Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War

Heavy on action and ramping the difficulty to new heights, Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War is one of the best flight combat games you can play on the PS2.

A fans dream and an excellent place for newcomers to enter. The best of AC 4 & AC 5 have been melded to make what feels like the best iteration of the series yet. [JPN Import]

The Belkan War doesn’t change the formula established by its predecessors. It does, however, add yet another layer of polish and refinement to a series that’s near perfect at what it sets out to do.

The seemingly complicated flight sim-like elements scared me away from this game for a long time, but once you give it a shot, you'd be surprised how accessible and fun it can be. [May 2006, p.102]

The story is engaging and well-presented although its themes are a bit overused.

The storyline is maudlin at times, but it is told in better fashion than most games.

Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War is a game that any player at any skill level can get the hang of in a few minutes, but be warned that the last part of each mission is a killer - literally.

The game is also disappointingly a little on the short side, and a dedicated player could probably blast through the game’s missions (of which there are less than 20) in a good day of playing – it’s primarily in the unlockables and different avenues of play which give the game any semblance of staying power.

It's got a few noticeable errors, especially when it comes to repetitive gampelay, no drastic enhancements, and erratic enemy AI. But it's extraordinarily pretty, the controls are nearly flawless and quite accessible, and the fun factor remains high throughout.

Multi-player adds afterburners to this pretty, nifty, slick acrobatic shooter. Good stuff. [Oct 2006, p.66]

The varied missions, near photo realistic visuals, real world planes, and live action cut scenes have been mixed to produce a thoroughly enjoyable combat game, and the addition of aces, these skilled NPCs that can take forever to destroy, and a two player mode, only add to the product's rain slick sheen.

The live-action cinemas that narrate the game's passable storyline are a cheesy, unnecessary addition, but the truth remains that for modern-era aerial action, there's no substitute for Ace Combat.

Ace Combat Zero is, without a doubt, the most fun I've ever had with a flight simulator, and it's the best one in the series yet.

Except for a few subtle-but-effective additions, Ace Combat Zero doesn’t do much else but marginally evolve the series from its last effort, and in the end that leads to a familiar feeling of “been there, done that” more often than not.

Still, even though the coating is a little stale and the mechanics at work are slightly overused, The Belkan War soars above other air combat titles, PS2 or otherwise. [Jun 2006, p.79]

The Ace Combat games nail the rush of pulling g's and kicking on afterburners, that much will never change. But then, little else has changed too, and without an online component, it feels a bit too much like an expansion.

The Belkin War lives up to the entertainment legacy of the Ace Combat series by subtracting much of what didn't work and adding valuable new elements.

Even without online support, this is a supremely enjoyable game and despite being the fifth Ace Combat sequel to arrive on PS2, it still feels refreshingly different in a release schedule crammed with racing, fighting and shooting clones.

Except for a few subtle-but-effective additions, Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War doesn't do much else but marginally evolve the series from its last effort, and in the end that leads to a familiar feeling of 'been there, done that'.

A cracking surprise, The Belkan War is hardcore plane porn tuned for maximum thrills and money shots. [Oct 2006, p.90]

It's fun flying about and pressing the missile button when the target gets red. It's just it's not so fun when missions take up to half an hour on the later stages; it really does get a bit repetitive after a while. [Issue 144, p.76]

Ace Combat Zero may not do anything particularly different or better than its predecessors, but it still delivers some excellent dogfighting and a good story tying it all together.

A decent flight shoot 'em up that tries hard to look like a simulator. The flying is too easy for its own good and the enemy AI is too repetitive. More sci-fi missions would not have hurt, either. [Sept 2006]

Surviving one of these encounters is extremely satisfying — if only this game let you buzz the tower in celebration.

The game is engaging, fun, and even offers a two player versus mode to provide for a bit of longevity.

It's neither broken nor particularly bad overall, but it seems somewhat confused as to exactly which aspects of gameplay need work and which don't. [July 2006, p.78]

What a horrible, horrible waste. The game had it all. Slick presentation, a decent, yet completely predictable story, fun gameplay, and even branching to add levels of replayability. And then someone cast that all aside because of their stupid need to have their own version of the final trench run mission, combined with the fact that they have no idea how to create a good boss.

Pretty much what you'd expect from another sequel. No more, no less.

Taken as an afternoon sitting with an old friend reminiscing about the good old days, it works. But that's where it ends. The PS2 chapter of Ace Combat has closed.

It's by no means a terrible game, but it simply isn't any better than its older brethren.

Namco improves upon their possibly last current-gen flight-sim with multiplayer support, but fails to add anything new to the formula.

Suffers slightly due to its similarities to previous games in the series, but the package is as slick as ever.

Five years is a long time for things to essentially stay the same, no matter how enjoyable they may have been in the first place.

You have an accomplished, if a little generic, arcade aerial fighter that will please those already in love with the franchise. Equally here's a game that doesn't move the genre forward or in anyway justify the full price tag when you can buy Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War for cheaper - essentially what you get is a new narrative.

It's not that it's bad....it's just not as good as the last few games in the series. [May 2006, p.52]

In spite of the lackluster design, Zero is, if nothing else, another addition to the barren landscape of flight games on the PS2. [Jun 2006, p.95]

There's simply nothing here that leaps out as being interesting, innovative, original or inspired. It's solid, entertaining, and for anyone with an interest in arcade flight combat, will while away quite a few hours some damp weekend - after which time it will be consigned to the corner of your games shelf and forgotten within a matter of weeks.

As good as The Belkan War is, it’s nothing but more of the same. [Oct 2006, p.125]

A solid and entertaining game with exciting dogfighting action and many planes, but offers very minor changes to its predecessors.

Not terrible, just an extremely pedestrian air shooter that makes no clear effort to distinguish itself as a game (or series) worth getting into. The very genre suffers from uninspired and unambitious titles such as this.

The sensation of speed and power is immense and the graphics are as good as anything the PS2 has produced so far. The problem with Ace Combat 6, then, is simply that it does nothing new.

When you’re on the fifth one in the series and it doesn’t play all that different to the first one, it’s probably time to stop. That’s not to say that Ace Combat Zero is a bad game, it’s just that you’ve seen it all before, done it all before, and got the t-shirt.

The always-excellent controls and wide assortment of different planes are fairly entertaining, but Zero's a huge step down from either of the last two games. [Jun 2006, p.113]