Ace Combat 3 - Electrosphere (E) ISO
[SCES-02066]
Description :
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere (エースコンバット3: エレクトロスフィア Ēsu Konbatto Surī: Erekutorosufia) is the third installment in the Ace Combat series and chronologically the latest one to be set in Strangereal. In 2011, Namco Bandai retconned Ace Combat 3 as the chronologically first installment in the United Galaxy Space Force series.
Gameplay :
Ace Combat 3 was revolutionary for the series in many ways. Gameplay elements introduced in it that carried over into later games include:
- A third-person 360-degree camera that could be rotated on all
three axis with the right thumb-stick, allowing the player to keep
enemies in constant sight
- Allowing the player to choose their aircraft's weapons before each mission
- Alternative paint jobs for playable aircraft, though they were not freely selectable yet
- Use of animated cutscenes and radio chatter between allies and enemies as a narrative medium
- Story-relevant wingmen (although these weren't controllable anymore, a feature that would first be reinvented as the Wingman Command system in Ace Combat 5)
- Storyline branching depending on the player's actions during missions
Electrosphere is thus far the only
Ace Combat game featuring multiple endings. Since no other game in the series is chronologically set after it, it is unknown which ending (if any) is canonical. Before
Ace Combat X, it also remained the only game to feature major storyline branching (though
X has only one ending); minor branching was present, for instance, in
Ace Combat 5 and
Zero.
It is also the only game in the series so far to feature a mission (2A, "Zero Gravity")
set in the outer space. Although there is only one, it featured a
reasonably accurate physics model of a zero-gravity situation.
Characters :
- Nemo
is the silent player character of the game. Originally a member of
UPEO, he can desert to General Limited, Neucom, or Ouroboros (or remain
with UPEO), depending on the player's choices. Although the player is
free to choose any plane for Nemo, canonically, he seems to fly a Su-37 Super Flanker (as depicted on the game's cover).
- Rena Hirose (CV: Yuri Shiratori) is one of Nemo's fellow ace pilots of UPEO and the one chosen to pilot the General Resource's super-fighter X-49 Night Raven. Rena is suffering from the Silverstone Disease, making direct sunlight lethal to her. Prior to her deployment with the Night Raven, she flies a custom-made Su-37 Super Flanker-R.
- Erich Jager (CV: Sōichirō Hoshi) is another ace pilot of UPEO. He flies an EF-2000E Typhoon II.
- Fiona Chris Fitzgerald (CV: Kumiko Watanabe) is yet another pilot of UPEO and the younger sister of Neucom ace Cynthia Fitzgerald. Like Erich, she flies an EF-2000E Typhoon II.
- Gilbert Park (CV: Mugihito) is the commander of the UPEO forces.
- Gabriel William Clarkson (CV: Hiroshi Ito) is the official representative of UPEO.
- Cynthia Bridgitte Fitzgerald (CV: Maria Kawamura) is the only ace pilot of Neucom and Fiona Fitzgerald's older sister. She flies an R-102 Delphinus II, which she later replaces with a newer R-103 Delphinus III.
- Simon Orestes Cohen (CV: Ryūsei Nakao) is a prominent member of Neucom's military Research and Development.
- Abyssal Dision (CV: Masashi Ebara) is the top ace of General Resource air force and the main antagonist of the game. He flies a customized F-15S/MT Eagle+, an F-22C Raptor II, and, late in the game, the UI-4054 Aurora.
- Keith Bryan (CV: Daiki Nakamura) is Dision's wingman and a fellow ace of GR. He flies an F/A-32C Erne and, later in the game, an XFA-36A Game.
- Yoko Martha Inoue (CV: Sakiko Tamagawa) was a neuroscientist who researched sublimation for the GR's Darkness of Enigma
project. She was killed by a bomb planted in her laboratory several
years before the Corporate War, so she only makes posthumous flashback
appearances in the game. Before her death, she and Dision were lovers.
Aircraft :
Unlike the previous and later games in the series, which featured mostly existing or prototype aircraft (except Ace Combat Advance), Ace Combat 3
features exclusively original fictional planes. In the uncut version of
the game, there are 23 playable planes (one exclusive to the Mission
Simulator mode), though only a portion of them is available at any time,
since Nemo is limited to aircraft operated by the faction he is
currently allied with (UPEO, GR, Neucom, or Ouroboros); this restriction
is lifted in the Mission Simulator mode. The export version features 21
aircraft, although three of them (the superfighters UI-4054 Aurora, X-49 Night Raven, and XR-900 Geopelia) can only be flown in Mission Simulator.
In both versions, new aircraft have to be unlocked by completing
certain campaign missions. Unlike in the other installments, the player
can fly any unlocked plane immediately, without having to buy it first.
In the uncut version, two planes, EF-2000E Typhoon II and MiG-33 Fulcrum SS, are available from the start, though only the former is this in the export version. Aircraft produced by General Resource are mostly based on contemporary real-life fighters (e.g. F-22C Raptor II, an evolution of F-22A Raptor); Neucom manufactures the fantastic R-series, which are named after marine animal genii (e.g. Delphinus) or birds (Geopelia); and UPEO planes are similar to GR but more diversified, with some simpler Neucom and high-end Sukhoi
fighters thrown in. Overall, UPEO aircraft emphasizes maneuverability,
NEU relies on speed and high-tech weaponry, and GR strikes a balance,
with moderate to high scores in all aspects. Ouroboros offers the best
planes of the other three factions plus two superfighters.
Before each mission, the player selects a plane from the
currently available selection for Nemo to pilot, and then the weapons it
will carry. Electrosphere was the first game in the series to feature alternative munitions,
as previous games only had machine guns and all-purpose missiles;
unlike later games, however, it allows only one type of missiles to be
loaded on a plane, but also offers several types of guns (Vulcan,
Cannon, Laser Cannon, etc.). Which types of guns and missiles can be
loaded on a plane depends on its model, and all types become available
as soon as the respective plane is unlocked. The player has no control
over their wingmen's aircraft and armaments.
Electrosphere was the first game in the series to feature
alternative paint jobs for the player's aircraft. However, unlike in the
following games, the player could not select them freely but, at least
in the uncut version, was restricted to the preferred colors of the
faction Nemo is currently allied with (UPEO, GR, Neucom, or Ouroboros).
The flagship aircraft of the game is the Su-37 Super Flanker. It is one of three Ace Combat games to feature a Sukhoi fighter on the cover (the others being Ace Combat 2 and Ace Combat: Assault Horizon).
A member of simviation.com nicknamed "youdontknowxpand" has created Microsoft Flight Simulator X plane models of several of the fighters that appeared in Electrosphere, including F-15 S/MT Eagle+, F-16XF and XFU, F-22C Raptor II, MiG-33 Fulcrum SS, Su-43 Berkut, XFA-36A Game, R-101/101U Delphinus I, R-102/102-C Delphinus II, R-103/103-3 Delphinus III, R-311 Remora, X-49 Night Raven, XR-900 Geopelia, and UI-4054 Aurora. All planes are accurately reproduced with base on official AC3 stats and information. Support were also given by Electrosphere 2.0.
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