Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies

During the course of the game, the player has the opportunity to purchase 21 different planes, from models that actually exist to prototypes or relatively new aircraft that were in development (at the time of game production) and their weaponry. Every plane has two alternate paint schemes, gained by achieving a superior, or S, ranking on a stage in normal difficulty mode, by shooting down the ace pilots on each stage, or by completing the challenge modes.

The difficulty mode determines the number of enemies per stage, their AI skill and damage threshold, and how much damage the player's aircraft can sustain in total. On the hardest difficulty level, a single enemy missile can take down the player's aircraft, whereas on the easiest level it would take several missile hits.

The player must purchase all aircraft and extra weapons they want to use, but only once. Identical weapons for different types of planes cannot be used interchangeably. Players gain money by destroying enemies, or selling aircraft/weapons between missions. Only the default aircraft, the F-4E Phantom, cannot be sold. It is sometimes advantageous to buy/sell different combinations of planes & weapons depending on the mission requirements outlined in the briefing, as some planes are more suitable than others for certain missions. Once all of the mission objectives are complete, the player is awarded bonus money for performing above and beyond the requirements of the mission objectives (neutralizing extra targets and assorted enemy fighters, etc.). In order to purchase all planes and weapons available in the game, the game must be completed several times.

Ace Combat 04 takes place in the shared fictional universe wherein most other Ace Combat games take place. A massive asteroid named Ulysses 1994XF04 collided with Earth in a disastrous impact event, killing hundreds of thousands of people. The nations on the continent of Usea had developed an array of anti-asteroid railguns codenamed "Stonehenge" to destroy the asteroid's fragments, but they could not completely prevent the disaster. Erusea, one of the largest nations and located on the west coast, was shattered economically and chose to close its borders to refugees, leading to heightened tensions with its neighbors. Erusea's military launched a surprise invasion of San Salvacion, its closest neighbor, and captured the Stonehenge railguns to repurpose them as anti-aircraft weapons. War quickly broke out between Erusea and the other Usean nations, who formed a military defense coalition known as the Independent State Allied Forces (ISAF). Using Stonehenge to decimate the ISAF's airpower, Erusea routed their military and occupied key strategic locations on the continent. On the verge of imminent defeat, the ISAF's General Headquarters relocated to the island of North Point off the northeastern coast of the continent, outside of Stonehenge's effective radius.

Mobius 1 is a fighter pilot serving in the ISAF Air Force in the middle of the war. Mobius 1 and his fellow pilots are dispatched to thwart Erusea's attempts to invade North Point, intercepting a unit of Erusean bombers off the coast while catching another bomber unit on the ground at a nearby airbase. Mobius 1 also takes part in the destruction of a northern Erusean radar installation, allowing surviving ISAF troops to retreat back to North Point. The ISAF Air Force subsequently destroys Erusea's "invincible" Aegir Fleet moored at Comberth Harbor, thwarting Erusea's attempt to invade North Point by sea. Bolstered by their stunning victories, the ISAF initiates an airstrike to target Erusean solar panel facilities in the heart of the continent. A surprise attack by Stonehenge inflicts heavy casualties upon the strike force, reminding the ISAF that the weapon still has an iron grip over the skies of the continent.

Between missions, a story is told through interlude flashbacks, later revealed to be a long letter to Mobius 1 about the war and living inside Erusea's occupation of San Salvacion. The letter is written by an unnamed man whose parents were killed when an ISAF fighter jet crashed into their house when he was a child. This fighter jet was shot down by Yellow 13, Erusea's top fighter pilot, and a member of the well-known elite Yellow Squadron. Following his parents' death, the boy is taken in by his uncle, an alcoholic taxi driver who lives in the city above a tavern frequented by Erusean soldiers. While in the tavern, the boy befriends 13 after meeting him and the other Yellow Squadron members. He also learns that the owner of the bar is a member of the local resistance against Erusea and becomes a "spy" for them due to his friendship with 13.

As the war progresses, Mobius 1's contributions turn the tide as the ISAF begins retaking Usea. The ISAF establishes a foothold on the southern coast of the continent and restarts the ground war. The situation in San Salvacion becomes more desperate as the ISAF draws closer. The interlude narrator recalls one event where the bar owner's daughter plants a bomb on Yellow Squadron's airfield, which damages the plane of Yellow 13's wingman, a female pilot known as Yellow 4. The ISAF then attacks Stonehenge itself; Mobius 1 manages to destroy all of the active railguns before Yellow Squadron arrives and subsequently shoots down and kills Yellow 4. With Stonehenge out of commission, the ISAF invades the northern coast of Usea and pushes forward into Erusean territory, liberating San Salvacion in the process. The interlude narrator recalls following Yellow Squadron as they retreated to Erusea's capital. After breaking through Erusea's final line of defense, the ISAF invades and captures the capital and Mobius 1 shoots down the entirety of Yellow Squadron, killing Yellow 13 and forcing Erusea to surrender. A group of rogue Erusean officers activate a missile launch facility, codenamed "Megalith", that can shoot down asteroid debris stuck in orbit to crash on the continent. The ISAF Air Force is reformed into Mobius Squadron; led by Mobius 1, the squadron shoots down the Erusean defense squadron and Mobius 1 destroys Megalith, putting a final end to the war. The final interlude has the narrator reflecting upon Yellow 13's respect and admiration for Mobius 1 as his opponent, and ends his letter with a request for Mobius 1 to confirm Yellow 13's feelings.

The story of Mobius 1 continues in the arcade mode of Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War, where it is revealed that a resistance movement called "Free Erusea" has continued to struggle against the ISAF and the new ISAF-backed Erusean government since the war's end. Mobius 1 engages the resistance forces and cuts off their supply lines and destroys Free Erusea's main headquarters, ending the uprising. Mobius 1 fights once more against a resurgence of Free Erusea in the VR mode of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, which preludes the main story of Skies Unknown.

Some of the interlude flashbacks in the international release are slightly edited, due to different ratings systems. These differences can be seen in the original Japanese version:

• In Interlude #04, an image of a knife and a pistol are shown, with the narrator saying "I got a knife with the intent of using it against Yellow 13. I even lifted a pistol off a drunken enemy soldier." In the US version, this frame and monologue is removed entirely.
• In Interlude #05, when the boy discovers the barkeep's secret upstairs room, the daughter is shown wielding a shotgun behind the door. In the international version, she is shown holding nothing.
• In Interlude #09, when the boy confronts Yellow 13, he uses the pistol he stole previously to threaten him. In the US version, he is simply standing defiantly with his hands at his side.

Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies was a commercial success. By 2008, the game had sold 2,640,000 copies worldwide, making it the highest-selling Ace Combat game to date.[7]

Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies was critically acclaimed, with IGN giving the game 9.1 out of 10[8] and Famitsu magazine scoring a rating of 33 out of 40 on release.[9]

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• Official website (archive PDF)