I am myself not a big buyer of online games, I still prefer to receive a game box, a real CD and nothing beats the smell of a brand new manual.
Anyways, the game is a flight sim/war game/shoot-em up based on WWI and you have up to 8 different airplanes to choose from. There is also the possibility to play this over the Internet or via LAN with up to 8 players.
You will have no problems getting started and you steer your plane with your mouse and fire with mouse button 1 and drop any eventual bombs with mouse button 2. No 10 000 different buttons to remember (not unless I missed a few :P) and this is one charm with the game. It's so easy to get started!
Even though it is easy getting started playing it and completing each mission is a whole different story.
The enemy AI is quite up to par in 9/10 chances and more than once I had to "bite the dust" :P
One of those occasions was where i thaught i was home free thinking i had completed everything in the level, and all of a sudden i get shot down by a tank i totally missed. Restart!
Each mission has its different stages. It can be anything from first taking out all enemy aircraft in order to focus on the ground troops. Of course you can choose yourself what to start with but I would recommend you to start blasting those enemy aircrafts :P
Even though this is a budget game I think it is one of the better ones out there. Most budget games don't even grasp my attention at all but this one did. I think it is a combined easy-to-get-started feeling mixed with I'll-just-wipe-out-that-last-tank-and-then-I-will-go-to-bed spices.
Red Ace Squadron reminds me of a game I used to play on my old trusty Amiga machine. The name of the game was 'Wings' and even though Red Ace Squadron is not half as good as 'Wings' was, it is still is the best and closest one out there that i played so far. Although if someone knows a game similar to Wings or even better don't hesitate to contact me.
The only thing I would like to complain about is the amount of missions. If you play a lot you will soon have done all of the 8 missions and even though I have played each of them several times again and again, I still wouldn't have had any objections against a few extra missions.
Maybe Global Star Software will make a full Mission add-on CD? Let us hope ;-)
I have been questioning Global Star Software's choice to bring already online products and make them retail. But with the low price ($19.95) and the amount of happy hour(s) this game brings you I guess I just have to reconsider. Buying games online isn't something I tend do myself since I prefer to buy a game and get a game box and real cd with it. On the other hand if Global Star Software hadn't purchased this title I would properly never have heard of it/played it.
There is a demo version available at the Small Rockets website and its aprox 20mb large. For further more information about Global Star Software and Red Ace Squadron go here.
