This is a game that had so much potential to become a grade A game, it's frustrating that they didn't quite make it.
In a story line that spans multiple worlds and environments, you and Rhino squadron, equipped with state of the art prototype fighters, fight against a rebelling alliance of four planets. Propaganda and emotional questions are rampant, and you start to question if your really fighting for the "good guys". Add the fact that your main rival pilot is an old friend of the main character, and this is a perfect war zone story line where you feel the urge to spare your enemies, but want to protect your allies more.
Its game play has the usual classics for airborne combat games, going to repair and rearm during battle, as well as some nice additions. Bullets and special missiles ignore shields, beam weapons have more ammunition but have to work through the shielding. Some of the missiles lock on to the same target multiple times, making a kill more assured, while others lock on to different sub-targets on battleships and the fighters, making your shots more damaging and your attack runs more vicious. Then there's the fact that you see on the HUD the range of your weapons, and you feel a smirk as you rapidly close in on your enemy. Hell, you can even divert shield energy for other functions. Want to go faster, no problem! Firing all weapons at once, not a problem. Need to slow things down for a few seconds so you can duel those annoying aces more effectively, you've got it captain.
You're probably wondering what could possibly turn a game that has so much going for it from a masterpiece to a nice amusement. It's not the game play, the difficulty, story line, graphics, or sound-track. No, the only drawback is that annoying time limit for each small section. Starting to enjoy the battle and savor the moment, feel absorbed in the game? Then you'll be surprised when you hear this one phrase: "In three minutes, it will be impossible to continue combat." Now, I'm no slouch in game playing, but that has to be one of the most aggravating things. Time limit every once in a while? Gives the game flavor. Time limit on everything so that you rush through? You mean I can't go at these enemies one at a time, I have to take three or four every time I shoot just to finish the objective in time? Ace Combat always gave me plenty of time to enjoy the battles, why can't you Sylpheed?
This had so much potential as a combat game, but one minor flaw makes it impossible to call truly great. In the end, I must say that SquareEnix stumbled with this game. They probably saw the count-down on Ace Combat and figured that all good flight games have challenging time limits. I have only this to say to them: the Ace Combat series was great because you forgot there was a limit. The timer is there so that poor pilots are encouraged to improve, not make adepts do amateurish mistakes so they can keep their kill score from earlier parts of the battle, or make them throw the controller in frustration because an ace enemy eats the less than eight-minute fighting per sub-mission limit.
That's the only problem. I'll give Sylpheed an 8 out of 10 for a worthy effort, but it just fell short of excellence.