Ace Combat 5 is the newest installment in the long standing Ace Combat series. The series began as a launch title for the original PlayStation, entitled Air Combat, and has been the most popular flight simulator series on console. Although Ace Combat 5 does not make many great strides to improve the series, it will not disappoint fans.

Like Ace Combat 4 there is a story driven narrative that follows the single player campaign. The story in Ace Combat 5 follows the character that you play as. At the beginning of the story you are in a time of peace, but after a short skirmish against a few fighters, two neighboring countries are thrown into war. Throughout the campaign you will move up in rank and have control over more pilots and their fighters. You will also begin to learn more of the politics behind the war you are fighting. Unlike the story in Ace Combat 04, the storyline here is intertwined with the missions. On one mission your air base is under attack and being bombarded. Since all pilots are scrambling to their fighters you will have to wait while other fighters take off before you can.

Missions throughout the game vary greatly. Some missions will be simple air to air missions. Other missions will include jamming aircraft that will hide your targets. Some air missions even require you to weave a line between radar coverage areas and lead a friendly plane to safety. Air to surface missions may include land and sea battles against a variety of targets such as ships, tanks, and personnel carriers. Most of the missions in the game include mixes of air and land targets. An example of this would include a C130 deploying tanks by parachute, requiring you to fend off their escorts while providing close air support to friendly ground troops. The variety of missions keep the game fresh from beginning to end.

Upon beginning the game, you will be assigned a certain fighter plane. Throughout the missions you will acquire credits and unlock planes that can be purchased. Over fifty licensed planes are available to unlock, which includes many different load outs of special weapons. Special weapons such as advanced air to air missiles for taking down out of range fighters or cluster bombs for multiple ground targets are used periodically to add a layer of strategy to the game.

The one aspect of Ace Combat 5 that surpasses its predecessor on PlayStation 2 is the graphics. The fighter planes are all modeled photo realistically, and details such as missile contrails, jet exhaust, and auto cannon tracers add much to the visual experience. The skies and clouds have received a small makeover from the previous game and sun flares are as beautiful and blinding as ever. You will notice this the first time an enemy fighter uses the sun to escape from your sight. Lighting effects on your plane are also done in real-time based on the position of the sun. Since some of the missions are on the ocean, much attention has been paid to how the water looks. Light reflects off the ocean and other bodies of water as well. The graphics have made a substantial jump from the previous installment and are yet again impressive.

Another of the characteristics of the Ace Combat series that sets it apart from other flight games is the controls. Although you can choose a more simplistic control scheme, the default settings are the closest to how a plane is really piloted than any other console game. With the default controls, pushing to the left or right will only make your plane roll. To turn you will need to use this in combination with your pitch controls. Lateral motion is possible with the yaw controls, but with the left and right shoulder buttons it is severely limited and used mostly for small corrections, in mid-air refueling, and to zero in for auto-cannon kills.

The map button doubles as your radar button and uses analog sensitivity to show more of the area the harder you press. This time around you can also issue commands to your wingmen using the directional pad. The controls, while many, are very well laid out and conveniently placed giving you great control over your aircraft.

The only issue that keeps this game from greatness is the lack of multiplayer gameplay. Ace Combat 4 continued with the series staple of split-screen two-player versus play. Ace Combat 5 should have stepped into the present of video games and used the technology available to the PlayStation 2 to have included online play. Instead of providing online play against human opponents, even the two-player versus mode has been removed leaving only a single-player game. However, Namco has included an arcade mode with wave after wave of planes that will add to the many hours of replayability for those who have finished the single player campaign.

Ace Combat 5 is a worthy successor to the Ace Combat series in almost every respect. Fans of the series will love this game and many more may yet fall to its charm. The game's one major flaw is its lack of multiplayer options. However, if you are a flight game fan, and are looking for a new game on PlayStation 2 that you can enjoy, you need look no further. After all, the quote underneath the Ace Combat Project logo is correct in saying, "Nothing else comes close."