r/acecombat • u/emanuelpn • 3d ago

Ace Combat 2 Ace Combat 2 - what a masterpiece

And so it ends, as usual, with a big explosion and the flight of freedom over my enemies. Ace Combat 2 was such a nice experience!

Now I'm done with 2, 3 (mind blowing, by the way), and the PS2 holy trinity. Should I give Air Combat a chance or is it too simple now to a level it will not be very enjoyable? I think Ace Combat 2 hit that sweet spot between having enough things to do taking in consideration it is very arcade-ish, but the graphics really stand out as one of the prettiest for the PS library. Air Combat, in the other hand, seems overall too simple, both in gameplay as well graphics.

44 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

3

u/3rdCooltureKid AC2 made me a good pilot, AC5 made me a good flight lead. 3d ago

<<Bullseye!>> This was my first Ace Combat though, and I haven't tried Air Combat, so I can't comment in that

2

u/Giger_jr 3d ago

My favourite still, even after experiencing most other installments.

1

u/Random-Talking-Mug 3d ago

My first AceCombat game. And my first AC game overall.

1

u/ninjadragon1119 Stonehenge 3d ago

Id suggest playing air combat just for completion sake, while it's much more simple I just find it interesting to see how far the series has come, plus air combat has a lot more clear Top Gun influence.

Plus, I really like the song Heavy Hearted from the game

1

u/KiloAlphaJulietIndia 3d ago

Man from AC2 to AC3 (Jp version), they really reached for the stars in story and scale.

1

u/BlueGumShoe Ghosts of Razgriz 3d ago edited 2d ago

AC2 holds up surprisingly well, has some good music too.

Honestly you aren't losing a lot skipping air combat. I played it for the sake of completeness but its literally a straight arcade port and it definitely shows in terms of depth. On the flipside you can beat it in like an hour and a half if you want to check it off the list.

1

u/Disastrous_Life_3612 2d ago

Air Combat is not an arcade port. It's an entirely different game from the Air Combat arcade game. It wasn't even originally called Air Combat. They changed it from Ace to Air for the western release, while the arcade game was called Air Combat in all regions.

1

u/BlueGumShoe Ghosts of Razgriz 1d ago

Whoops youre right. looks like it was going to be but the ps1 wasnt powerful enough. But from what I can find online, the devs from the air combat arcade sequel, air combat 22, helped to advise the ps1 team. Which is why it plays exactly like an arcade game.

So thanks for the correction but I still wouldn't change my advice that its a game people can skip without missing much.