| Aces of the Pacific | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Dynamix |
| Publisher | Sierra On-Line |
| Designer | Damon Slye |
| Programmer | Bob Lindstrom |
| Artist | Mark Peasley |
| Composer | Jan Paul Moorhead |
| Platform | MS-DOS |
| Release | 1992 |
| Genre | Combat flight simulation |
| Mode | Single-player |
Aces of the Pacific is acombat flight simulation game developed byDynamix forMS-DOS compatible operating systems and published bySierra On-Line in 1992. The game takes place duringWorld War II. Players can choose to play a single mission or a career path inUnited States Army Air Forces,United States Navy,United States Marines,Imperial Japanese Army, orImperial Japanese Navy. Dynamix followed-up the game withAces Over Europe in 1993.
AnAmiga version ofAces of the Pacific was previewed,[1] but not released.
Aces of the Pacific features various warplanes of the World War II era, such as theF6F Hellcat and theZero. The game includes historical missions, should the player choose to play them during the course of their career or as a single mission. Historical missions include the Japanese Navy's surpriseAttack on Pearl Harbor, defense ofPearl Harbor by a handful ofArmy Air CorpsP-40 Warhawks based atWheeler Field, fighter/bomber combat during theBattle of Midway, theBattle of Leyte Gulf, theBattle of Coral Sea, and the mission to shoot down AdmiralIsoroku Yamamoto after deciphering Japanese messages of his scheduled plans to visit island bases.
NumerousWorld War II aces make an appearance in the game, and the player can fly either with or against them through the course of their career.Dick Bong,Thomas McGuire,David McCampbell,Joe Foss, andPappy Boyington are some of the American aces that appear in the game. Accomplished aces of the Imperial Japanese Navy such asHiroyoshi Nishizawa,Tetsuzō Iwamoto, andSaburo Sakai also take to the skies of the Pacific.
If the1946 Expansion Pack is installed, at the end of the war, the player may choose to continue in an alternate history in whichatomic bombs were never used on Japan. The game calls the campaignOperation Coronet, the planned invasion of Japan. This extra campaign contains numerousprototype aircraft that were developed before the war's end but never saw combat in World War II.
Aces of the Pacific was a commercial hit, with sales of 350,000 units.[3]
Computer Gaming World's Doug Fick in September 1992 calledAces of the Pacific "simultaneously awesome and disappointing." The reviewer praised the graphics, documentation, and gameplay, but found that even a fast computer could not run the software with sufficient performance, the AI enemies and sound were inferior to those ofRed Baron, and that aircraft performance was unrealistic. He concluded that "Aces of the Pacific is 80% 'battle-ready'" and hoped that the developer would "provide that extra 20%."[4] In December, Fick reported that Dynamix had significantly improved performance without sacrificing graphics, and also improved opponents' AI, sound, and aircraft realism. He concluded that "as updated,Aces of the Pacific lives up to its tremendous advanced billing and is now superior toRed Baron."[5] In March 1993 Fick reported that he enjoyed theWWII: 1946 expansion disk, but wished that it included amission builder as withRed Baron. He concluded that "It serves as a nice addition ... but is not essential".[6] A 1993 wargame survey by the magazine gave the game four stars out of five, calling it "the flight simulator of World War II".[7] The game received 5 out of 5 stars inDragon.[8] The editors ofPCGames nominatedAces of the Pacific for their award for the best flight simulator of 1992, but gave the prize toFalcon 3.0.[9]
In 1994PC Gamer US namedAces of the Pacific the 12th best computer game ever. The editors wrote, "With its unsurpassed variety of aircraft and mission types,Aces of the Pacific may well be the most gratifying air-combat simulation ever made."[10] In 1996Computer Gaming World ranked it as the 47th best game of all time, for setting "new standards for graphics and performance."[11] In 2003IGN ranked it as the 92nd top game, stating: "Realism, aircraft, technology, multiplayer and many ways to kill many a folk madeAces of the Pacific an immediate hit. (...) Better flight sims have come and gone, but this was one of the first truly glorious ones and its brand is still burnt in our minds."[12]