Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War

Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War (2006)

by Project Aces, Bandai, Namco Bandai Games
Genres:Simulator
Themes:Action, Warfare
Game modes:Single player, Multiplayer
Story:The sixth installment in the Ace Combat series explores the Belkan War, a devastating conflict alluded to in Ace Combat 5. In the game's main story mode, the player takes control of a mercenary pilot, callsign "Cipher", taking part in the Belkan War by advancing through aerial combat, escort, assault, and defense missions. The story is told through the eyes of a reporter, 10 years after the conflict, uncovering secrets of the war by interviewing some of the pilots the player shoots down.Show more
user avatarAdded by @adjacentcomet03YT
Vote to bring this game to GOG and help preserve it.
866
Trailers and screenshots
Screenshot
Screenshot
Screenshot
Screenshot
Screenshot
Screenshot
Screenshot
Screenshot
Screenshot
Screenshot
Screenshot
Stories about this game (3)
What’s your memory of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War?Share your favorite moments and see what others remember about this game.
user avatar@placeholder

Make sure to follow our Guidelines when adding new Stories.

If not sure what to write:
  • What made this game unforgettable?
  • Who did you play this game with?
  • What made it fun or challenging?
  • Why do you want this game on GOG?
The Ace Combat series is rightfully known as one of the most accessible flight sims in history, combining realistic aesthetics with arcade physics to create an experience that feels gritty without needing an elaborate interface of instruments. But there was a brief time when the games were also known for their storytelling. Rather than relying on the most obvious, bombastic Hollywood tropes, Ace Combat told war stories more akin to All Quiet on the Western Front, or For Whom the Bell Tolls. Even as the gameplay focuses on winning a war, the narrative concerns the people living through the war in the long term. Stories like Ace Combat Zero are more important now than ever, as we see conflicts in Palestine, Burkina Faso, and Ukraine. These are modern wars with advanced weapons produced at an industrial scale. Tools of murder are deployed against people who die never knowing why they were targeted, who made the decision, or what it was meant to accomplish. These are stories about despair, where the individual pilot's feelings on the war are meaningless in the face of its inevitability. And they are stories about hope, in which people emerge from war more patient, more understanding, and intent on never letting it happen again.
user avatar@paci2020user avatar@paci2020
January 31, 2025
A prequel game with multiple endings depending on your performance and alignment-based behavior in the battlefield and possibly the only game with live actors in cutscenes.
user avatar@vritnghuser avatar@vritngh
April 21, 2025
Yes to everything user @thesmallpox said. My experience with Ace Combat comes from the perspective of a Muslim born in a post-9/11 world, where most war media was obsessed with revering Western war machines: the same machines responsible for the deaths of countless millions in neocolonial wars. Ace Combat provided a war story that, on the surface, seemed to be about heroes and cool planes—and it is—But Zero, while unable to shed the heroic framing, offered something refreshing, and something important, as user 'thesmallpox' puts it. "These are stories about despair, where the individual pilot's feelings on the war are meaningless in the face of its inevitability." Yet, in the more optimistic world of Strangereal, these are also stories about hope, ones that I wish more people would learn from. Once more, as user @thesmallpox puts it.
Those games also need your vote!
Digimon World
Digimon WorldDigimon world is a game that allows a player to raise their own Digimon and teach it to battle.
Our Pick
Top
Fantasy
Science fiction
Our Pick
Top
Fantasy
Science fiction
107 026
1650
Black & White
Black & WhitePlay the role of a deity in a land where the surroundings are yours to shape and its people are yours to lord over. Be an evil, malevolent god and the natives will worship you with fear in their eyes. Play as a kind, benevolent god and they will worship you with love in their hearts. Your actions decide whether you create a heaven or hell for your worshipers. Then select a creature from the land to act as your representative in the world. Raise it to gigantic proportions and teach it to do your bidding--whether the animal grows into an evil colossus of mass destruction or a kind and gentle giant is up to you. Progress through the game's rich storyline performing powerful miracles to battle other deities and become the world's supreme god.
Top
Open world
Sandbox
Top
Open world
Sandbox
106 140
369
Freelancer
FreelancerEight hundred years prior to the start of our story, bitter conflict divided all of mankind. A handful of colonists struck out on their own to begin anew - far away from the Earth and its turmoil. Several ships were launched with enough equipment and supplies to give the hundreds onboard a fighting chance - but since the area around far-off Sirius had never been surveyed, no one really knew what to expect. What they found was a new frontier of free-flowing natural resources, unexplored territories, great wonders and lurking dangers. Each ship, representing the clusters of people and their earthly place of origin, settled into different parts of the galaxy pre-selected by their ship-board computer to give them the best chance of survival. Life was hard in the beginning, but over the 800 years the different colonies prospered and expanded their territories, claiming more and more systems for their own. Survival and propagation eventually led to growth and profit as each of the colonies developed specialties and fostered commerce. As the colonies grew and time passed their connections with their roots on Earth dwindled and they lost their memories of the conflicts of the past. Soon their attention was dominated by new, more immediate conflicts. Feelings of lost ancestral connection spurred anachronism in the look of the great cities, and created a somewhat distorted image of each colony's cultural heritage. In the ever-expanding outer edge of the territories, frontier lawlessness prevailed. The Houses: Each shipboard colony that left Earth carried some memory of its origins in its name. The Liberty carried Americans, The Bretonia