If killing is wrong, how come it feels so good? In the same way that if God didn’t want us to eat animals, he surely, in all his divine wisdom, wouldn’t have made them out of meat. And although a village pig slaughter in Tuscany - blood-catching and all - may not be too much fun, flying around in the world’s most expensive military aircraft locking sidewinders most certainly is.

So there’s a balance to found somewhere, perhaps in Namco’s latest Ace Combat offering, nattily subtitled Squad ... more >>

If killing is wrong, how come it feels so good? In the same way that if God didn’t want us to eat animals, he surely, in all his divine wisdom, wouldn’t have made them out of meat. And although a village pig slaughter in Tuscany - blood-catching and all - may not be too much fun, flying around in the world’s most expensive military aircraft locking sidewinders most certainly is.

So there’s a balance to found somewhere, perhaps in Namco’s latest Ace Combat offering, nattily subtitled Squadron Leader, though unfortunately no X-Wings are on offer.

Set in the year 2010, the human race seemingly hasn’t yet learnt that squandering massive sums of money on building death machines while half the world starves is unacceptable. A shame, but still, it makes for a good videogame. Anyway, on a small island in the ocean that divides the global superpowers of Osea and Yuktobania, an entire military base is on red alert. Early today, the 108th Tactical Fighter Squadron was scrambled to intercept an unidentified aircraft, but the entire squadron was ruthlessly decimated. As a fighter pilot in a newly formed squadron, you are called into action to protect the nation of Osea. As you take to the skies, the story begins to unfold…

Pumped yet? Indeed! So it’s time to slip into the unlicensed RayBans as Namco again offers up another PlayStation 2-squeezing rendition of mid-air flight fighting. This latest iteration offers a beefed-up version of the series. As well as the trademark Ace Combat graphical craft, Squadron Leader offers 50 licensed aircraft from the world’s premier death-from-above manufacturers.

It’s also worth pointing out that the environments in which you get to fulfil your Tom Cruise fantasies are somewhat more colourful than in previous Ace Combat games. Whereas in the past you might have found yourself over the sea. For an hour. Then over a green island. For an hour. Well, now you have canyons and deliciously-rendered cities to dogfight above to your heart’s content. << less