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Ace is a jet combat flight simulator. Wait, and
don't you dare turn the page. Okay, so it's a flight
simulator and flight simulators are often a bit boring.
Right? Wrong! This one certainly isn't, so read on.
When
you start a game you are given a large list of options.
Firstly you can choose the time of year, either winter
or summer and whether it is day or night. When you do
so the screen changes to the appropriate colours.
You
can then equip your plane with weaponry -- air-to-ground
missiles, air-to-sea, air-to-air or multirole, a limited
number of all three. You also have a standard armament
of 8,000 rounds of shells and decoy flares. Shells are
useful for aerial combat, whilst decoy flares will help
you dodge any heat-seeking missiles that are fired towards
you.
Once
that's done, select the skill level from the nine provided
and then you can start flying.
The
aircraft itself is equipped with the usual instrumentation
needed to fly a plane -- speedometer, altimeter, thrust
and fuel gauges, roll and pitch indicator and a compass.
You also have some hi-tech onboard equipment -- an audio/visual
computer output screen which speaks as well as displays
messages and warnings. There is a radar which shows
anything in the immediate vicinity, either in the air
or on the ground, and it also shows whether a plane
is above or below you. To help you keep an eye on what's
going on behind you there is an effective rear-view
camera which shows any enemy planes that are on your
tail on a screen in the cockpit, a sort of rear-view
mirror if you like.
You
begin any mission on the ground. No start-in-the-air
short cuts here -- you have to actually zoom down the
runway and take off. Luckily, getting into the air isn't
too difficult -- just press the thrust to maximum, wait
until you're doing 150 knots, then pull back on the
joystick and you take off. Don't forget to raise
the undercarriage, otherwise your plane breaks up!
Once
you're in the air you can refer to the SIM (Satellite
Intelligence Map). This shows the surrounding
allied and enemy areas (so you can prepare for flak
when you fly over them), allied airfields and any enemy
forces, whether they're in the air, on the sea or on
the ground. Using this you can fly to their location
using the compass and attack them, although don't forget
to select the correct type of weaponry to deal with
them, otherwise precious armament may be wasted.
You
are likely to run out of fuel, and when this occurs,
you are told the height and speed you should fly to
rendezvous with a refuelling plane flying a regular
path deep in allied territory. Refuelling in mid-air
is a tricky business -- if you're only a few feet out
or a little bit too fast, the consequences can be disastrous.
If you do ever get in any sort of trouble, then ejection
from the plane is a viable alternative to frying, although
to do this safely you should be over allied territory.
An original feature in Ace is the two-player
mode whereby one player flies the fighter while the
other aims and fires missiles or shells.
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