However, this story unfolds exclusively over radio conversations and occurs only within the action of the game. The game’s missions tell the story through the cockpit of Mobius 1 as he or she rises through the ranks of the military’s fighter pilot squadrons over the course of a destructive war. They glorify the people who take part in these battles, individual humans who help make a difference in achieving peace, but the overall viewpoint tone of the games is a very reflective one, choosing to focus on those who suffer and the human side of combat, even your enemies.Īgain, Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies shines the best here. Kano says Ace Combat 7 will return to this two-plot mode, again, because it proved to be so popular in these two classics.īoth Ace Combat 04 and Ace Combat 5 dress up their combat in very Japanese anime-esque storylines that point out the flaws of war.

Something both games do very well is tell two stories at one time: one on the grand scale of the world and the other a more personal story about your squadron of fighters. It’s more satisfying to see your character succeed with such flying colors. The difference here is you stick with Mobius 1 through the very end of the war, and you feel like a genuine hero controlling that plane, not just another soldier in the ranks. This is something Call of Duty gets right, or at least used to get right back when the Modern Warfare games were taking off. Mobius 1 is a true avatar into another world, the closest many of us have ever gotten to becoming a genuine fighter pilot. This avatar is nothing more efficient soldier who gets the job done because it’s the job, and it lets the player bask in the praises of fellow pilots. Mobius 1 is nothing except what the players wants him or her to be. There’s no rambling anti-war message from his cockpit or boasts of an impressive kill count coming from Mobius 1’s cockpit.

The only interaction we get with Mobius 1 in the story is people singing praises of numerous accomplishments as he, or indeed she, soars through the air and shoots down five enemy bogeys with a single barrage of missiles. Mobius 1 never talks, and to an even further extent, Mobius 1 is just a plane. I’ve expressed my love for the idea of a “silent protagonist” in most JRPGs and how they give players an avatar into a world without any predetermined emotional baggage, but this idea of a faceless protagonist takes it one step further in that your character doesn’t even have an image to get in the way.Īce Combat 04: Shattered Skies casts players as Mobius 1.

In the interview, Kano stresses that Ace Combat 7 will be bringing back the idea of a faceless protagonist.

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