Ace of Angels Preview

So you like to pilot star fighters, and particularly enjoy the thrill of three-dimensional combat where there is no up, no down, no real left or right. Well, if that is your brand of shooter action, then Flying Rock Enterprise is developing a game that might have you firing those thrusters in a wide-open arena of combat.

The program is Ace of Angels, an online space fighter simulation program currently in beta test phase.

This is a program that the publishers promise will evolve on several levels: there will be an open combat zone known as the Arena; a constant arena called the Outerchange where players and squadrons of players can embark on hosted scenarios and missions, earn credits which can be spent on bases and upkeep, and allows squadrons to get their acts together before embarking on phase three; Campaign, which bases itself on Homeric legend and allows players to develop a character from one of eight alien races from within an area called the Known Sphere. Real-time action in the latter promises to involve players in military, social and political plot lines.

It does sound like an ambitious project, but with the current state of online games, and what will be hitting the Internet in the near future, it also sounds like Flying Rock has timed this style of game perfectly.

But for the moment, there is only the beta testing. Able to be played online or offline, Ace of Angels is played out against a wonderful backdrop of space, with distant suns twinkling and nebulae splayed out like translucent colored clouds against a black velvet sky. Some of the opposing vessels lacked any real character in fly-bys, but in the beta mode, they are little more than targets anyway.

Controls for this program are primarily keyboard based and take getting used to. There was some minor difficulty in slowing down and reversing direction, but the 360-degree panoramic viewing and targeting system allowed the pilot to keep a visual lock on the target. The targeting system is quite good and allows games to cycle through any of numerous possibilities. Some of the controls keep in line with the flight management controls in plane simulation programs. Using the plus and minus keys to increase or decrease thrust is one example.

The sound elements of the game consist mostly of ambient sounds – such as guns or missiles launching – and a nice musical background. But that is not what this game will be about. It will key on flying and fighting, with chat in the form of type (though this is one program where the Microsoft Sidewinder Game Voice would be a tremendous boon). Later, when a pilot either joins up with others to form a squadron, or advances along far enough to tempt the fates, there will be defined goals and purpose to the program.

Ace of Angels is a program that is still undergoing changes before the final release, but from the first view, the future could be extremely bright for this program.