Time Ace

[davidbrit2]

I'm surprised there hasn't been much fuss about this. It's pretty much a successor to Time Pilot that plays like Star Fox.

http://media.ds.ign.com/media/882/882352/imgs_1.html

I wouldn't say it's a rail shooter, since you can roam pretty freely, but the course of action through the level is fairly pre-orchestrated. It's very much worth the paltry $20 price (if you can find it - I've only seen it at Wal Mart so far). My main gripe is the lack of stylus flight control. The d-pad control is well-implemented, though.

[BydoEmpire]

The game looked pretty good, but the poor reviews scared me off. I should know better than to trust modern game mag reviews of classic-style games... On the other hand, there are so many games I need to buy, so this kind of fell way down the 'to buy' queue. $20 is pretty tempting.

[Damaramu]

Here's some gameplay footage. Looks spiffy! http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=16716&type=mov&pl=game

[davidbrit2]

Here's some gameplay footage. Looks spiffy! http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=16716&type=mov&pl=game

That's video from stage 1 (1917), in case you're wondering. He's supposed to be following that train along the tracks and blowing it to smithereens, but isn't doing a particularly good job of it. ;-)

[DaBargainHunta]

I really want this, bad reviews be damned. Trying to find a copy in Canada. The video looks great. Impressive graphics by DS standards.

[DaBargainHunta]

I picked this up yesterday...

To get into the right frame of mind, I played a couple of rounds of Time Pilot (on Konami Classics Series for DS). Time Ace is indeed a spirtual successor to the earlier game in a lot of ways, but it also reminds me heavily of something like After Burner.

The story begins with a scientist's assistant stealing a time machine to gather up all of the major weapons throughout time in order to take over the world. The scientist (you) has to track him through time and foil his nefarious plot. Pretty silly stuff, but it sets up the game nicely enough.

My damn DS battery was going red again (I think I need a new one, because it NEVER seems to last a full ten hours), so I was only able to play through level 1 and a bit of level 2.

Some reviews harp on how "ugly" the graphics are. Aside from the pixelly explosions (which are satisfying nonetheless), I don't agree. Granted, this game isn't going to amaze you in the visual department by any means - but the game looks fairly decent to me. I'd say it's on par with a lot of PSX/N64 stuff.

But what really matters, of course, is the gameplay. If you're hankering for some old-school Afterburner-style gameplay where you just "shoot a lot of shit up," Time Ace will satisfy that itchy trigger finger of yours. Don't expect anything too deep here - this is basic shoot-em-up action. There are some objectives though. For example, you have to chase down and blow up a train in level 1. Level 2 begins with you being asked to blow up a series of bridges.

A feature I haven't seen mentioned in the reviews is the ability to repair your craft with the stylus. I believe you can access this option after beginning a saved game. I don't know if piloting a "damaged" craft will have any effect on your performance in the game, but "repairing" it seems to give you added health and such. All in all, it's fairly superficial and it seems like just something they threw in there to get use of the stylus - but at the same time, it's a fairly creative take on the old formula of increasing your attributes before beginning a new level.

Of course, there are also power-ups in the game itself. The two main ones I've seen are health and after burners. The after burners give you a temporary boost of speed. It works sort of like nitro in a racing game. It's useful in the first level when you're trying to catch up with a moving train.

All in all, I'm a sucker for time travel stuff, so that may color my perceptions slightly. I'm also a fan of old-school Afterburner-style shoot-em-ups, and we unfortunately don't see too many of those around anymore. Time Ace may not blow you away, but it's an ace way to kill some time.