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.
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.
