Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!jarthur!uunet!dg!dg-rtp.dg.com!dave
From: dave@mystie.webo.dg.com (David Kopper)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Space Ace (+ Rastan)
Message-ID: <1176@dg.dg.com>
Date: 30 Nov 90 21:52:56 GMT
References: <1990Nov29.073007.475@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Sender: root@dg.dg.com
Reply-To: dave@mystie.webo.dg.com (David Kopper)
Organization: Data General Corporation, Westboro, MA
Lines: 70

I bought Space Ace - I guess its time for a mini-review.

The plot behind Space Ace is that your sweetheart is kidnapped
by Borf.  Your job is to rescue her from Borf's spaceship.
You have to avoid problems and shoot monsters to rescue her.

SA comes on 9 diskettes and the directions say that the game
can not be installed on your hard disk.  I tried installing
it on my hard disk (simply creating a directory SA and copying
all of the files to the SA directory).  The game seems to work
just fine (until I get to about scene 30 or so and then my copy
dies - they said its a problem with one of my diskettes and to
send the broken diskette back to them (I've just sent it back...
I'll post an update when I get my fixed version back... although
my hard disk is now in the shop, so this may take a while)).
I have not attempted to play this game from diskettes - you would
probably go insane swapping disks (more on this problem in a little).

The animation is fantasic!  I've never seen such cartoon like
animation on a GS before!  For an example of what can be done,
this program really shines!  Also, the soundtrack is very good.
During gameplay there are a lot of digitized sounds and they
play together with the animation very well.  (The animation
is a fixed sequence animation, which is probably drawn in fill
mode during each VBL).

The controls of your characters (Space and one other... - you are
two characters in this game, but only one is on the screen at a
time) are five keypad keys (up, down, left, right, fire ray gun)
and a pause key.

The way you play this game is to wait till the appropriate time
then hit the appropriate key to do something (like jump behind a
boulder or blast a monster).  Some scenes require multiple actions
on your part (like moving a few times).

You start with three men and once you kill them off then you must
start at the beginning.  There are no provisions for saving a game
in the GS version (the mac version does have a save option).

There are about 40 scenes (although I'm really not too sure of
that number) and each scene lasts about 20 seconds (on the average,
some are much shorter, not many are longer).  When the scene is
played through then you continue to the next scene (a picture of
Space Ace is displayed while the next sceen is read from disk).

I played off of my hard disk and got through the first 30 scenes
within several hours (once I got the hang of the game).  I suspect
that I could probably finish the game within a total of three hours.

WARNING: My system is not exactly a standard GS.  I have a RamFAST,
TWGS and 4.25meg of memory.  I have not attempted to play this game
at normal GS speeds or off the diskette!


Recommendations:

Buy it if you want to see the slickest animation/sound I've ever
seen on a GS!

Don't buy it if you don't want a game that will build your arms up
(Insert disk number N now...) or that will probably sit on the shelf
after the first couple of days of playing it.

Side note: This game is not copy protected!


  Dave Kopper        Internet: dave@mystie.webo.dg.com
                           or: dave%dgc.mceo.dg.com@relay.cs.net
Apple II Forever!       GEnie: D.Kopper