Crunchy PS1 guitar riffs and electronic beats built for arcade-speed dogfights. Ace Combat 2 laid the foundation before the series went fully orchestral, and this soundtrack absolutely rips. "Fire Youngman" is pure 90s adrenaline, the kind of track that makes you fly into danger on purpose.
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"Rising High" keeps the energy relentless, all electric guitar over tight drum programming. The bonus tracks are wild. "Night Butterfly" and "Metropolitan" feel like they belong in a different game, giving off city-pop and lounge vibes that somehow still work.
There's a raw confidence to PS1-era Ace Combat that the later orchestral entries traded away. Not better or worse, just different voltage. If you miss when flight games sounded like a late-90s racing anime, this is your thing.