
	Platform BluRay (Playstation 3) Genre Arcade Publisher Digital Leisure Developer Digital Leisure ESRB E (Everyone) Released April 8, 2008

- Space Ace in high-definition - Brand new interviews and commentary in high-definition - Both wide and standard aspect ratios included

- The gameplay is so 1984 - Extra interview is on the short side - It makes you yearn for a fully 3D game based on these characters

Review: Space Ace HD (PC) Review: Curse of Monkey Island (PC) Review: Dragon's Lair HD (PC)
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Space Ace

Score: 7.5 / 10

Space Ace is like the younger brother that got the benefits of its parent’s expertise. When developing Dragon’s Lair, Don Bluth and group took the feedback of that game (more intricate game play branching and faster movements) and gave it all to Space Ace. Likewise, Digital Leisure who has effectively taken over the reigns of the franchises has learned from its past to bring us the definitive high definition version of this game from 1984.

Looking at the visuals, you certainly wouldn’t think this is from 1984. The remastered scenes in high definition are visually stunning and Digital Leisure addressed one of my biggest complaints about their high-def conversion of Dragon’s Lair: the game is available in both the original 4:3 format as well as a new 16:9 format suitable for your HDTV.

The audio has been given the once over as well, streaming a full Dolby 5.1 surround out to your speakers. Unlike Dragon’s Lair that contained the occasional

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music piece tied to a plot point in the game, Christopher Stone’s music stitches together an underlying tone throughout the game – giving it a more cinematic feel than ever.

The game play consists of making timed moves – up, left, down and right and an “action” button all within a short time window. Many

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modern games use this mechanism as a way to move forward a game’s cinematics and it is obvious that this has been inspired by games like Space Ace.

This method, however, represents the entire amount of the game’s depth. To make Space Ace more “sophisticated” than its predecessor Dragon’s Lair, the creators allowed for different paths to be followed as your main character can be either the younger “Dexter” or “Ace”, a grownup. At certain points in the game you will see “Energize” which allows you to change the direction of the game—to a degree. All paths end up at the same place, which has you facing the quintessential enemy: Commander Borf.

The Blu-ray version of the game uses the BD-J capabilities of Blu-ray players, allowing for fairly complex programming. There are features here that have previously only been available in computer versions such as correct move confirmations on screen and “guidance” indicators to help you make the right move.

The disc includes some extras including a brand new high-definition interview with the original creators of the game. Although short, the discussion does bring to light some new and interesting details. More impressive is the commentary that shows the entire game footage as a long movie, and has a picture in picture of Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and Rick Dyer discussing the elements you are seeing. Another extra is the inclusion of a progression reel which shows the evolution of the game over the years in terms of quality and makes it quite obvious how much better the Blu-ray edition is.

I was also quite impressed with the presentation of this version of the game. The 3-D menus add a great element to the overall package and really shows that this wasn’t just a quick port. It’s quite evident the developer cares about the franchise and is trying to deliver the ultimate version. If you’re not a fan of the original, this might not be your cup of tea but if you’ve spent any time at all with Space Ace in the arcades then this is the edition you have to get. No questions asked.

- Syd Bolton

(April 23, 2008)

Syd Bolton has been collecting game consoles for over 20 years and has dozens of systems and over 5,000 games. Do you agree or disagree with this review? Make sure you share with us here.