ace (stylized  as acronym for Air Combat Emulator) is a combat flight simulator video game published for the Commodore 64, VIC-20, and Plus/4 in 1985 by Cascade Games. It was ported to the Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Amiga, and ZX Spectrum.

The player takes the role of a fighter jet pilot defending the English coastland against an enemy invasion, having to fight off aerial, ground and naval forces while Allied bases evacuate. The display shows the plane’s instrumentation and cockpit view.

The game was well-received and, despite various issues, it was lauded by critics as one of the best air combat simulators of the time and particularly praised for its accessible gameplay. The game was developed with a budget of £40k by the small UK-based Cascade Games, who later produced two sequels to the game.

Plot – ace

The game is set on the Southern coastland of England during an enemy invasion against the remaining Allied forces.^[1][2] The player takes the role of a fighter plane pilot, who must defeat the invasion. To accomplish this, the player pilots one of the three available Mark 2.1 AWAT (All-Weather All-Terrain) combat aircraft and is charged with defending the last three Allied airbases being evacuated in front of the enemy’s advance. Despite being the lone defender and greatly outnumbered, they must fight enemy forces on all fronts: aerial, ground and naval.^[1] The player progresses through the game engaging different contingents of the invaders.^[3] Initially, they must intercept enemy fighter planes, helicopters and landing ground forces, including tanks, land bases and SAM sites.^[1] Once the enemy is sufficiently driven back, the player can engage the naval fleet.^[3]ace

Gameplay – ace

At the start of the game, the player is presented with a range of options that determine the experience.^[2] The game offers nine selectable levels of difficulty, including a tutorial difficulty in which the enemy forces do not fire back.^[2] Among the options, the player can choose to play either in summer or winter time and either daytime or nighttime, altering the scenery. The player must choose from the range of weapons that will be mounted on their AWAT plane.^[1] These include air-to-air, air-to-ground, air-to-sea and multipurpose missiles, depending on what enemies the player chooses to engage.^[1][4] In addition, the plane is equipped with a machine gun and decoy flares against hostile missiles.^[4] ace