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One of your spy ships has moved into position off enemy territory - so it's no great surprise when they send out a combat fighter to destroy the spy ship.

You must detect the aircraft before it reaches the spy ship. When you come face to face there may be no more than a dogfight, or it could be a full-scale ground-and- aerial conflict.

You take off in a fighter from an aircraft carrier at your home base. The cockpit has all mod cons: radar, compass and pitch-and-roll indicators and an altimeter are all them.

Your fighter is highly manoeuvrable and can bank left or right, dive and climb. Engine power (shown on a thrust indicator) can be finetuned, and when three quarters of available power have been engaged, afterburners kick in, dramatically increasing thrust and fuel-consumption.

Speed is crucial to keeping the fighter airborne, because if you slow down too much the aircraft can stall.

Altitude has to be monitored, too: there is a ceiling of 60,000 feet above which your aircraft cannot go.

On encountering the enemy, you have a range of weaponry available. Your Ace fighter carries aerial cannon, heat-seeking and radar-directed missiles, air-to-ground and air-to-ship missiles. All have quite different capabilities.

Still, what the enemy can do is equally drastic. When the enemy fires its cannon you can only take evasive action, and you might end up scurrying back to the aircraft carrier for repairs.

Cascade's original Ace flight simulation earned 81% Overall in CRASH Issue 32.

Joysticks: Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: split-screen display with unrealistic representation of movement
Sound: very simple spot effects
Options: two-player option

'Yet more flight simulations... this one has more novelty, with face-to-face combat, but it's spoiled by the cramped, split screens, which don't leave much room for intricate graphics. Nevertheless, once you're engrossed in flying around the barren wastes the tactical part of the game gets progressively more addictive.'

'I like a good flight simulation now and then, but there's no gameplay in Ace 2. The graphics are OK and the presentation excellent, with a good loading screen and excellent packaging, but Ace is a cheap follow-up to a great original'

'This is the perfect flight simulation, allowing the aircraft enormous manoeuvrability. In many respects Ace 2 looks like Ocean's Top Gun, but it's in a higher class. However, the colour is sparse, as is the the sound, and the playing area is rather small - though it still permits the two-player option.'