Ace of Aces review - Sega Master System

Flying around Western Europe doesn't sound very dangerous, but when you've been warped back into history and it's the 1940s, you'll probably find that a few thousand Germans are out to turn your fighter bomber into flaming wreckage.

Like the fool you are, you “volunteered” to take part in several missions instrumental to Allied victory in the Second World War. You still hear the voice of your CO, Colonel Stratford, ringing in your ears. “You have volunteered,” he said gruffly, “to take on a flying mission that, until now, you knew nothing about. That, my friend, is the kind of selfless bravery that makes great pilots.”

It's also the kind of selfless bravery that keeps the likes of Colonel Stratford several hundred miles away from the action.

Not it's just you and your Hobson FB-61 “Grim Reaper” fighter bomber. The four missions are pretty simple. Just destroy some munitions trains travelling through Munich, a bunch of namby pamby V-1 “Buzz Bombs” darkening the skies of southern Paris, JU-88 bombers to the east or the U-Boats hanging out in the North Atlantic.

Simple eh? Just remember that the Luftwaffe don't take kindly to our Tommy heroes infiltrating their airspace…

What the Mean Machines staff thought

Oo-er! A flight sim on the Sega. How interesting. Well, it would b if it was any good, but unfortunately Ace of Aces is a sad shambling parody of a flight sim. It's nothing to do with the depth of the simulation. There's quite a lot to do, and plenty of things to blow up, but this is all overshadowed by the truly awful in-game graphics. Featuring very bizarre grey clouds (portrayed in appalling Jerk-O-Vision) the game is graphically tedious and the slow response time makes taking out any ME-109s you may chance across a very laborious task. The control method for accessing all of the instruments is quite nicely done, but in the heat of battle it's very fiddly and serves just to annoy. The sound is laughable, with a single-note engine and simple shooting noise effects. Even if you're incredibly desperate for a flight sim for the Sega, avoid this seriously lacking game at all costs!

Ace of Aces wasn't a particularly awe-inspiring game when it first appeared on the C64 five years ago, and this Sega version is nowhere near as good as the original! Poor-quality, fuzzy graphics and amazingly naff sounds are the nails in the coffin, and th tediously slow gameplay hammers them well and truly home. There's on feeling of excitement - the missions are all pretty dull and unchallenging - and th sluggish and fiddly control method only serves to make play irritating and annoying. Ace of Aces could have been a great Sega flight sim. It's a shame it fails dismally to live up to its potential…