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Generations ago, your ancestor pilotted the ACE combat plane to victory on Earth. Now it's your turn - this time, in the vastness of deep space.

Throughout the galaxy, alien opposition has been conquering planets under Federation jurisdiction. Being pretty dis-chuffed at this action, Mission HQ on Earth have ordered you to sort out the enemy invaders. Boarding the mothership Deliverance, you must hop, skip and jump across the stars, to each of the 118 colonised Federation worlds and, if your Zielger II starfighter, crush the alien threat before it steamrollers its way across the star system to the mother planet.

On board Deliverance, you have at your disposal a host of different information screens to plan your strategy. Whether you wish to check who is on your side and who isn't, or find out the armed strengths of a particular colony, there's a screen here to tell you.

Being the state of the art in fighter design, the Zielger II has an impressive array of offensive and defensive technology. As well as the standard heavy duty front pulse cannon, each of the three Zielger II's on board Deliverance is capable of carrying eight long range missiles, eight rear defence missiles and four fusion bombs, needed to decimate the enemy bases. Tougher shielding and a Rapid Anti-Matter Rechargers can also be fitted, although these are in short supply.

Once armed, you must jettison from Deliverance and begin your assault on the enemy. After negotiating vicious orbital defence fighters, stationed to halt your attack, you must fly down to the planet itself and knock out all of the bases found there.

While this is not exactly a cruise through the park, you will find that rebel forces on the planets (themselves none-too-pleased over the current state of affairs) will assist you in your task. They'll attempt to destroy enemy bases and even, on some occasions, overthrow the enemy on their own and regain control of their own planet. Whichever way success is achieved, it's back to the mothership to plan your next assault on some unsuspecting alien force.

Apparently this is a space-flight combat simulation, is it? Nope. Just a fairly average shoot-'em-up with bits of uninteresting travel in between.

The sound isn't impressive and the 3D graphics aren't exactly overly convincing but that wouldn't matter if the actual gameplay was something to write home about.

It's not. Shame really, because the quality presentation's definitely worthy of something really hot - not just an average shmup with ambitions to become a simulator when it grows up.

Ace 2 in space. That's really all this is. So you can go down on planets and there's me fancy screens to add variety, but they don't hide the fact that Cascade have run short of ideas.

I think it's a bit joke calling Ace 2088 a simulation (as displayed on the front of the box) 'cos it isn't.

Just shoot the baddy, shoot another baddy, then go to another planet where... guess what? That's right, shoot another baddy. Mind you, that's all well and good if you like shooting baddies and aren't too bothered about ineffective 3D. Just don't expect much different between this and its prequel - apart from a few cosmetic additions, that is.

Presentation 79%
Uncluttered displays, with loads of information - but the manual is a bit skimpy.

Graphics 67%
Smooth, well animated information displays compensate for only average sprites and starfield backdrops.

Sound 39%
No tunes, and unimpressive spot effects.

Hookability 68%
Looks as though it could be quite involving at first.

Lastability 52%
Not enough variety to keep you at the screen for ages.

Overall 58%
May appeal to fans of the earlier Ace titles. Try before you buy, though.