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.

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