with the visuals was when I dropped bombs on targets and circled back to see the damage but alas no burning targets; just slightly charred. It would have been really cool to see some major damage still happening while the battle raged on!

SOUND

Jets and explosions that actually sound like jets and explosions! When I was trying to pull my plane up withing 25 feet over the water it sounded like a careless pilot flying way too low. When I dropped bombs and machine gunned my enemies it sounded much like the Hollywood portrayal of such acts. Your wing men do get repetitive and annoying with their prescripted BULLSHIT!

GAMEPLAY

I will state this right off the bat "I DID NOT LIKE TURNING THE PLANE"! I have never turned a plane in real life and if it's as annoying as it is in the game then I never will! I was not very successful getting quick (CONTROLLED) turns out of any of my birds, that was the single most frustrating thing about this game. Since avoiding missles and A.A. guns is a major role in this game, it's a necessity to turn and roll on a dime but it's just a bit awkward at first. It does get easier but just not overly intuative. Missle response was also a bit slow and aiming unguided missles wasn't all that steady either. I'm not sure how realistic some of this would be but from a gaming standard the lack responsiveness will piss a few gamers off. Those are basically my only two complaints as far as controlls go.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

Having a load capacity for missles and machine guns is ULTRA cool! Also the coolest thing I've ever noticed in a game of this kind "allowing you to land on a ship to refuel, load more missles and get your machine guns back to snuff was a welcomed change from the old UNLIMITED AMMO stuff". VERY IMPRESSIVE!

In closing I'd like to say that SONY has another winner on their hands. Call it the Grand Turismo of the air. I really felt like I was a fighter pilot running into countless enemies and ready for any battle. I tried helping out my wing men and they watched my ass while in battle. One of the few games I felt like the team was all pitching in. I will honestly admit I LOVE flight based combat games, however I am more into multiplayer combat (Starlancer-Star Fox Undefeated) but this game hit the spot. I didn't feel as drawn in as I did in the classic BOGEY DEAD 6 but ACE COMBAT 4 out shines that game in every other respect. Please bring out a multiplayer air combat game or put it in as a side option SONY!

SCORE 8.5    GREAT GAME