Gameplay-wise, I still prefer Dragon’s Lair II - call me a coward, but I like being told where and when to go - but Space Ace remains my favorite of the trilogy simply because of its goofy Buck Rogers aesthetic and great sense of humor (Kimberly’s repeated sing-songy delivery of “Get me out of heeeeere!” and Dexter’s badass-nerdy “A- ha, Borf is here!” still make me laugh). Since the game is probably the hardest in the trilogy (the last boss fight is tricky as hell, but incredibly satisfying if you do it right), the addition of more flashy-thingies was appreciated. Space Ace splits the difference between the two games: the flashing cues aren’t present for every moment of gameplay, but they’re far more frequent than what you’d find in the first Dragon’s Lair. If you’re supposed to go left, you’ll see a door open, but more often than not the door won’t be accompanied by a big, bright “HEY PRESS THE JOYSTICK IN THIS DIRECTION” flash of light which guides the player through literally every single joystick or button press in the much more user-friendly Dragon’s Lair II. In the first Dragon’s Lair, the player is very rarely given any flashing onscreen clues as to where to go. What’s interesting, however, is how Space Ace‘s gameplay fits within the Bluth trilogy, bridging the gap between Dragon’s Lair and Dragon’s Lair II: Time Warp. You still only have five inputs - the four joystick directions, and the fire key.
That’s about as indepth as the game gets, given that it is a laserdisc title. It’s not exactly Grand Theft Auto, but these little hints of nonlinearity made Space Ace even more lovable than its predecessor. After you’ve spent twenty minutes running from every single alien and robot as Dexter, it’s indescribably satisfying to blast everything you see for a short amount of time.įurthermore, changing into Ace was often optional: whenever Dexter’s watch told him it was time to energize (don’t ask me why), you could simply not press the fire button and Dexter would continue along a totally different path. Though your abilities don’t really change that much, Ace’s segments tend to focus much more on combat than fleeing. This oddly-named weapon transforms the hunky Ace into Dexter, a skinny, nerdy teenager with a goddamn hilarious voice and basically no combat ability whatsoever (hence all the dodging and running and crap these games tended to require).Īs Dexter chases after Kimberly, he’ll occasionally be able to turn back into Ace for a short amount of time.
Borf kidnaps Ace’s girlfriend, Kimberly, and hits Ace with the Infanto Ray.
Playing with the line between film and videogame even more than, say, Metal Gear Solid 4, Space Ace is a beautifully animated, reflex-driven gem from the 1980’s.Īce, a musclebound space pirate (or soldier, or something) is on a quest to stop the evil Borf from taking over the galaxy. If you were around in the 80’s for Dragon’s Lair, you’re probably also aware of Space Ace: gorgeous, film-quality animation plays from a laserdisc inside an arcade cabinet while the player moves the joystick or presses a fire button in order to make the onscreen character perform the correct actions and continue the story. Since I lost my CD copy of the Don Bluth laserdisc trilogy, however, and since I actually played Space Ace, the previous game in that trilogy quite a bit more, I’m here to talk about it instead. I woke up this morning with an inexplicable desire to play Dragon’s Lair II: Time Warp.
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