60 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
60 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
|
||
SPACE ACE
|
||
|
||
SPACE ACE is an arcade game published and distributed by ReadySoft of Canada.
|
||
It offers fabulous graphics and animation, digitized sound and voices, 33
|
||
scenarios, joystick or keyboard control, save option, and copy protection. The
|
||
Atari ST version is the basis of this review, for which you'll need 512K, a
|
||
color monitor, and a 720K disk drive. The double-sided game disks can be read by
|
||
a single-sided drive, but some scenarios will be unavailable.
|
||
|
||
SPACE ACE is a port of the original coin-op laserdisc version which, like
|
||
DRAGON'S LAIR, is the work of Don Bluth, filmmaker ("All Dogs Go to Heaven") and
|
||
former Disney animator. SPACE ACE on the ST has, as the blurbs on the package
|
||
point out, "the breathtaking full-screen animation and sound of the original
|
||
laser-disk game." Yes, it certainly does. Either that or it's a remarkable
|
||
duplication.
|
||
|
||
The rotund Commander Borf is attacking Earth with his Infanto Ray, which will
|
||
turn everyone into an infant. While attempting to prevent this, Space Ace is hit
|
||
by a beam from the Infanto Ray and reduced to a weakling (known as Dexter), at
|
||
which point Borf kidnaps the beautiful Kimberly. Now it's up to you to guide
|
||
Space Ace through thirty-three scenarios, battle hordes of monsters, rescue
|
||
Kimberly, and do away with Commander Borf. Space Ace appears in some scenarios,
|
||
while Dexter appears in others.
|
||
|
||
The ST graphics display consists of single scenes; each is animated and each
|
||
must be completed before moving on to the next. Space Ace has three lives:
|
||
You'll earn an extra life every time you rack up 10,000 points, and when all
|
||
lives are gone, the game ends.
|
||
|
||
ACE can be controlled with either joystick or keyboard: The stick moves Ace (or
|
||
Dexter) in the cardinal directions; the button uses a laser gun. The numeric
|
||
keypad (8,2,4,6 for movement, 0 for firing) replaces the joystick; due to the
|
||
nature of gameplay, the keyboard is the controller of choice. Games in progress
|
||
can be saved on a disk -- one position per disk, and formatting is unnecessary
|
||
-- by pressing keystroke "S" during any scene; the animation sequence continues
|
||
until the scene is finished.
|
||
|
||
The SPACE ACE package comes with four 720K disks that are copy-protected, and
|
||
an ST/Amiga instruction manual.
|
||
|
||
The graphics, animation, and sound effects of SPACE ACE are fabulous. They
|
||
could have been lifted directly from the laserdisc, as it says on the package,
|
||
and if they weren't -- if they were re-created by someone at ReadySoft -- then
|
||
the worst that can be said is that they're of cartoon/motion picture caliber.
|
||
The animation is so fast and smooth that it's easy to lose a life because you're
|
||
staring in giddy amazement at the screen.
|
||
|
||
Like DRAGON'S LAIR, ACE is a game of reaction, not stand-on-the-button joystick
|
||
twiddling. The animation of a scene determines how you must direct Ace's
|
||
actions, and even though the manual explains what needs to be accomplished in
|
||
each scenario, only split-second timing and precision responses to the animation
|
||
will achieve success.
|
||
|
||
There is but one word to describe SPACE ACE: spectacular!
|
||
|
||
SPACE ACE is published and distributed by ReadySoft.
|
||
|
||
*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
|
||
|