Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere

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.



Plot

 * See Main Article: List of missions in Ace Combat 3
 * See Main Article:List of aircraft in Ace Combat 3

The plot, taking place in the future (between January 1st and July 21st 2040), centers in a Strangereal where the world's governments have decayed, giving rise to a global corporatocracy led by the corporations Neucom Incorporated and General Resource. Somewhere in the 2040s, territorial disputes in the Usean Continent (known as the Faith Park Dispute, named such after Faith Park) sparked tensions between Neucom & GR. Furthermore, tensions between both corporations are sparked by the X-49 Night Raven, a cutting-edge experimental mainframe belonging to General Resource. Transports belonging to the NEU (Neucom Emergency Unit) constantly tresspassed through the no-fly zones set by the Universal Peace Enforcement Organization, causing the latter to order their Special Armed Response Force (SARF) branch to destroy a Neucom transport group stationed at Expo City. This event caused Neucom to take arms, thus beginning the conflict known as the Corporate War.

The player takes the role of Nemo, an advanced combat AI employed by the UPEO.

Gameplay
Ace Combat 3 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 thumb-stick; 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.

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 allies and enemies, and intelligent wingmen. However, anime cutscenes and fictional aircraft alienated those Japanese fans of the series expecting a gameplay closer to the arcade style of Ace Combat 2.

International version
Ace Combat 3 saw an international export in March 2000. The game, however, suffered severe damage on it's export: for unknown reasons, Namco heavily trimmed down the game's content by minimizing the story, removing all in-game dialogue, removing & replacing all original characters (for example, brainwashed Rena Hirose is replaced with a haywire AI), and cutting down the story to 36 linear missions with no branching paths. This "downgrading" led to low sales overseas, and setting Electrosphere's place as one of the most notirous exports in Playstation history.

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."

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.

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.

Trivia

 * All Neucom aircraft take their name from specific fish genii, ie. Delphinus, with the exception of the XR-900 Geopelia whose namesake is a flower.
 * Many aircraft in Electrosphere are based on prototype/experimental aircraft-- for example, the F-16XF Gyrfalcon is based on the F-16 AFTI.
 * This is the second game of the series to feature a Sukhoi fighter on the cover (the others are Ace Combat 2 and Ace Combat: Assault Horizon.
 * Production I.G. notwithstanding, Ace Combat 3 interestingly contains several parallels to concepts from Ghost in the Shell, I.G.'s most famous franchise. Examples include the existence of a Geofront (subterranean city) and the concept of brain/conciousness computer uploading (respectively, sublimation and ghost-dubbing.)
 * The Geofront is also another reference to Neon Genesis Evangelion.