Or the soaring horns make you feel, well, like you’re soaring.

The running electronic beats with backing percussion make you feel the urgency and desperation in your mission. Though the controls feel good it doesn’t become fully cohesive until you’re flying and listening. Kobayashi’s mix of orchestral with electronic evokes exactly the right emotion precisely when needed. Keiki Kobayashi might not be Hans Zimmer but in terms of effect achieved he’s damn close. I mean, it helps when you can constantly hire Hans Zimmer. They ham handedly smash you with their pathos over and over until you truly desperately know the emotion they want to ooze out of your pores. Bruckheimer movies are scored to perfection. But none of that should be read remotely as a pejorative.

Aggressive horns, moving strings, some vocal tracks punctuating the action. In a way the soundtrack for the game is in the vein of something that would accompany a Jerry Bruckheimer movie.

But what’s kept me coming back to replay older missions over and over in the last few weeks is how that “feel” combines with its amazing soundscapes. It’s a wonderful mix of real and arcade and it plays like a dream. Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown feels brilliant.

Ace combat 4 soundtrack list