Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies
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| Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies | |
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| Developer(s) | Namco |
| Publisher(s) | Namco |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) |
| Release date(s) |   October 23, 2001 February 8, 2002 |
| Genre(s) | Simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Media | 1 DVD |
Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies is a game for the PlayStation 2 developed by Namco. It is a semi-realistic fighter pilot simulation and is part of the Ace Combat series of games.
In Europe this game was released under the title Ace Combat: Distant Thunder.
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[edit] Game premise
The player takes on the role of the top fighter pilot, Mobius 1, of the Mobius Squadron in the air force of the Independent States Allied Forces (ISAF), fighting against the Erusians who have occupied almost all of the Usea continent after an apocalyptic event in 1999. A massive asteroid, codenamed Ulysses 1994 XF-04 struck Usea, killing 500,000 people and turning many into refugees. Erusea used this as an opportunity to occupy the continent after a prolonged military buildup. The Erusians have achieved supremacy via the superweapon Stonehenge, a battery of railguns which was originally designed to destroy asteroids but has been found to be effective against airplanes well, due to the massive shockwave it releases when it fires. Consequently, ISAF has been pushed back to the eastern coast of Usea.
Between the missions the story is told through letters written to Mobius 1 from a boy whose parents were killed when a fighter jet crashed into their house in San Salvacion. The fighter jet was shot down by Yellow 13, the Erusians top fighter pilot, and a member of their Yellow Squadron (the Erusian equivalent of the ISAF Mobius Squadron). As he is forced to move into a nearby occupied town, he befriends Yellow 13 after meeting him and the other Yellow Squadron members in a bar.
[edit] Gameplay
During the course of the game, the player has the opportunity to purchase 21 different planes, from models that actually exist to prototypes or relatively new aircraft that were in development (at the time of game production) and their weaponry. Every plane has two alternate paint schemes, gained by achieving a superior, or S, ranking on a stage in hard difficulty mode, by shooting down the ace pilots which are on each stage, or by completing the challenge modes.
The difficulty mode affects how many enemies are in a stage, how smart/accurate the enemies are, how much damage the enemies can take, and how much damage the player's aircraft can sustain in total. On the hardest difficulty level, a single missile from the enemy will down the player's aircraft, whereas on the easiest level it would take several missiles.
The player must purchase all aircraft and weapons they want to use, but only once. Identical weapons for different types of planes cannot be used interchangeably. Players gain money by destroying enemies, or selling aircraft/weapons between missions. Only the default aircraft, the F-4E Phantom, cannot be sold. It is sometimes advantageous to buy/sell different combinations of planes & weapons depending on the mission requirements outlined in the briefing, as some planes are more suitable than others for certain of missions. Once all of the mission objectives are complete, the player is awarded bonus money for performing above and beyond the requirements of the mission objectives (neutralizing extra targets and assorted enemy fighters, etc.). In order to purchase all planes and weapons available in the game, the game must be completed at least three to four times.
The game is only semi-realistic in the sense that the abilities of the aircraft are greatly exaggerated. Some of the most noticeable issues are:
- Afterburners have no limited usage within the given time for each mission.
- Some aircraft can carry up to 100 missiles (the armaments reappear on the plane several seconds after being fired).
- Air-to-air missiles are as effective against ground targets as air-to-ground missiles and unguided bombs.
[edit] List of Planes and Armament
Here is a list of planes and armament in the game. Planes always have guns and missiles, and the player may choose one additional piece of weaponry at the outset of the mission. When refueling, the player can change weapons.
Notice that some of the ending aircraft are actually real prototypes that have yet to enter production or actual use. Also, the F-15 ACTIVE is actually the F-15S/MTD with 2D thrust vectoring.
