The fourteenth game in the Ace Combat series (the twelfth in the Strangereal line, counting remakes), released for mobile phones in 2011.
The Kingdom of Nordennavic, an ostensibly neutral northern nation on the Anean continent, has staunchly remained out of battle for much of world history. However, following predictions of the Ulysses impact, they fear that their neutrality may not serve them well any longer. Thus, they form the covert group Grendel Squadron, sending them on secret missions around the world to influence wars in their favor.
The story spans 1999 through 2016, with the Grendel Squadron secretly participating in all three major conflicts of this period: the Second Usean Continental War, the Circum-Pacific War, and the Anean Continental War.
Tropes found in the game:
- Ace Pilot: Of course; Grendel 1 and the rest of the squadron are great pilots, and though their feats aren't much compared to the aces of mainline games, they'd have to be good pilots to partake in their minor yet effective contributions.
- Adaptation Expansion: The missions retell major events from three of the mainline games with Nordennavic's minor roles in the world of Strangereal. Generally speaking, Grendel's operations involve the other fronts of the ISAF's battles, providing favorable circumstances through the covert elimination of enemy radar systems and other enemy units. The most notable case of this trope is Mission 8, which takes place during the Estovakian Civil War, which helps the Eastern Faction and was the offscreen lead-up to the events of Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation.
- Airstrike Impossible: It wouldn't be Ace Combat without missions requiring Improbable Piloting Skills, like the final mission's experimental hovering fighter jet against a giant Spider Tank.
- A.K.A.-47: Being a Java mobile game, there's obviously no budget for licensing fees (let alone renewing them), so the aircraft available instead visually resemble planes from real life, occasionally mixing different designs. The game partially Justifies it by having them all be experimental craft exclusive to Nordennavic.
- Breaking Old Trends: In adapting the franchise to a mobile game while fitting its story into dubious canonicty for Strangereal, the gameplay has changed to be a top-down shooter a la Ace Combat Advance and features a single mission where you're in control of one of the series' many superweapons you're usually expected to destroy (which you still get to do later on).
- Broad Strokes: The game's missions take place across different conflicts from three different games and lightly add to Strangereal's lore through the perspective of smaller figures at play, but its canonicity is dubious at best and outright contradictory at worst. Of note is Grendel Squadron's role in controlling and later helping destroy the Arkbird, the sudden introduction of Estovakia's Anti-Air superweapon Spider Tank, and odd experimental aircrafts only in Nordennavic's possession.
- Continuity Porn: The entire campaign involves the events from Ace Combat 04, 5, and 6, sending you across smaller low-key operations that ultimately benefit the protagonists of those installments. It won't make sense unless you've seen the stories of all three installments, which the game won't elaborate on otherwise.
- Continuity Snarl: While some missions could plausibly fit into the timeline, there are some rather glaring points in the campaign.
- Mission 5 takes place during Ace Combat 5's seventh mission, where Grendel helps in warding off the Yuktobanian invasion of Sand Island. They do so by having one of their pilots control the Arkbird and using its Tactical Laser System to sink several Yuktobanian ships. Recounting how it went in AC5, this conflicts with Wardog Squadron being the ones sinking every ship, and whenever the Arkbird used its TLS for the heroes, it was only on the Scinfaxi-class sub in a later operation.
- Mission 7 has Grendel assist in the destruction of the Arkbird as it's on its way to crashing into Osea's capital city, Oured. All fine and well, until they're directly firing upon the Arkbird itself, with the level ending by attributing the superweapon's destruction to Grendel's attacks rather than Razgriz squadron. It could simply be a case of bad wording, and that instead of outright stopping it, Grendel softened their target up for the Razgriz, but still...
- Dashed Plot Line: The game takes place over seventeen years, with several years even between missions during the same campaign.
- Genre Shift: It's a 2D top down shooter much like Ace Combat Advance, however it uses the traditional linear conveyor belt style progression.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: The final mission of the game involves taking out Estovakia's Anti-Air Weapon System that protects their massive railgun, the Chandelier. Said AA weaponry is revealed to be a four-legged mech equpped with shields and a laser system, called the "Giant Antlion". There's no further explanation for its development, and its significance is dropped once it's destroyed.
- Greater-Scope Paragon: After a handful of mentions in the games, the Kingdom of Nordennavic gets some exploration here. They're a neutral party in times of war, but in secret, they send aerial aid to skirmishes if it means securing said neutrality while overall benefitting the side of good. Additionally, it's offhandedly mentioned that Nordennavic took refugees during different crises and somehow had a small role in Osea's development of the Arkbird, though no specifics were made for the latter.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: To an even greater extent than Razgriz's operations. All operations by Grendel Squadron are determined by the normally-neutral Nordennavic to keep the nation's involvements in conflicts a secret.
- Hero of Another Story: Grendel Squadron kicks ass in other parts of the same wars the other heroes fight in.
- Hufflepuff House: Over the years, the Kingdom of Nordennavic received brief mentions in the Strangereal setting lore, but never made an appearance in any of the main Ace Combat games. This entry in the series is basically intended as an aversion of this trope.
- Infinity +1 Sword: The Arvakr V-50 line has perfect stats across the board when fully upgraded. The Arvakr V-55 is a special case. It's an exact copy of the V-50, but only usable in the last stage because of its ability to hover. Yes, a hovering fighter jet.
- Mysterious Protector: The Grendel Squadron to the protagonists of the previous games.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Nordennavic supported the Eastern Faction in the Estovakian Civil War. They didn't quite see the Anean Continental War coming as a result.
- Neutral No Longer: Nordennavic tries to maintain neutral. When it intervenes, it chooses which side is best, and secretly sends help.
- Norse by Norsewest: The main character's homeland, the Kingdom of Nordennavic, is an obvious stand-in for Scandinavian countries in the world of the Ace Combat series.
- Schrödinger's Canon: As this was a mobile spinoff, the game's campaign wasn't made with much in mind beyond loosely fitting the squadron's story into the background of mainline canon. Not helping is how these events haven't ever been mentioned in future games, supplementary materials, or even any acknowledgement from the creators of the series.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Nordennavic's modus operandi with Grendel Squadron, keeping a public appearance of declared neutrality while supporting certain sides in minor ways.
- Grendel Squadron destroys radar stations after Stonehenge's capture by Erusea, to help the ISAF evacuate. Before that, they were protecting the General Assembly on his way to Erusea and transporting refugees following Ulysses.
- Later, Grendel 1 is revealed to have been piloting the Arkbird and its TLS for at least one mission, then assisted in its destruction during its course to Oured.
- Finally, they take out Estovakia's AA weaponry systems before Emmeria's air forces are unknowingly taken out during their destruction of the Chandelier.
- Spider Tank: The Final Boss, the Giant Antlion, basically a four legged walker tank with a giant laser.
- Super Prototype: Unlike other games where you use real aircraft, you only use experimental prototypes in this game, likely because licensing was unaffordable for a mobile game.
- Also notable, for the first time in the series, you get to pilot one of the superweapons you usually take pains to destroy, specifically, the Arkbird from Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War.
- Theme Naming: In keeping with Nordennavic being Norse by Norsewest, all of its fictional aircraft are named after terms from Norse mythology.
