MetalCaveman

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown This is an interesting one, there's some stuff where it falls short, the story feels disjointed at times and it feels like a step back from 6 when it comes to some gameplay elements. At the same time, knowing the development hell it went through, I'm willing to be a bit more lenient with some of these issues. I did like the story, issues and all, the 444th Base and Spare Squadron are interesting concepts, specially with all other games having your character going from zero to hero, or just outright hero to legend. The themes of AI and drone use in warfare are pretty timely. Enemy Ace has the most ridiculous name ever though, Abyssal Dision seems like a perfectly normal name next to this one: Mihaly A. Shilage, full name: Mihaly Dumitru Margareta Corneliu Leopold Blanca Karol Aeon Ignatius Raphael Maria Niketas A. Shilage. In terms of gameplay, while it does make sense for part of the story, I still miss Allied Support, even basic wingman commands are gone from this game, doubly annoying since allies are seriously nerfed, I watched a bunch of them actually land hits on enemy targets but still do no damage, add to that the amount of times you have to fight against several UAVs and it becomes the biggest issue in the game for me, thankfully, Ace Combat 8 seems to have fixed this. The tunnel run was one of the hardest of all the games for me, had to retry several times, both Died more to that than to enemies lol. Aircraft tree was interesting, I do prefer the older system though, mostly since you could sell unwanted/unused aircraft or special weapons when you unlocked one you actually wanted, this system involves a lot more grinding imo. Overall, I liked it, it has some issues, it's rough around the edges, but it's still decidedly an Ace Combat game, and that's all I could ask for. Grade: A With this, I've now completed all the main AC games, there's still some time left before 8 though, specially since I have to wait for my physical copy to arrive, so maybe I'll try some of the other games in the series, I think Infinity is playable now, though it takes a bit of work to get it going, maybe the PSP games will be a better choice, then again, Neverness is getting a new patch soon, with new story chapters and a new area so maybe that one will consume my time until 8 is here.

Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation This is it! Where it all started for me. Story is cool, all the different characters are interesting and how it goes from despair to hope to victory is neat, sure it's not as good as Zero or 3, but it holds up. Maps are bigger and have more enemies too, some missions are split into different operations, completing a certain amount of these completes the mission. In terms of gameplay, this one has a new mechanic called Allied Support, completing operations allows you to call allies to help either attack enemies or defend you from pursuing aircraft. This is seriously OP and really fun to use against the enemy ace squadron, bunch of them show up, hold up on d-pad, all of them are gone now. Might be because I've been playing through the other games in the series but I remember the last battle being way harder, specially both tunnel runs, this time around both felt super easy. Overall, it holds up well, still as good as I remember. Grade: A+

Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War *flamenco music intensifies* Absolute Cinema! Arthurian references, flamenco, lasers, one of the best player titles in the entire series, this game has everything! This is also the game that holds your character in the most legendary status lol, 5 had the Demon/Ghosts of Razgriz thing, and previous games have you eventually become a legend among both allies and enemies, this one takes things to the next level. Which makes sense as the story takes place after the war, still, right from the start, your character is referred to as "Demon" and eventually you get the title of "Demon Lord of the Roundtable". \m/ \m/ The story is told via this documentary being made on the Belkan war and the actions of your character, Galm 1 Cipher. Cutscenes are live action, interview style, with characters talking about their experiences going against Cipher. Along with 3, this is at the top of Ace Combat stories for me. Gameplay has some changes, you can't choose wingman aircraft, but you can change their special weapon, the conversation system from 5 is gone, but wingman commands remain. The biggest change is the introduction of the Ace Style system. "Did you know, there are three kinds of aces?" Depending on how you play, you'll move the Ace Style gauge between the three different styles, you start as Soldier, if you focus only on mission targets, ignore certain targets and spare enemies when they can't fight anymore you'll move to the Knight style, destroying everything including some neutral targets and incapacitated enemies will move you to mercenary style, mixing strategies keeps you in Soldier. This affects which enemy squads you face against and in turn, changes the story, who shows up in the interviews and what they have to say about you depends on your Ace Style. Credits song is also one of the best in any game, ever! Grade: S

Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War "When history witnesses a great change, Razgriz reveals itself..." EXCELLENT \m/ \m/ The longest of the AC games I've played so far, sure 3 has more missions but since they're all pretty short and spread out across the different paths/endings, this one is technically the longer one. Some changes from 4 in terms of gameplay and progression. You can no longer buy special weapons, whatever comes with the aircraft is all you get, however, some planes have a kill count bar, the more you use them and the more enemies you shoot down with it the more it fills, once full, you unlock a variant of that aircraft with different weapons and stats. Also, you're now in charge of your squad, that means having to buy multiple of the same aircraft, or different ones, either way, you'll want enough for each member of your squad. There's also squad commands, you can tell them to attack, cover you, disperse or use their special weapon. A simple "conversation" system is also here, sometimes characters will say something or ask basic questions and you can reply with a yes/no. It's pretty basic, but still neat. Some of these will result in your squad changing orders, sometimes they'll go all "the enemy is spread out throughout the operation area, should we split to deal with them?" and you can tell them whether to spread out or not. The story is cool, this time told through CG cutscenes following your squad. As you progress, you get different quotes from a poem from Strangereal, telling the legend of Razgriz, a fictional entity that appears as a demon that brings destruction, dies, then returns as a hero. The poem bits change to reflect the status of your squad as the story advances. The whole Razgriz thing, the legend, poem and how eventually your own squad uses it as its name is imo, the perfect combination of cheese, badass and fun. While I liked it a lot, there were a couple of missions that were a bit annoying, one involves a recon mission where you have no weapons and have to avoid a ridiculous amount of radars, you might as well just lower the landing gear and drive the plane around given how low you have to fly to avoid detection lol. Another one took me a bunch of tries until I ignored all enemy drones and focused on the boss ship. It was not a big deal, but there are also times where you'll be restricted to specific planes, and also some missions will immediately move to the next one, which can be a bit annoying if you've prepared an anti-ground loadout only to find the next mission involves some serious anti-air combat. Overall, it's a pretty fun entry in the series, story is among my favorites, definitively would like to come back to it in the future, now though, it's time for Ace Combat Zero! Grade: A+

