Music
The Ace Combat series is known for its dramatic soundtrack, particularly in later installments of the game where full orchestras, such as the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, are used. Each installment of the series usually uses one style of music as the basis of its soundtrack:
The main composers for the game series soundtrack are Keiki Kobayashi, Tetsukazu Nakanishi, Ryuichi Takada, Junichi Nakatsuru, and Hiroshi Okubo.
- In Air Combat and Ace Combat 2, the music is heavily influenced by rock and gained popularity with fans of the genre.
- Ace Combat 3 uses an electronic soundtrack similar to that of Namco's Ridge Racer series, but with more focus on atmosphere and dissonant synth instruments than electronic beats.
- Ace Combat 04 mixed orchestra, guitar, and synth tracks.
- Ace Combat 5 also uses mixed orchestra, guitar, and synth tracks composed by NAMCO's in-house sound team, and features the song "Blurry" by Puddle of Mudd, as well as several orchestral performances by Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.
- Ace Combat Zero uses similar techniques to Ace Combat 04 and Ace Combat 5 but incorporates a Spanish flair through the use of classical, electric, and even acoustic guitars.
- Ace Combat X uses electronic music similar to Ace Combat 3, although it maintains the more cinematic synths from the PlayStation 2 games as well.
- Ace Combat 6 is the most orchestral soundtrack to date, and is similar in style to Ace Combat 5 and Zero. There are significantly fewer electronic elements throughout the score, although they have not been removed entirely - remaining for several key tracks, including one of the game's two overtures, "Fires of Liberation" (The second theme, "Liberation of Gracemeria", does away with the core electronic elements almost entirely, marking only the second time this has been done in the series, the first being "The Unsung War" - the title overture of Ace Combat 5). Several soundtracks were done by Trinity Boys Choir and Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra.
- Ace Combat X2 uses songs from previous installments (2, and Electrosphere) with new music composed by Inon Zur, Go Shiina, and Kanako Kakino. This is also the first time some Oriental & Persian music is thrown into the mix.
- Ace Combat: Assault Horizon brings back the rock style music like in the PlayStation 1 titles and mixes it with music similar to Ace Combat 5 and Zero.
- Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy uses a few songs from previous installments (2, 3, Zero, and 6), but also includes over thirty original songs composed for the game. The overall style is split between orchestra, electronic music, and hard rock.
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