Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
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Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere (エースコンバット３ エレクトロスフィア, Ēsu[Ace] Conbatto[Combat] Surī[Three] Erekutorosufia[Electrosphere]) is the third installment in the Ace Combat series of games. A major departure from every other game in the series, it featured a futuristic storyline involving a war between a group of multinational corporations. The flagship Aircraft of the game is currently the Su-37 Super Flanker.
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[edit] Plot
The plot, taking place in the future (2043-2045), revolves around a war between a group of corporations fighting over territorial disputes, and eventually a prototype fighter known as the X-49 Night Raven. During a period of financial chaos, the many governments of the world have eroded to nothing but corporatocracies. These corporations, not unlike the governments they control, have disputes often, and eventually a war is sparked.
[edit] Factions
The main factions are General Resources Limited, Neucom Inc.(In Ace Combat 3 US Version is Neuworks), UPEO and Ouroboros. They are multinational corporations who grow into rivalry against eachother, and, eventually, a war is started between the corporations.
[edit] Gameplay
AC3 was the first game in the series to feature a third-person 360-degree camera that could be rotated on all three axis with the right thumbstick; allowing the player to keep enemies in constant sight. A welcome feature, this was carried over to later games. It was also the first game to allow the player to choose their aircraft's armament.
It is the only game in the series so far to feature a mission in outer space. Although there is only one, it featured a reasonably accurate physics model of a zero-gravity situation. The game was also a departure in other ways; the style is reminiscent of the Wipeout series of games, especially the Head-Up Display (though some found it was too bulky and interfered with the player's view). The company logos of Neucom, Ouroboros, General Resource and the UPEO bear resemblance to the works of The Designers Republic. The soundtrack consists of a variety of electronic music, largely ambient mood setting tunes (as opposed to the rock music found in Ace Combat 2), composed by much of the same team responsible for the critically-acclaimed Ridge Racer soundtracks.
[edit] Development History
Released in 1999, the Japanese version is extremely story-driven, featuring anime cutscenes, detailed characters, and 52 missions, with multiple paths through the game and 5 possible endings. The Japanese version introduced some elements carried over to Ace Combat 04, including radio chatter between comrades and enemies, and intelligent wingmen. The American and European versions, released a year later, have been extremely criticized for removing almost all of the story elements, including all of the cutscenes, and cutting the game down to 36 missions. The anime cutscenes and the fictional aircraft also alienated Japanese fans of the series, who were expecting something closer to the arcade style of Ace Combat 2. However, sales in Japan were still strong (though less copies were sold than that of AC2), but the cutting down of the storyline led to a lack of success in other markets.
[edit] Trivia
- Neucom planes are largely named after the scientific names of various sea creatures, such as the phoca, delphinus, and remora.
- The F/A-32C Erne is based on the real world Boeing X-32 Joint Strike Fighter, but the Erne has a slanted air intake and has two engines, while the X-32 has only one.
- All of the planes in the game (with the exception of one tanker) have an operation system called the COFFIN (Connection For Flight Interface) system. This system allows aircraft to be piloted by your own thoughts, thus giving better reaction time and fighting capabilty. However, as the name suggests, this system is quite unstable and dangerous since it requires complete concentration of pilot. There is a risk that pilots might be psychologically damaged during operation, therefore only a handful of pilots are allowed to use it, namely Rena and Cynthia.
- Many aircrafts in this universe is derived from otherwise prototype-only aircraft, such as the YF-12 and F-16 AFTI.
- This is the only game besides Ace Combat 2 that features the Su-37/Su-35 on the front cover.
- The majority of the songs were done by Tetsukazu Nakanishi, who also did the majority of the songs and sound effects on Ace Combat 04 as well as being the sound director on that game and its two PS2 sequels, Ace Combat 5 and Ace Combat Zero.
[edit] References in other Games
As a side note, Ridge Racer 6 contains an extremely large amount of references to Ace Combat 3, including cars sponsored by Neucom and General Resource, the UPEO logo plastered on quite a few cars along with the Data Swallow logo, and a small Electrosphere sponsor logo on various cars. Ridge Racer V also features billboards with the General Resource and Data Swallow logos on them. This shows that Namco has definitely not forgotten about the Ace Combat 3 universe, and may plan to revisit it. Also, General Resource LTD. is featured in Ace Combat Advance as the enemy with their own squadron, the A.S.F. (Air Strike Force). There are also many other Ace Combat 3 references in the game.
[edit] Possible Remake
- The following is taken from an interview between GameDaily.com and Naoto Maeda from Namco Bandai:
- "Are you considering re-releasing Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere, but this time with all of the missions, movies, and dialogue intact and translated? Do you think the Ace Combat series has gained enough respect and popularity for you to finally do this?"
- "As far as a re-make of Ace Combat 3 is concerned, we have no plans to do this at this time. The development team is aware that there are a lot of fans out there that really loved Ace Combat 3. If enough voices calling for a re-make were gathered and various issues could be resolved, then I think it might be worth it."
[edit] Translation Project
Project Nemo was initiated in 2009 to fully translate the Japanese version of the game. More information can be found on the project website.