StarCraft Ghost Pt. 2

STARCRAFT!! \m/ \m/ 2030!!!

Live action prequel to Ace Combat 8. \m/ \m/

Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies We've made the jump to PS2! A bunch of changes and improvements, better graphics, special weapons, the ability to buy new aircraft and weapons, lots of cool stuff. Story presentation also changes, the story here is mainly told through the narration of this boy who loses his home and family after an enemy ace, Yellow 13 shoots down a jet that crashes into his house. Pretty different from the previous 3 games, also, your character doesn't really appear in the main story, except for some mentions later on. The other part of the story is similar through previous games, mission briefings and result screens tell you how the war is progressing, were your forces are, losses, wins, etc. Fun thing about the story too, this is the first game that presents you as this super pilot, Ace of Aces, living legend, etc. 1 and 2 had you as the leader of Scarface squadron, and while your team was famous, this wasn't as big of a deal during the actual game, 3 had some pilots knowledge your skills (pretty funny considering the true ending lol), this one though, is a whole new level. During missions allies will go all "it's Mobius 1! We're saved!", "Mobius 1 is here! Victory is ours!" while your enemies are all "That's the ribbon fighter! The grim reaper!" It's over the top, it's cheesy, I love it. Last mission took me several tries, even if they're pretty short, four tunnel runs in one mission is too much lol. 6 was my first AC, and this one is much closer to it than the previous 3 games, so it was a cool experience. Grade: A+

Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere (JP) Counting this as a separate game from the US version because they're completely different. This one has a ton of cutscenes (by Production I.G. no less), several characters, multiple endings, a hidden true ending unlocked when you get all the other endings, it's easily one of my favorites in the series. Really liked the UPEO and Cynthia endings, both are fairly bittersweet but still end in a higher note than some of the other paths, then the true ending played out. I would love to see a remake of this one, or at least a proper release of this version in English, the series is more popular than back then so maybe there's a chance. My only issue, as with the US version, is the Electrosphere mission lol, cool concept, but a visual nightmare. Grade: S

Couple of days after my birthday lol. Looks really fun, love the tone of the trailer, and it's not a gacha, so it also has that going for it. "We do this together, or we die together, yeah?" "To the end" \m/ \m/ Witcher 3 remastered, free upgrade, also, Songs of the Past expansion coming next year. Not what I expected from Hoyoverse lol, Monster Hunter with a touch of Elden Ring, looks cool! Looks great! I can't wait!

Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere (US) Felt like a step backwards in some respects, no more voiced briefings, mission end messages were super short and dry, bare bones story, the titular Electrosphere mission hurt my eyes, not a lot of positives lol. I did like the more sci-fi look of the planes though, that was neat. I had more to say, but then I got the JP version running with a translation patch... That one's a whole new game! So for this one, I'll just leave it with: Grade: C Palworld 1.0 1.0 Adds a ton of stuff, new areas, new pals, story stuff, more technology, etc. Many of the new pals made it to my list of favorites, including a main story one that is really cool, though kinda useless when assigned to a base lol. The end game grind was pretty bad but the devs released an update that improved things, increasing drop rates for some stuff as well as changing crafting requirements for some tech. I really liked this game before, like it even more now, my biggest issue, outside of some minor bugs and glitches, is the expedition station, that thing is huge, ugly and doesn't fit anywhere, wish there was an ancient tech version of it or something. Grade: A+

Ghost Recon Wildlands: Last Rites I guess Breakpoint didn't do too well? Otherwise it's kind of odd that Wildlands gets the anniversary update along with a new mission that seems to set up the next entry in the series. It was a fun mission, somewhat short but pretty cool, during the day it felt like good old Wildlands, at night though, with the music and the whole cultist atmosphere, it felt almost like a horror game. Didn't know how to feel about the new CIA lady but the end improved my opinion. The rest of the story was interesting, if a bit short, the documents you find mostly set up the next game (or at least that's what it feels like) talking about a new criminal organization, the CIA investigating them, and requests to deploy the Ghosts there. Really like the Ghost Lead outfit you get for completing this mission, hoping that's the style they're going for. The biggest thing though, is that this came with an update that added improved graphics on current consoles, and a ton of difficulty settings, you can now change a bunch of stuff like enemy health, damage, alertness, and even stuff like Unidad max alert level. Best part though, is that now you can disable SAM sites! Grade: A