User reviews

I admit I played the English version which was notorious for removing the core story elements that made the Japanese version so great. But I still loved it! This game made the most of the PlayStation 1 hardware to deliver a highly immersive dogfight experience. The cities looked fully realistic (at the time), the planes were gorgeous and the fights were extremely dynamic. The whole thing was an immersive experience that gave me chills, aided by the futuristic soundtrack. It may not have the fully branching storyline of the original Japanese game, but it was still an amazing world that remains in my mind to this day.

If you've played the second game in the series and want to add 3 to your collection, I strongly advise you to import the Japanese version. Simply put, the Japanese version is a 2 disk game featuring stunning animation and a well-thought out gripping plot. The US version? Forget it as it is for all intents and purposes a watered down empty shell of it's much superior counterpart. And any fan of the series will agree. You owe it to yourself to buy the Japanese version than the US version because it's an otherwise better product. The Ace Combat series are known for their strong gripping story lines and characters that you actually care about. You can tell a lot of labor and love when into this game; especially for those who had the pleasure of playing the import version.

I urge all Ace Combat fans to demand that Namco re-release this game in the future either in download able form or a remake. I think this can be achieved as there are many fans out there who still loves this series.

okay first things first if uve never played any of the ace combat series then you should probably play these old ones first because there is a serious difference in the quality of the games when it transits to the playstation 2. I've played the newer games first so you'll have to understand if i bitch a bit lol but the planes in ace combat 4 and later handle sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better it really does ruin the whole thing if your playing the earlier ones last. also you feel really lonely when your flying around because you have nobody to order around and there isn't any radio chatter in the background.in terms of graphics its pretty obviously inferior to the ps2 versions but they're still pretty solid and the story isn't as involving as the later ones. basically if you've only played the newer ace combats then don't bother to play these if you already haven't because itll only make you get bored or hate it but if you haven't played any yet then you should play these because if you like this your gonna love the new ones.