flew from The United Kingdom and surrounding territory, The Kusari from Asia, and the Rheinland launched with Germanic cargo. As each ship settled and colonies began to expand, they knew little about each other and their advancing development. Finally, little by little, the individual colonies found each other and began to set up trade routes to link their systems for commerce and solidarity. Today, with each colony firmly rooted in its respective corner of the galaxy, the colonies rely heavily on each other for trade and industry but also compete for resources and new territories in the Border Worlds. The colonies mandate member governments in "The New Alliance" within the Sirius sector. To control conflicts, each colony has forged alliances and treaties with others as they have grown. Competition remains fierce, however. Struggles rage for supremacy in business, commerce, resources, power and control. There can be tenuous peace between colonies' political agendas, but the grabs for holdings constantly unsettle the volatile frontier.
Our Pick
Top
Science fiction
Sandbox
Our Pick
Top
Science fiction
Sandbox
93 427
817
Black & White 2
Black & White 2In the game, the player takes the role of a god called from the void (nothingness) to help those who invoked them. However, the player is not an omnipotent style god, but rather a god who rises and falls with his believers and the player must help develop their nature according to their good or evil desires. The player also has a creature, their physical representation in the world, which takes the form of an anthropomorphic ape, lion, wolf, turtle, cow, or tiger. Its physical manifestation can grow to an immense size, and adopt a good or evil persona separate of the player's. They develop their character as the player rewards or punishes their actions. In addition to the god simulation and city-building elements introduced in the original Black & White, Black & White 2 also features elements of real-time strategy gameplay, with the addition of controllable warfare and fighting units.
Top
Action
Fantasy
Comedy
Sandbox
Top
Action
Fantasy
Comedy
Sandbox
88 092
119
The Sims: Complete Collection
The Sims: Complete CollectionThe Sims is a life-building simulation with emphasis on intimate details of individual characters rather than expansion of an entire society or civilization. You are in control of nearly every aspect of the lives of the individuals who make up your chosen population in the neighborhood. Characters are developed from the ground up and you infuse and mold them with personalities, looks, desires, moods, urges, living arrangements, career and personal choices, life styles, and reactions. The Sims: Complete Collection includes a copy of The Sims and all seven of its expansion packs (Livin' Large, House Party, Hot Date, Vacation, Unleashed, Superstar, and Makin' Magic).
Top
Fantasy
Comedy
Sandbox
Romance
Top
Fantasy
Comedy
Sandbox
Romance
42 185
56
Fable III
Fable IIISet 50 years after the events of Fable II, the continent of Albion (where the Fable series is set) is under the control of Logan, a tyrant king and the Hero's older brother[1]. The player's character, the "Hero", is forced into a quest to become a revolutionary leader to defeat Logan after he reveals his true personality to the Hero. Over the course of the first half of the game, the Hero will overthrow Logan and become ruler of Albion themselves. During the second half of the game, a strange force from Aurora, called The Darkness will threaten Albion and the player has to decide how to react to it.
Open world
Action
Fantasy
Comedy
Sandbox
Open world
Action
Fantasy
Comedy
Sandbox
31 987
39
MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries
MechWarrior 4: MercenariesThe sequel to Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance. When you're a 'Mech Mercenary, you call the shots. You don't fight for honor - you fight for cold hard cash, a fierce reputation, and the heart-pounding thrill of the kill. Your allegiance goes to the highest bidder. You answer only to the call of fortune. Your fate is in your hands alone. Select from 4 of the most notorious mercenary units, Kell Hounds, Wolf's Dragoons, Northwind Highlanders, and Gray Death Legion, to alter your missions, with different outcomes based on your victories. Choose from over 35 different 'Mechs, including 10 new ones. And for the first time ever, your secondary lance allows you to muster 8 'Mechs into battle simultaneously. Or make a killing in the infamous Solaris VII arenas, where fighting dirty can make you filthy rich. Includes 'Mechs from the Black Knight expansion for Mechwarrior 4, and is fully compatible with Mechwarrior 4 'Mech Packs. Fight for fame. Fight for fortune. Fight as a Mech Mercenary!
Action
Warfare
Science fiction
Action
Warfare
Science fiction
21 293
22
Grand Theft Auto III
Grand Theft Auto IIIFeaturing a fully 3-D living city, a combination of narrative driven and non-linear gameplay and a completely open environment, Grand Theft Auto III represents a huge leap forward in interactive entertainment. For the first time, players are put at the heart of their very own gangster movie, and let loose in a fully-realised 3 dimensional city, in which anything can happen and probably will. With a cast of hundreds, 50 plus vehicles, ranging from sports cars to ice cream trucks and from boats to buses, 3 hours of music, including opera, reggae, house, drum and bass, pop and disco, a huge array of street ready weapons and some of the seediest characters in video game history, Grand Theft Auto 3 is a sprawling epic which will show you that sometimes, crime can pay and sometimes it can pay you back. Available now for PlayStation®2, Xbox, PC and Macintosh.
Open world
Action
Sandbox
Open world
Action
Sandbox
21 147
14
MechCommander 2
MechCommander 2MechCommander Gold is the 1999 update to FASA Interactive's MechCommander, which contains both the original title's campaign and an entirely new 12-mission scenario called Desperate Measures, which incorporates several new 'Mech, weapons, and vehicles.
Warfare
Science fiction
Warfare
Science fiction
18 462
20
The Movies
The MoviesBehind every box office hit and Hollywood star is a movie mogul who makes it happen. In The Movies, that mogul is you. Create your own studio from the ground up. Direct your own movies and call the shots on budgets, actors, locations and more. From script to screen, will your films be smash hits or break the bank? It's all up to you, baby.
Comedy
Business
Comedy
Business
17 694
79