Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies

Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies (known as Ace Combat: Distant Thunder in Europe) is the fourth installment of the Ace Combat series and the first one to be released for the. It was also the first project by Namco's Project Aces team.

Difficulty

 * Main article: Difficulty

The player can choose between six difficulty levels in the game: Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, Expert, and Ace. The last three difficulty settings are unlocked by beating the game on the respective previous difficulty. Additionally, the player can select either the Normal (full control of the aircraft but complex steering) or the Easy controller settings (simplified steering but less practical maneuverability).

Cutscenes
In AC04, the cutscenes are in the form of stylized still anime style pictures, narrated by another character following the steps of the player.

Multiplayer
AC04 is the second Ace Combat game with a Multiplayer mode, where two players can go head-to-head in a dogfight or a contest for points by destroying air, sea, and ground targets.

Story
The player takes on the role of Mobius 1, an elite fighter pilot serving in the Independent States' Allied Forces (ISAF) air arm, fighting against the Federal Erusean Armed Forces (FEAF) who have occupied almost all of the Usean continent after an apocalyptic event in 1999. A massive asteroid, codenamed Ulysses 1994XF04 Asteroid, struck Usea killing 500,000 people and turning many of the survivors into refugees. Erusea used this as an opportunity to occupy the continent after a prolonged military buildup. They achieved military supremacy using the superweapon called Stonehenge. This was a complex of giant railguns that were originally designed to destroy the Ulysses asteroids but have been found to be effective against aircraft as well. This allows Erusea to dominate much of the airspace over the continent giving their military a powerful strategic advantage. Consequently, the ISAF were pushed back to the eastern coast of Usea and eventually setting up a new headquarters in North Point.

Between the missions the story is told through flashbacks, later revealed to be a long letter to Mobius 1 about the war and living inside the occupation. The letters are written by an unnamed boy whose parents were killed when a fighter jet crashed into their house in San Salvacion. This fighter jet was shot down by Yellow 13, the Erusians' top fighter pilot, and a member of the Elite Yellow Squadron. Following his parents' death the boy is taken in by his uncle, in the city who lives above a tavern frequented by Erusean soldiers, a failing taxi driver due to low fuel rations issued by Erusea. While in the tavern, he befriends Yellow 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 Yellow 13.

Characters

 * Mobius 1: The legendary ace that players control in the game. He is silent throughout the whole game except for the end of mission 6 when he sings, and is very well respected by officers and allied forces in the game.
 * AWACS Sky Eye:Mobius 1's AWACS throughout the whole game. Though is he focused on doing his job as an AWACS, he does some casual talk with pilots, such as in the very first mission where he tells of his birthday being the day of the mission.
 * Storyteller Boy: The "main" character of the plot, he explains the story of his childhood as a young boy. He plays harmonica and has acquainted himself with Yellow 13.
 * Yellow 13: A recurring character often mentioned by the storyteller boy, he is responsible for the loss of the boy's parents.
 * Barkeeper's Daughter: A girl that the storyteller has a crush on, who is also a minor recurring character.

Enemies:


 * Yellow Squadron, a squadron that has never lost a member, headed by Yellow 13, the narrator is awed by the squadron until he realizes he has found haven with the enemy. (This squadron is your main enemy)
 * White Squadron
 * Black Squadron
 * Blue Squadron
 * Red Squadron

Allies:
 * Omega Squadron
 * Rapier Squadron
 * Charlie Squadron
 * Halo Squadron
 * Viper Sqadron
 * Mobius Squadron (The Ribbons, on Mission 18)

Aircraft
Ace Combat 04 features 21 playable aircraft, including the fictional super-plane X-02 Wyvern. Aircraft are unlocked by completing certain missions (see list) and purchased between missions by spending credits. Credits are gained by shooting down enemies and achieving high scores on the missions. Unlike in the later games, the player has no control over the planes of their wingmen.

In addition to the machine gun and all-purpose missiles, the player chooses a special munition, specialized either against air or ground targets, to equip their plane with before each mission. What kind of special weapons a plane can carry is determined by its model (see list). One special weapon is always purchased along with the plane, while one to two more can be bought later.

Lastly, the player can also select a paint scheme for Mobius One's plane before each mission. Like in the later AC games, the paint schemes are purely cosmetic and have no impact on the gameplay. They are unlocked by fulfilling certain conditions but unlike in Ace Combat 5 and Ace Combat Zero, new paint schemes have to be purchased at the cost of the whole plane or more. Each plane can have up to three selectable paint schemes:


 * First paint scheme is the default scheme each plane is purchased with.
 * Second paint scheme is usually unlocked by completing a certain mission (see list) with rank A or S on Normal difficulty or higher. It costs exactly as much as the plane itself (with the first paint scheme).
 * Third (Ace) paint scheme is usually unlocked by defeating one of the 18 Erusian Aces (see list) that appear in each mission on Hard and above difficulty after completing the campaign mode once. With the exception of S-37A, it costs approximately 30% more than the first two.

The flagship aircraft of the game is the F-22A Raptor.