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There seems to be that spirit of the Blitz knocking around in the software industry currently - it even seems to have spread to the US. I'm talking about the number of WII simulations and arcade games around at the moment.

Ace Of Aces is a cross between an arcade game and a Mosquito simulation. It's most reminiscent of Sydeney's Dambusters game in that it gives you a mission, a number of different tasks and viewpoints, and a combat game all in one simulation.

To begin with, you are offered a choice between practice and taking on a mission by your Group Captain, depicted nearly as a figure with a handlebar moustache tapping a blackboard with a pointing stick. My advice is to dispense with practice as rapidly as possible, since I found what seemed like a bug which caused me to crash too frequently into the ground - I never had this problem on missions.

And it is with missions besides, that the true appeal of this game lies. You can choose from any or all of stopping bombers attack London, downing V1s, bombing trains and sinking U-boats. Taking the lot on gives you a fairly heavy schedule though, but does let you become Ace of Aces.

An intelligence report scrolls up and tells you in detail your task and a map is produced showing the respective bases of the enemy for you to study and inwardly digest.

Your last stop before taking off is loading up the plane with ammunition and fuel. You need plenty of cannon shells, bombs and rockets. The distance of your mission determines how much fuel you need and you don't want to overload otherwise it'll slow you down.

Your preliminary duties completed the scramble sounds and your selected mission loads. Being a bit of an airborne hero I chose to inflict a massive body blow on the enemy by taking on everything in sight. [My hero! - Ed]

Of course, what they don't tell you in the briefing session is that your aircrew are off sick or were in the toilet when the scramble sounded, so there I was, flying a plane, navigating it, bomb-aiming and making all the tactical decisions as well. Thank God I didn't have to take off - that's done for you.

You begin with a forward cockpit view, showing a typical cockpit display for the era and a view of the clouds rushing underneath you. From here you control direction (using the compass), height and forward-firing (rockets and nose cannons). But you'll need to flick around the rest of the plane keeping tabs on everything else. You can toggle to different stations by hitting keys one to five or tapping the Fire button in some convoluted sequence.

The intercom, depicted by a small plane on the display which flashes in certain quarters often calls your attention to problems such as a fighter attack, or fuel shortage, but you need to keep a careful eye on everything.

I decided to take out the bombers and V1s first since they were closest, and would make their targets more quickly. My compass had been fitted with this amazing new direction finder which made it really easy to lock onto target direction. I don't ever recollect seeing that anywhere else, but it saved me a hell of a lot of hassle because I flunked the navigation course.

Everything went pretty smoothly - I was on top of the bombers in no time. Blew them right out of the sky like it was a duckshoot. That flu bug must have crossed the channel because those big boys didn't have any tail gunners.

Problems started to occur with the V1s. Well, not with the V1s, more with the fighters I ran into on the way to intercept them since they had already been launched and were heading for London. I was slowed up considerably and, in fact, I was lucky to get out alive. I lost the first by diving into the clouds and taking all manner of puke-inducing evasive actions. The second was not to be shaken off so a desperate dogfight ensued which ended up with a head-on Mexican stand-off. Keeping my nerve, I waited until he flipped into my sights and fired a burst into his nose. He blew up instantly. Chew on that, Adolf! Trouble was, I think a V1 got through - hope it missed my house.

A quick switch to my navigation map told me I was wildly off course and likely to be taking tea in Edinburgh if I didn't do soemthing about it pretty sharpish. I'd just about corrected the problem when my port wing started flashing on the intercom. A quick flick of the key and I found out why. Fire! "Don't panic," I thought. "There's a fire extinguisher there, just put it out. Simple." It worked as well, but be warned, don't make the same mistake again by increasing the throttle into the red. The engine overheats and bursts into flames.

I had a lot of ground to make up. Dumping a fuel tank helped lighten the load and keeping a firm fix on direction helped me a little, but by the time I reached the train it was over halfway to its destination. It was full of POWs and Red Cross wagons, but fortunately Jerry had kindly painted all of them to help me find the right ones to bomb. It took me a couple of runs to get it right. I overshot twice, but once the intercom flashed red in the plane's centre you can get ready to nip down to the bomb aimer's station and open the doors. A crosshair lets you aim and allowing for the delay I quickly had the right carriages burning away nicely. Well, I did hit one Red Cross van, but I'm sure they wouldn't have lived anyway.

By the time I'd finished congratulating myself and dreaming of DFCs I was engulfed by fighters. I took a couple out and lost the other but I ended up way off course again and about to lose sight of the U-Boat. So it was a case of limping home and hoping that no-one gave me a hard time for letting that V1 through.

Ace Of Aces is a marvellous blend of flight sim and arcade shoot-'em-up. The graphics are great, more detailed than Dambusters and the game is realistic in many ways without being too complicated. Sound is excellent, especially the engine and weapons effects. Just in case you don't feel quite brave enough to take on the job there's even a version of 'Land of Hope and Glory' to rouse your jingoistic spirits! The disk took ages to load, but I doubt if the cassette could be any worse, anyway - great stuff - tally ho cheers!