Overview

Ace Combat 04:  Shattered Skies is a flight combat game developed by Namco for the Playstation 2.  It was released in Japan and America on October 23rd, 2001 and in Europe on February 8, 2002.  It was the first Ace Combat game released on the Playstation 2 and was met with critical and commercial success.

Story

The story of Ace Combat 4 begins in 1999  when a massive asteroid impact known as Ulysses 1994 XF-04 struck the continent of Usea.  The impact killed half a million people and caused widespread destruction.  In the aftermath, the country of Erusea saw an opportunity to catch it's neighbors off gaurd and occupy much of the continent.  Helping the Erusean's in their conquest was Stonehenge, a giant railgun system the Erusean's had developed to shoot down incoming asteroids.  The Erusean's realized quickly that Stonehenge could be used in warfare to gain air superioty.

The game starts at the high point of the war for the Erusean's.  The player takes the role of Mobius 1, a skilled fighter pilot for the Independent States Allied Forces', or ISAF for short.  The ISAF finds itself pushed back to the extreme east coast of Usea with most of its military might located on a small island known as Northpoint.  Mobius 1 stops a bombing run against Northpoint singlehandedly saving the ISAF military.  A counter attack is then launched with the ultimate result being the liberation of the continent Usea with the defeat of the Erusean's.  Mobius 1 is in large part responsible for many of the military victories and as such becomes seen as a hero throughout the game.

The story is told through narrated pictures inbetween missions.  These cutscenes tell the tale of a young boy who lived through the war, occupation and subsequent liberation.  At the beginning of the war, this young boy saw his parents killed when a jet fighter crashes into his house.  The jet fighter was shot down an Erusean pilot named Yellow 13.  The boy goes to live with his Uncle, a drunk who lives above a tavern.  Following their cities occupation, Yellow 13 and his squad become stationed there and frequent the tavern that the boy lives above.  The boy ultimately befriends Yellow 13 viewing him as somewhat of a father figure.  At the end of the game, Mobius 1 shoots down Yellow 13 and these cutscenes are revealed to be a letter from the boy to Mobius 1. 

Gameplay

Ace Combat 4 is an unrealistic flight combat game.  The game has 18 singleplayer missions and two (splitscreen) multiplayer modes.

Singleplayer

There are up to 21 airplanes that a player can purchase.  Money is earned by completing missions, the better one does in a mission, the more money the player recieves. 

Multiplayer

Aircraft list