Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 8: Ace Combat 5 (PS2, 2004)

Channel:
Italy Mad Punkerz
Subscribers:
1,750
Published on ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=676p5GNcd1c


Game:
Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War (2004)
Duration: 0:00
66 views
1

HDWA = Hardest Difficulty, Worst Aircraft.

RULES
1) Beat the game at the highest difficulty using the worst aircraft available.
2) Cheats, intentional glitches and bugs are forbidden.
3) Savestates are forbidden.
4) This is not a speedrun! Take your time and try to achieve a good score if possible.
5) Choose any emulator you want.

ACE COMBAT 5
PREREQUISITES
1) Beat the Campaign on “Normal” difficulty to unlock “Expert” and “Ace” difficulties;
2) Complete mission 3 “Narrow Margin” at any difficulty to unlock the Mig-21. It costs 7.600 credits.

HARDEST DIFFICULTY
Ace.

WORST AIRCRAFT
Mig-21. Compared to similar aircraft (F-5, F-4, A-6, HAWK) the Mig-21 has the lowest overall statistics.

HDWA CHALLENGE DIFFICULTY: 8/10 – because of its length.

ADDITIONAL CHALLENGE
Get a good rank whenever possible; try to shoot down as many ace pilots as you can; give your wingmen lore-friendly aircraft (ex: don’t give’em powerful SU-37s at the beginning of the game, use them for later stages).

DESCRIPTION
This is the second game of the “Ace Combat Holy Trinity” (the other two are Ace Combat 4 and Ace Combat Zero).
This is the second Ace Combat game that isn’t set in Usea, but in other continents (the other game is PS1 Air Combat, which takes place in another place which was never used again).
The plot is more complex than the one in Ace Combat 4 and for the first time the nation of Belka is mentioned.
Graphics are very good, although from time to time I’ve suffered some minor glitches due to the emulator.
They dropped the old physics engine for a new one, which is less realistic but simpler and overall way less frustrating.

The HDWA challenge wasn’t particularly hard, and I died only a bunch of times.
The Mig-21’s secondary weapon is surprisingly effective against Yuktobanian wunderwaffen like the Hrimfaxi.
The most frustrating thing is that, unlike Ace Combat 4, you can’t return to the base to rearm your jet, so I had to ration my bullets during some missions.
I mean, they could’ve let us restock our weapons at least during those operations in the desert.

Of course, near the end of the game it gets harder, especially for a 60’s Soviet...erm...Yuktobanian fighter jet, but it’s not impossible to overcome this challenge.

There are some missions in which the game forces us to use a certain aircraft:
Missions 1 to 4 we have the F-5;
Mission 11B “Reprisal” you fly a Mir-2000 (but in that case I just chose mission 11A to keep using the Mig-21);
Missions on the Kestrel, you're forced to use aircraft based fighters (in that case I’ve chosen the worst available, the A-6).
I don’t think that this invalidates the challenge, because the F-5 and A-6 are not much better than the Mig-21, and have quite similar statistics.

Note about the final mission: yeah, yeah, I know that you can actually fly INISDE the SOLG and one-shot it, but it’s a pretty risky strategy, and I didn’t want to take on Ofnir + Grabacr all over again.

Emulator used: PCSX2.

SHORT REVIEW
Plot: 8/10
Graphics: 8.5/10
Soundtrack: 7.5/10
Controls: 8/10
Game difficulty (besides my challenge): 8/10 – more because of the length
Frustration: 7/10
Overall score: 8.5/10



Other Videos By Mad Punkerz


2025-04-05Ace Combat 3 Model Display
2025-03-21Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 17: Ace Combat 7 (Console, PC - 2019)
2025-03-20Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 16: Ace Combat - Assault Horizon Legacy (3DS - 2011)
2025-03-19Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 15: Ace Combat - Assault Horizon (Console, PC - 2011)
2025-03-18Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 14: Ace Combat - Northern Wings (Java, 2011)
2025-03-17Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 13: Ace Combat Joint Assault (PSP, 2010)
2025-03-16Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 12: Ace Combat 6 (Xbox 360, 2007)
2025-03-15Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 11: Ace Combat X - Skies of Deception (PSP, 2006)
2025-03-14Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 10: Ace Combat Zero (PS2, 2006)
2025-03-13Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 9: Ace Combat Advance (GBA, 2005)
2025-03-12Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 8: Ace Combat 5 (PS2, 2004)
2025-03-11Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 7: Ace Combat 4 (PS2, 2001)
2025-03-10Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 6: Ace Combat 3 - US Version (PS1, 2000)
2025-03-09Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 5: Ace Combat 3 - Japanese Version (PS1, 1999)
2025-03-08Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 4: Ace Combat 2 (PS1, 1997)
2025-03-07Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 3: Air Combat (PS1, 1995)
2025-03-06Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 2: Air Combat 22 (Arcade, 1995)
2025-03-05Ace Combat HDWA Challenge - Day 1: Air Combat (Arcade, 1993)
2025-02-10The absolute MADNESS of geography
2025-01-05Ace Combat 7 - Mission 13 Bunker Buster Silos Locations Guide
2025-01-05Ace Combat 7 - Ace "S" Ranks, All Aces, All Medals (Completionist Walkthrough)


Other Statistics

Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War Statistics For Mad Punkerz

Mad Punkerz presently has 1,165 views for Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War across 4 videos, with his channel uploading 3 hours worth of Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War videos. This is 2.00% of the total watchable video on Mad Punkerz's YouTube channel.