| Name | Normal Cost | Alternate Cost | Strengths (Max. 20) |
Weaknesses (Max. 20) |
Guns | Missiles | Special Weapons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F-4E | 76,000 | 99,000 | Defense (11) | Speed, Air-to-Ground, Mobility, Stability (7) |
650 | 52 Sidewinder | UGBM (6) (Mk. 83), NPB (6) (Mk. 77) |
| F-5E | 52,000 | 68,000 | Stability (12) | Speed, Air-to-Air, Mobility, Defense (7) |
650 | 48 Sidewinder | UGBS (12)(Mk. 82), RCL (64) |
| F-16C | 97,000 | 126,000 | Air-to-Air, Mobility (12) |
Stability (4) | 700 | 52 Sidewinder | UGBS (14) (Mk. 82), XAGM (12) (AGM-65 Maverick) |
| A-10A | 123,000 | 160,000 | Air-to-Ground, Defense (20) |
Speed, Air-to-Air (2) |
850 | 56 Sidewinder | UGBL (12)(Mk. 84), XAGM (16) (AGM-65 Maverick), CLB (12) (Mk. 20) |
| MIR-2000 | 111,000 | 143,000 | Speed (15) | Stability (2) | 700 | 52 R550 Magic II | UGBS (16) (Mk. 82), LASM (10) (Exocet) |
| F-14A | 188,000 | 244,000 | Air-to-Air (17) | Air-to-Ground (6) | 750 | 64 Sidewinder | XLAA (16) (AIM-54 Phoenix), UGBM (10) (Mk. 83) |
| TND-IDS | 172,000 | 224,000 | Defense (18) | Mobility (6) | 750 | 58 Sidewinder | Bomblet Dispenser (12), PGB (8), LASM (12) |
| F/A-18C | 170,000 | 221,000 | Defense (14) | Stability (10) | 700 | 60 Sidewinder | UGBM (10) (Mk. 83), LASM (14) (AGM-84 Harpoon), XMAA (14) (AIM-120 AMRAAM) |
| F-15C | 272,000 | 354,000 | Air-to-Air (16) | Air-to-Ground (6) | 800 | 68 Sidewinder | UGBM (12) (Mk. 83), XLAA (16) (AIM-120 AMRAAM) |
| MIG-29A | 259,000 | 337,000 | Speed (16) | Stability (7) | 750 | 64 AA-8 Aphid | UGBS (18)(FAB-250), RCL (72) (UV-16-57) |
| F-117A | 386,000 | 502,000 | Defense (17) | Air-to-Air (2) | 650 | 54 Sidewinder | UGBL (14) (Mk. 84), PGB (GBU-27 Paveway III)(14), CLB (14) (Mk. 20) |
| EF-2000 | 351,000 | 456,000 | Speed, Air-to-Air, Mobility (16) |
Air-to-Ground (7) | 800 | 56 Sidewinder | XLAA (16) (Meteor), UGBM (14) (Mk. 83) |
| R-MO1 | 370,000 | 481,000 | Defense (17) | Air-to-Ground (12) | 800 | 64 R550 Magic II | SOD (14), XMAA (18) (AIM-120 AMRAAM), LAGM (16) (Exocet) |
| F-15E | 505,000 | 657,000 | Air-to-Air, Defense (16) |
Stability (12) | 850 | 72 AIM-9M Sidewinder | UGBL (14) (Mk. 84), XMAA (10) (AIM-120 AMRAAM), CLB (14) (Mk. 20) |
| F-2A | 505,000 | 657,000 | Air-to-Ground, Mobility (17) |
Stability (9) | 800 | 68 AAM-3 | UGBM (16) (Mk. 83), LAGM (18) (ASM-2), RCL (80) (JLAU-3) |
| Su-35 | 589,000 | 766,000 | Mobility (19) | Air-to-Ground (7) | 850 | 72 AA-8 Aphid | XLAA (18) (AA-9 Amos), UGBM (16) (FAB-500) |
| F-22A | 643,000 | 836,000 | Air-to-Air (19) | Air-to-Ground (10) | 850 | 74 Sidewinder | XMAA (22) (AIM-120 AMRAAM), PGB (GBU-32 1000lb JDAM)(16) |
| Su-37 | 618,000 | 803,000 | Speed, Mobility (20) |
Air-to-Ground (8) | 850 | 78 AA-8 Aphid | QAAM (8) (AA-11 Archer), UGBL (16) (FAB-1000), LAGM (20) (AS-17 Krypton) |
| F-15 ACTIVE | 620,000 | 806,000 | Mobility (20) | Air-to-Ground (13) | 900 | 78 Sidewinder | XMAA (22) (AIM-120 AMRAAM), FAEB (8) (CBU-72/B) |
| S-37A | 889,000 | 1,560,000 | Air-to-Air (19) | Air-to-Ground (7) | 900 | 78 AA-8 Aphid | QAAM (10) (AA-11 Archer), UGBL (18) (FAB-1000) |
| X-02 Wyvern (Fictional) | 1,414,000 | 1,838,000 | Air-to-Air, Mobility (20) |
Defense (11) | 950 | 82 Sidewinder | XLAA (26), Bomblet Dispenser (24), QAAM (16) (AIM-9X) |
[edit] Non-Playable Aircraft
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[edit] List of characters
- Mobius 1 - Callsign of the player-controlled hero of the game. Achieves legendary status amongst both allies and enemies following his single-handed destruction of all the Stonehenge railguns. Shoots down Yellow 4 (during the Stonehenge Offensive) and Yellow 13 (during the Siege of Farbanti).
- Yellow 13 - Enemy ace pilot and leader of the Yellow Squadron. Known for never losing a wingman in combat and for always flying in the 5 plane formation. Flies an Su-37, along with the rest of the Yellow Squadron. Shoots down a plane that crashes into the storyteller boy's house.
