Story
The player takes on the role of Mobius 1, an elite fighter pilot serving in the Independent States Allied Forces' (ISAF) air arm, fighting against the Eruseans who have occupied almost all of the Usea continent after an apocalyptic event in 1999. A massive asteroid, codenamed Ulysses 1994 XF-04, struck Usea, killing 500,000 people and turning many into refugees. Erusea used this as an opportunity to occupy the continent after a prolonged military buildup. They achieve military supremacy via the superweapon Stonehenge, a megastructure battery of railguns that were originally designed to destroy asteroids but have been found to be effective against airplanes as well. This allows Erusea to dominate much of the airspace over the continent giving their military a powerful strategic advantage. Consequently, ISAF has been pushed back to the eastern coast of Usea.
Between the missions the story is told through flashbacks, later revealed to be a long letter to Mobius 1 about the war and living inside the occupation. The letters are written by an unnamed boy whose parents were killed when a fighter jet crashed into their house in San Salvacion. This fighter jet was shot down by Yellow 13, the Erusians' top fighter pilot, and a member of the Elite Aquila Squadron, well known as Yellow Squadron. Following his parents' death the boy is taken in by his uncle, a taxi driver who lives in the city above a tavern frequented by Erusean soldiers. While in the tavern, the boy befriends Yellow 13 after meeting him and the other Yellow Squadron members. He also learns that the owner of the bar is a member of the local resistance against Erusea and becomes a "spy" for them due to his friendship with Yellow 13.
As the war progresses, Mobius 1's contributions begin to turn the tide as the ISAF begins retaking Usea. The situation in San Salvacion becomes more desperate as the ISAF forces advance closer. The boy recalls one event where the bar owner's daughter plants a bomb on the airfield, which severely damages Yellow 4's plane and greatly angers Yellow 13, since Yellow 4 is his closest friend (and possible love interest). Mobius 1 and the ISAF then attack Stonehenge itself and manage to destroy it. Yellow Squadron arrives too late to affect the battle, but engage Mobius 1 anyway only to have Yellow 4 shot down and killed. Yellow 13 is also eventually shot down by Mobius 1 in a later battle. In desperation, the Erusians activate another superweapon, Megalith, which is a missile launch facility capable of shooting down the asteroids from orbit to crash them into any location on the planet. Mobius 1 is given his own squadron of the best ISAF pilots available and they assault Megalith, destroying it and ending the war once and for all.
Read more about this topic: Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies
Famous quotes containing the word story:
“Even such is Time, which takes in trust
Our youth, our joys, and all we have,
And pays us but with age and dust,
Who in the dark and silent grave
When we have wandered all our ways
Shuts up the story of our days.
And from which earth, and grave, and dust,
The Lord shall raise me up I trust.”
—Sir Walter Raleigh (1552–1618)
“Call on literary convention, and it will gladly tell your story for you.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“From the beginning, the placement of [Clarence] Thomas on the high court was seen as a political end justifying almost any means. The full story of his confirmation raises questions not only about who lied and why, but, more important, about what happens when politics becomes total war and the truth—and those who tell it—are merely unfortunate sacrifices on the way to winning.”
—Jane Mayer, U.S. journalist, and Jill Abramson b. 1954, U.S. journalist. Strange Justice, p. 8, Houghton Mifflin (1994)