Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere

About Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere

Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere (1999) is Namco's futuristic, story-driven combat flight game, whose branching two-disc Japanese campaign was cut down heavily for its Western release.

Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere in Depth

Like earlier Ace Combat games it is arcade-like next to other flight sims, but it puts more realism into energy management: tight turns and steep climbs bleed airspeed and cause stalls that are hard to recover from. Players fly 23 aircraft, and the setting moves from the modern day to a science-fiction future, with one mission flown in a spacecraft above Earth. In the Japanese release players can fight for four factions across 52 missions, with a branching story; the international release has only 36 missions, all on the UPEO side. Missions range from destroying enemy squadrons to defending bases, graded from A to D and charted on the title screen.

Instant replays show each mission's final moments, as in Ace Combat 2, and the camera can rotate fully around the player's plane. Between missions, an automatic search engine records information on organisations, places, characters and technology, and fully voiced, animated video messages arrive in a fictional email inbox. The Japanese version also has radio chatter from both the player's faction and opposing ones, with character portraits, while the international version keeps only friendly chatter. Famitsu praised its "overwhelming" graphics and deeper story, and Edge felt its branching storyline made it more involving than its predecessors.

Making Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere

Development began in 1998 after the success of Air Combat and Ace Combat 2, with directors Takuya Iwasaki and Atsushi Shiozawa and producer Takashi Fukawa leading a team mostly from Ace Combat 2. They wanted it far more ambitious in content and presentation, making the story a mechanic that changed with the player's progress and decisions, and set out to make it visually distinct from other flight sims. The Japanese release was well received as ambitious, but the international versions drew confusion and disappointment over the missing missions and story and bland play. The Japanese version has since been re-evaluated, with critics praising its ambition, overarching story and additions to the series formula.