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Commodore Format
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AcroJet (Kixx)
Red Devils, eat your hearts out. Here comes Frames, super spesh' dare-devil piot, ready to take on the lot of you. Well, I would if I could remember which keys do what. AcroJet calls itself, and I quote, 'The Advanced Flight Simulator'. There's nothing to kill, just some complicated aerobatics to perform.
This fight sim's based on the BD-5J AcroJet, one of the most manoeuvrable jet planes ever. You'd have to train for years just to be in with a chance of filing the fuel tank. But with the help of the C64 and a quick reading of the vast instruction sheet, you can pilot one in the safety of your own home - well, a computer simulated one anyway.
As with most keyboard-controlled sims, the playability would be improved with an overlay for your C64. But a bit of effort - or a photographic memory - will have you soaring through the skies.
![AcroJet](/ills_small/c64/microprose/tapes/Acro-Jet-002.gif)
You decide whether you want to attempt a single manoeuvre, take part in a pentathlon or decathlon, or you could just go freestyle. The pentathlons and decathlons consist of flying five or ten different manoeuvres consecutively and you have to try and achieve these feats more stylishly than your opponents (who you never see, by the way). A single manoeuvre can be anything from breaking ribbons tied between two pylons or looping the loop through a gate.
The manoeuvres gradually increase in difficulty and various scores are given for different levels of completion. If you manage to take off, fly around for a bit, then crash you'll get about 10 points. For successfully completing a move with style and flair, you'll get in the region of 80 points.
The graphics jump a bit sometimes and the sound effects are dire. But the plane does do what you want it to do, when you want it to do it and the controls are extensive and easy to use once you've learnt which button does what. So as a flight sim it cuts the mustard (whatever that means).
But I still can't recommend it whole heartedly. A replay section would be good, so you could see what your display looks like from the ground. As it is, the only satisfaction you get is making it to the top in the score charts. AcroJet does what it sets out to do, but then again, so does an ironing board.
Verdict
Up there, beyond the clouds, beyond the stars man will one day find his destiny. But if, in the meantime, the wait is getting a bit tedious you could do worse than loop-the-loop on you C64 with AcroJet to fill in the time.