''Ace of Aces'' is a combat flight simulation video game developed by

Artech Digital Entertainment Artech Digital Entertainment, Ltd. (stylized as ARTECH studios) was a video game developer formed in 1982 in Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Also known as Artech Studios, the company developed games such as ''Raze's Hell'', ''Monopoly (2000 vid ...

and published in 1986 by

Accolade The accolade (also known as dubbing or adoubement) ( la, benedictio militis) was the central act in the rite of passage ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages. From about 1852, the term ''accolade'' was used much more generally to ...

in North America and

U.S. Gold U.S. Gold Limited was a British video game publisher based in Witton, Birmingham, England. The company was founded in 1984 by Anne and Geoff Brown in parallel to their distributor firm, CentreSoft, both of which became part of Woodward Brown Ho ...

in Europe. It was released for the Amstrad CPC,

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

, Atari 7800,

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, then vice-p ...

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

Master System The is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 and ...

, and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

. Set in World War II, the player flies a RAF Mosquito long range

fighter-bomber A fighter-bomber is a fighter aircraft that has been modified, or used primarily, as a light bomber or attack aircraft. It differs from bomber and attack aircraft primarily in its origins, as a fighter that has been adapted into other roles, wh ...

equipped with

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

s and a cannon. Missions include destroying German fighter planes,

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb (german: Vergeltungswaffe 1 "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany), Reich Aviation Ministry () designation was Fi 103. It was also known to the Allies as the buz ...

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

s, and

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

s. In 1988 Atari Corporation released a version on cartridge styled for the then-new Atari XEGS. ''Ace of Aces'' received mixed reviews but went on to become one of the best-selling Commodore 64 video games published by Accolade. The game sold 100,000 units.

Gameplay

Upon launching the game a menu screen with options to either practice or partake in a proper mission is shown. If the player decides to do the practice mode, they can choose whether to do

dog fight A dogfight, or dog fight, is an air combat manoeuvring, aerial battle between fighter aircraft conducted at close range. Dogfighting first occurred in Mexico in 1913, shortly after the invention of the airplane. Until at least 1992, it was a ...

training or a

bombing. When playing the practice mode, the enemies are less aggressive. There are five different view options — the

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

, both left and right wings, the navigational map and the bomb bay — which can be accessed by using the keyboard or by double-tapping the fire button and moving the joystick to the desired direction. When in missions, the player controls a twin-engined balsa RAF Mosquito which is already airborne, mitigating the necessity of takeoff. When starting a mission, the player chooses what supplies they wish to bring, but the more the player brings the lower the maximum speed of the plane. At the end of missions, landing is not required and points are awarded according to how many enemies are shot down, along with the amount of unused fuel, bombs, and missiles. When missions are completed, the player can choose to combine two or more of the other missions to produce a mashup.

Reception

Commodore 64

In a 1987 '' Compute!'' article, ''Ace of Aces'' was noted as

's second best selling Commodore 64 game. '' Compute!'', along with other reviewers, praised the graphics and sound in ''Ace of Aces''. 1991 and 1993 ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

'' surveys of strategy and war games gave it one and a half stars out of five, calling it "somewhat ahistorical". In issue 20 of '' Zzap!64'', the reviewer said it was the best factual war simulation they had played. They compared it to '' Dambusters'' and said the playability in this was better. '' Desert Fox'' was also used as a comparison, which was referred to as "sometimes unbelievable". An article by the '' Computer and Video Games magazine'' published in 1986 said that it was another well-made and well-presented game by

and continued to say that the action-packed gameplay would be able to keep "even the most critical computer pilot busy for some time to come". All four criteria were highly rated, with graphics getting a 10, along with sound, value and playability all getting an 8.

Master System

The graphics, along with sound and other features which were highly praised in the Commodore 64 version weren't so highly acclaimed in the Master System version. Chad Reinhardt for ''Defunct Games'' mentioned that ''Ace of Aces'' starts with potential but the poor controls and lack of ability to interact with the plane makes it forgettable. Reinhardt criticised how different the practise mode was from the main game and continued by adding how little help it actually helps when attempting missions. He gave the game a D+ overall. Other reviewers commented that there was no feeling of excitement when playing the Sega version. In a review on ''Kultboy'', it was given a rating of 20% and said the reasoning behind the low review was because the plane, which is meant to be a fighter plane, flies like a tanker. Comparatively the score for graphics the game was given was high, with 68%. '' Sega Pro'' gave the game a rating of 56 and praised the graphics when they were static but continued on to say they were impractical in-game.

Other platforms

The

version was met with reviews disliking the complexity of changing controls and how it may be distracting during a dogfight. In issue 38 of ''

Your Sinclair ''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History The ...

'', reviewers Ben Stone, Paul Sumner and Mike Dunn criticised the difficulty of the game and how the game only contains enough gameplay for a few days. Steve Panak, writing for ''

ANALOG Computing ''ANALOG Computing'' (an acronym for Atari Newsletter And Lots Of Games) was an American computer magazine devoted to the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. It was published from 1981 until 1989. In addition to reviews and tutorials, ''ANAL ...

'', preferred ''Ace of Aces'' to '' Infiltrator'' as an Atari 8-bit flight simulator. Atari 7800 Forever only gave a 2.5 out of 5, but ranked it as the best flight simulator for the system.

References

External links

* *
''Ace of Aces''
at Atari Mania *{{WoS_game, id=0000065, name=Ace of Aces 1986 video games Combat flight simulators Accolade (company) games Amstrad CPC games Atari 7800 games Atari 8-bit family games Commodore 64 games DOS games MSX games Master System games Tiertex Design Studios games U.S. Gold games Video games developed in Canada World War II flight simulation video games ZX Spectrum games Artech Studios games Single-player video games