Your commanders
have placed a spy ship just off
the enemy coast to monitor one
of their radar stations. The
enemy (the Ruskies, no doubt)
have quite understandably got a
bit narked about this, and have
sent out one of their planes to
get rid of it! Naturally you're the
only one with the experience
(and stupidity) to sort it out, so
pack your bags and off you go.
Sound familiar?. Yep, I've seen
Top Gun too - and
Ace II has
obviously been inspired by
Oceans game of the film. It pits
you head-to-head against either
the computer or another player.
The screen is split in half to give
an out-of-the-cockpit view for
each player. At least I think
they're supposed to be views! All
I seem to be able to see is the
ground, the sky and occasionally
the odd target. Which is a bit of a
step back from the rolling hills
and trees of
ACE I I'm afraid.
The aim of the game is quite
simply to knock out the other
plane, and if you're feeling
particularly nasty his radar
station too. You do this with the
usual assortment of missiles and
machine guns. You can tweak
the options to change the skill of
the computer's plane and the
number of hits needed to shoot it
out of the sky.
Whilst reviewing this game I
couldn't help thinking that the
programmers have gone a little
too far in simplifying things. The
flight controls are just up, down,
left and right, and the plane
seems to respond very strangely
to some commands. Add to this
the featureless cockpit view and
a few rough edges here and
there,
ACE II begins to look
somewhat primitive -
neanderthal I'd say!
It's more of an arcade game
than a simulator - and a pretty
duff one at that! On the whole a
bit of a let down - if you're into
this sort of thing stick with
ACE I.
| Ratings given by other magazines |
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| Info supplied by the SPOT*ON database |