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A.C.E. is yet another flight simulator, this time from Cascade. You are the pilot overlooking the controls of a jet fighter and your mission is to fight and destroy the entire air, land and sea forces of the enemy single-handedly, thereby saving the homeland from conquest.

Enclosed with the game comes a sheet of instructions, but it is possible at first to skip reading thee and just play the game by referring to the clearly set out key table. This makes a nice change from having to read every single word in the instruction manual before even loading the game. Even if you do read the whole sheet before proceeding you will find that it is clear and simple to understand - a nice touch from Cascade.

When starting, the instrument panel appears in the lower half of the screen with the view out of the cockpit window in the top half. The panel, like the instruction sheet, is clearly set out. Even so, if you do not understand what the displays mean there is a section in the instructions solely dealing with it. Clever use is made of uncomplicated graphics and colour to highlight the displays and make them clear.

The instrument panel comes into its own when playing the game. It is relatively simple to keep tables on your height and speed as well as the position of the aircraft in the sky all at the same time. The part that especially appealled to me was the display which shows the front and side views of the aircraft as it flies so keeping it straight is a cinch.

Playing the game without a joystick is no fun at all - a game like this needs the quick reactions provided by the stick and this makes it more interesting for the player. Controlling the aircraft even with a joystick can be a little hairy to start with but comes with practice (just like the real thing). Fortunately flight simulators mean that you do not waste good aircraft by crashing them when first starting out.

On the plus side I liked the option for changing the scenery between summer, winter or night-time scenario, although nice the novelty had worn of it was simpler to keep it on the 'summer' option. Each one comes up in full colour with superb graphics. Another plus point is the smoothness of the graphics as the aircraft flies through the air. I was both surprised and pleased to see the enemy aircraft banking and turning in front of my eyes just as they would in real life.

On the minus side, the game can be somewhat tedious to start with - you can get to be excellent at taking off but nothing else. It can be extremely frustrating to fly long distances towards enemy aircraft or refuelling planes just to be told that you have crashed and now have to start back at base again.

If an excellent flight simulator with equally excellent graphics is what you want, I would recommend this one every time. However, if you are looking for an exciting and fast-moving game, I would look elsewhere.