Space Ace for Sega CD
Review #12117
Space Ace
Beat that Borf
Gameplay
As far as FMV games go, this isn't half bad. Whereas most of them require your QTE button press to be accurate, isolated, and well-timed, Space Ace allows you to spam all you like. You only need to get the right input in during the short window of time. It doesn't care about any other inputs that were also thrown in there.
Unfortunately, the problem is knowing what input to provide. Only about half of them are given a helpful hint, such as a flashing animation and about half of those are shown in a misleading spot. A flash to the lop left can mean either up or left. It's unclear far too often. And some give you very little time to think while others telegraph it for a second or two.
There are no difficulty settings - you've got 4 lives and that's that.
Level Design
My chief complain for these games is that you can't intuitively know what to do in each QTE. Space Ace does a decent job of showing you which way to go or button to press by the action on screen. It's not great, but better than some.
However, there are very few long breaks for you to catch your breath. Road Avenger and Revenge of the Ninja remain the gold standard for how to provide stages in an FMV title.
Theme
The Don Bluth Company knew how to make expressive animation, but there's almost nothing that's passes got a plot here. It's the standard save the princess trope, but where am I? What am I doing? Where am I going? Despite the ambiguity, the sci-fi setting is silly and fun. I want to see where this is headed.
Art Style
Excellent animation, naturally. It's got that Sega CD dithering all over the place, but it's full screen and colorful.
Audio
Minimal music with loud sound effects, and good voice quality. However, it's all overshadowed by an and loud sound each time you provide an input. Spamming button presses makes for an unpleasant audio experience.
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