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Reviews (3)
May 05, 2010
Aptly named title scores ZERO
Ace Combat Zero picks off after Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War for the Playstation 2.
If you played Ace Combat 5 obsessively, unlocked all the planes, unlocked the Special Paint schemes, replayed the missions, adored the storyline, and loved the characters THEN be prepared to be completely disappointed in Ace Combat Zero.
In contrast, ACZ is a simmered down version of AC5.
Let's start with the bad news: the planes have no air effects around them so you feel like you are piloting them in an airless environment. If you point the plane in a certain direction, it will stay that way instead of realisticly veering side to side like a real plane does and did in Ace Combat 5. This makes the flying seem flat.
Pixy is your sole Wingman for all the missions. While his character seems very friendly to be flying with, he is no Captain Davenport "Chopper" from AC5. Pixy seems like a wingman who only says what he wants to just to make you feel better. No matter how hard the producers of ACZ tried, you are never going to like Pixy as you liked/loved Edge, Chopper, Bartlett, and Archer from AC5.
The aircraft unlocking system is more random since there is fewer selection of planes and less variants, you unlock the planes of the enemy Aces you shoot down during the missions though you can only buy them after you have enough credits.
The missions are not challenging AT ALL. Playing on the Hard level, Ace Combat veteran players will find it way too easy. This is highlighted by the fact that many ground targets go down in just one missile shot! It's simply way too easy and makes the missions a joke.
The mercenary system is silly at best! There are different types of targets you can choose to kill or not kill to earn the rank of Mercenary, Soldier, Knight. Any hardcore player is going to kill all the targets! So the Soldier and Knight rank becomes useless unless you want to replay the missions and leave the targets standing which is just plain stupid.
So what is good about ACZ? Well, the menus have been revamped so you won't get lost in them as you did in AC5. The colors and background music choices are excellent. Thr storyline is quiet the same emotional war-story we all expect from the Ace Combat games though not at all as engaging and gripping as it was in AC5.
The aircraft selection screen is better with a circle graph that shows the stengths and weekeness of the machines. The best news here is the feature from Ace Combat 4 that was taken out in AC5: custom secondary weapons! Wooo hooo!! It was a major complaint in AC5 (thought it had more aircraft variants to make up for it). Now it's back...you can buy secondary weapons for each aircraft and choose which one you are going to use in battle!
The airplane models look the same but they seem to have better textures making them look more realistic. Enemy Aces are more lethal than ever before and are introduced in the missions with much fanfare in their customized enemy squadrons. An Assault gallery in the menu allows you to see all the enemy Aces you shot down while the Medals gallery shows all the medals you have picked up.
The introductions to each mission is better executed too.
So in a nutshell, if you LOVED Ace Combat 5 to death, you can save your money by not buying ACZ. The main problem is flat flight physics with no realism.
But if you are a Ace Combat fan that never misses any title, you can pick this up and play. Who knows? Maybe you will end up liking it. 3/5
May 19, 2020
Ultimate informative graphical guide to good exercises!
Great book for easy to do at-home workouts!
Each double-page describes a different excercise variation with a picture of a person. The targeted muscle groups being engaged are shown very well, named and described.
Instructions and rep recommendations are listed. Good thing is, it also tells you what are the risk areas when doing the exerccies such as for example, your wrists or ankles - this is great infromation for you to be careful when doing them.
The whole book is divided into sections such as "full body" or just "back" or "legs" etc. There is a circuit training for different levels at the back of the book as well a picture index of all the exercises with the page numbers listed.
Remember to stretch well before and after any exercie. Personal recommendation: complement your training by putting in some miles via walking or jogging or running every day.
Highly recommend this book. There are other books in this series too I may pick up.
Dec 07, 2008
Real War: RS builds IMPRESSIVELY on previous failure!
For those wanting to play a slick RTS game with real military units (no sci-fi), then it was a welcome breather when Real War: Air, Land, Sea was released. But ALAS! The game was VERY poorly executed and had so many glitches and flaws that it was a nightmare to play...only hardcore fans of the game like me struggled on.
But the need to put up with such a poorly executed game, despite it's amazing basic concept, was addressed efficiently and effectively in Real War: Rogue States. Real War: Rogue States builds on the previous Real War title and erases most glitches and flaws giving you a much more playable and enjoyable game.
Gameplay is very solid and the graphics, handling, look and feel of the game give out a very solid platform.
Graphics:
Grpahics are MUCH better than they were in the previous game. The Hind gunship unit looks much more realistic. All units are redone and look more solid and realistic instead of like toys. Maps feature brightly lit areas and detailed civilian structures. Buildings are more detailed and have small animations to add extra detail.
Gameplay:
One of the most ridiculous flaws of the first game was the very poor unit pathfinding. This was especially present when trying to load tanks into landing craft to assault an enemy island. But now the entire code has been rewritten in RW:RS...landing craft no longer back off and run around when tanks are ordered to be loaded! Great work there!
Aircraft and helicopter missiles and rockets have MUCH BETTER tracking and this improves the damage system. I love when my Hind gunships take out incoming enemy armor FLAWLESSLY without missing their rockets and flying around. The pathfinding is awesome!
Gameplay adjustments:
One of the most nightmarish flaw with the previous game involved the artillery unit. Artillery is a long range unit but it had the range of tanks! This severely limited using your realistic military units effectively but now it is fixed! You no longer have to send in tanks and artillery together...now artillery units can fire from their long range AS THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO while your tanks move in for the close kills! Again, a great improvement.
YOU CAN NOW BUILD BASE DEFENSES! Air to ground batteries, guns, railguns, rocket barrages!
Missions:
Missions feature the same USA vs the renamed ILA; they feature very nicely done animated CGI intros that probabably was very expensive to make...well, it is great!
Music:
Music is BANGING! Great music and good beats of many differnt tunes spice up the gameplay! You no longer have the same tracks playing over and over.
Skirmish:
One of the best improvements! There are new maps, new modes of skirmish play and new camoflague skins (also preview of skins).
Negatives (now for the bad part!)
The HUD is now improved; whenever you select an unit, a small rotating 3D model of the unit appears. It is not necessary but adds that extra touch! But unfortunately, the HUD unit logos are still small and hard to see and a bit hard to use! I only wished they improved this as it is difficult to select units using the HUD.
CONCLUSION:
Overall, I will give a 90% rating to this game. Many improvements, changes, add up and spice it up yet a few remaing flaws from the old game remain. But still WELL DONE!
If you played Real War: ALS and was disppointed, then you need to play Rogue States. If you never played either game, you should buy Rogue States; you are in for a great gaming experience!!