- Yellow 4 - Wingman of Yellow 13. Trained by Yellow 13. She is the only Yellow Squadron casualty at the Stonehenge Offensive.
- Storyteller boy - He tells the story through a sequence of letters he is writing to Mobius 1 after the war is over. His family is killed at the beginning of the war after a plane shot down by Yellow 13 crashes into his home, and he moves into San Salvacion with his uncle. Eventually his uncle disappears (it is unknown why, believed to be because of a drunken comment), so he begins hanging around the Yellow Squadron at a bar in San Salvacion, and he befriends Yellow 13.
- Barkeep's daughter - Older than the storytelling boy, but still a young teenager, she watches over him and helps tend the bar. She also helps relay information about the Yellow Squadron to her father, who is a member of the resistance. She is revealed to be the one who bombed the air base of the Yellow Squadron late in the war.
- Barkeep - Owner of the bar where the Yellow Squadron hangs out. Although he takes a lot of flak from the townsfolk for being nice to the Yellow Squadron, he is really a member of the underground resistance and gathers information to help the ISAF.
- Jean-Louis - Leader of the Yellow Squadron after Yellow 13 dies. He can be killed at Megalith.
- Gene - Field promoted to the leader of the Yellow Squadron if Jean-Louis is killed in the battle at Megalith.
- Esther - Pilot in the Yellow Squadron during the siege on Megalith.
- Mihael - Pilot in the Yellow Squadron during the siege on Megalith.
- Risto - Pilot in the Yellow Squadron during the siege on Megalith. Only mentioned if shot down.
- Kenneth - Pilot in the Yellow Squadron during the siege on Megalith. Risto's death is reported to Kenneth.
- SkyEye - Field tactician and commanding officer of Mobius 1. Operates one or more stations of an AWACS. Calls missile shots and lock-ons for Mobius 1. His birthday is on the same day, September 19, that the missions "Sitting Duck" and "Siege of Farbanti" take place.
[edit] Series
This game is the fourth in the series of Ace Combat games, the first three being Air Combat, Ace Combat 2, and Ace Combat 3. The game is called Ace Combat 04 because the 04 in the title stands for the time period in which the game mostly takes place — the year 2004. The next title in the series, Ace Combat 5 returns to the old numbering scheme, as the game starts in the year 2010. Ace Combat Zero takes place 15 years before Ace Combat 5 in the Belkan War.
[edit] Superweapons
The two main superweapons are Stonehenge and Megalith. Stonehenge is a battery of railguns in a circular arrangement that have remarkable range of fire. The massive shockwave produced by firing them, used primarily to destroy asteroids, is also very capable of shooting down airplanes.
The next superweapon is Megalith. Housed on an island, probably hundreds of miles from the mainland, is primarily used as a ballistic missile launch platform to shoot down asteroid fragments in orbit. It has a remarkable ground range that can reach the entire Usea continent. To destroy Megalith, the player must fly inside three tunnels beneath the base to destroy three generators, then they must destroy the large missile contained within. After flying through the opening silo doors to escape, a cut scene will commence showing Megalith exploding after the player's narrow escape.
[edit] Trivia
- The Yellow squadrons plane paint scheme is based upon the three World War II Messerschmitt Bf-109G G-10 models. Each plane had yellow on the tip of the tail, nose, wings, with the rest grey. Each plane also had a big yellow '13' on the each side.
- Yellow's 13's aircraft is an unlockable paint scheme in Ace Combat 04, Ace Combat 5, Ace Combat Zero and Ace Combat X.
- The superweapon Stonehenge is named after the Stonehenge site in Britain.
- Stonehenge's massive railguns are arranged to resemble to the positions of the megaliths in the real Stonehenge in the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
- The superweapon Megalith is named after the stones that made the real Stonehenge, called megaliths.
- The First Officer's last name on the damaged civilian flight carrying the Stonehenge designers is 'Nagase', who strangely sounds like Kei Nagase from Ace Combat 5. They share the same last name and their voices sound similar. However, Nagase is a common name used by Namco, and it's unlikely they are the same person (Nagase was only 23 in AC5, which would mean she would have to be around 17 in AC04).
- Möbius is the name of a crater on the far side of the moon, fitting with the background of the game's plot, which centers around a war fought using weapons designed to protect against asteroid impacts.
[edit] External links
- Official Website
- Fan Site and Forum - Acecombatskies
- Fan Site - Shatteredskies
- The Electrosphere - the largest AC Database on the net
- AceCombat.net
| Ace Combat series | ||||||
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| Air Combat | 2 | 3 | 04 | 5 | Zero | X | Advance | 6 | ||||||
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| Other | ||||||
| Aircraft of Ace Combat | Characters of Ace Combat |
