Review: Aces of the Galaxy (360)

To coin a phrase, Aces is best described as "Starfox on crack". For the Live Arcade, this is a graphical powerhouse with plenty of explosions and enemies being thrown at you. Sometimes there can be too much happening on screen as you lose all sight of what you’re supposed to be firing at and end up just spamming the screen with bullets. This inevitably is Aces' biggest downfall. What doesn’t help is that you have to keep pressing the A button to shoot your main laser; why you can’t just hold it down we don’t know, and after the first level, your thumb will feel like it's about to fall off. Aside from the blister-inducing laser, you also have two other weapons: a lock-on cluster missile that can target a number of ships, and a missile which is best used for the bigger threats. You also have (quite bizarrely) a Matrix bullet-time feature. As odd as this first appears, it becomes incredibly useful in later levels, especially the ones that require you to dodge incoming asteroids.

The good thing about having so much happening on screen is that it does feel suitably epic. The first level in particular reminded us of the Star Wars Episode III opening with giant ships blowing up everywhere. Aces also doesn’t do the on-rails trick of having everything happen way off in the background; the game takes you perilously close to the main action, not letting you view it from the sidelines. However, it is a disappointment that the enemy attack patterns are so simplistic and reminiscent of something like Galaga. Not handling like you’d expect a spacecraft to at all, instead they just fly around in pre-set patterns, often in completely the opposite direction of yourself. Still, it’s acceptable if all you want from Aces is a shooting gallery in space.

The level layout is done quite differently, though still manages to borrow a few things from Starfox 64. You’re flung into the first mission straight away and this revolves around a ridiculous plot about you stealing a secret spaceship from some alien race who sound and look like rejects from a Doctor Who episode. There’s no spoken dialogue, just written, but whenever anybody uses the line "I'm going to turn you into space dust", it normally leaves us cringing. During the level, you may come across a warp pick up; once completing the level, this allows you to choose an alternate path through the game. You could follow along the asteroid belt or, if you prefer some new scenery and enemies, you could go through the fire or ice regions of space. Adding to the longevity is also a co-op mode, which does work really well but only really adds to the utter pandemonium of what's happening on screen.

Aces of the Galaxy is primarily a score-based game with a star rating given at the end of each stage. Disappointingly, you can't freely pick what level to play; instead you have to go through the entire game if there’s one five star rating that you’re missing (for the achievement-chasers). It's a standard setup, but one that doesn’t fit really well with the XBLA pick-up-and-play ethos.

While it may seem like we’re coming down hard on Aces of the Galaxy, we really aren’t. Fans of the genre will lap up the space age conflict, yet some people may be left wanting more.

Rating: 6 / 10

Words by Adam Gulliver