I always get a bit of butterflies when I open up a game that has been developed by local South Africans. It honestly makes me oddly proud that our country is creating more and more games and the quality is getting better and better.

So when I received the code for Blazin’ Aces I started my download and then took a look at their launch trailer.

The first thing I thought of when I watched this was the old CGA game I used to play called Sopwith Camel. This is a game I spent many many hours on in my childhood. It was devilishly simple and yet impossible to master. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then take a look at this nostalgia-laden video.

So how does Blazin’ Aces on the iPhone compare?

Well I loaded up the game and the first oddity I noticed was that you could alter the size of the controller buttons on the screen which is a first for me. I set them pretty small so I could view the screen and started up. The game is also very simple, you have up and down buttons, a button to flip your plane and then a shoot and special feature button.

The special features are different things you can collect from falling crates in the sky while you dogfight with the AI players.

So far so good.. until I started to notice that the shoot button doesn’t always work and the up and down also appear to lag. After a while I realised it is because the hit markers on the buttons are just too small. I went into options and made the buttons much larger and things started to work much better.

Every level puts you, and sometimes some friendly aircraft, against a different number of enemy jets. The first to a set score wins the stage and you get points for taking out the enemy which is quite obvious.

Once you crash you can just launch again and you are also able to bail out of your damaged plane and run back to the base to get a new plane.

The game is decidedly fun but at the same time it feels like it is just missing something. I want to be able to bomb tanks on the ground, or take out houses or something. Just attacking the enemy planes all the time does start becoming a little boring.

That’s not to say the game has no depth. You can’t just fly around holding shoot because your weapon will start overheating, also as you start taking damage your plane will start handling worse and worse and you are definitely going to want to eject when the flames are spewing out of the back of your plane – before the enemy gets the points for taking you down.

My only main problem here is that the controls are just not responsive enough, if they can patch that then this could become quite the fun 5 minute game in those boring meetings. There is also a skirmish mode so you can set-up any sort of dogfight you want giving you some solid replayability.

So should you buy it? Well it’s available  for $1.99 on the US iTunes store which I think is a full dollar more than it should be. But if you’re South African then give the guys some support and if they patch the responsiveness of the controls then a $2 purchase is well worth it.

 

Last Updated: May 9, 2014

Blazin' Aces
A hugely entertaining dogfight simulator with just a few controller issues.
7.0
Blazin' Aces was reviewed on iOS
/ 100

31 Comments

  1. Alien Emperor Trevor

    May 9, 2014 at 13:40

    I remember Sopwith. 😀

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      May 9, 2014 at 13:44

      Yup

      Reply

    • Matewis Jubilai

      May 9, 2014 at 14:00

      Damn near impossibly hard as well. Then again, I only played a couple of times on my friend’s XT when we were kids

      Reply

  2. Admiral Chief in Space

    May 9, 2014 at 13:42

    Would have performed better on Android….:P

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      May 9, 2014 at 13:46

      the mobile Master Race lol

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief in Space

        May 9, 2014 at 13:48

        Huehuehue

        Reply

      • Mossel

        May 9, 2014 at 13:54

        Dammit! Does that make me a filthy iOS peasant? Luckily I’m due for an upgrade soon.

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief in Space

          May 9, 2014 at 13:54

          Filthy peasantses

          Reply

        • HvR - THE Average GAmer

          May 9, 2014 at 13:57

          Nope makes you a hipster, peasant would be an upgrade.

          Reply

          • Jedi JJ

            May 9, 2014 at 14:00

            *sizzle*

          • Mossel

            May 9, 2014 at 14:01

            Well…I do like artisan coffee. Oh no! I’ve been a hipster for so long, I was one before it was cool!

          • Jedi JJ

            May 9, 2014 at 14:03

            Haha!

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          May 9, 2014 at 13:58

          You’re lucky I told Zoe I wouldn’t say anything bad about Apple-related products for the rest of the week.

          Reply

          • Her Highness the Hipster

            May 9, 2014 at 14:51

            awww, and been true to your word!

  3. Kromas

    May 9, 2014 at 13:44

    Sopwith and paratrooper ruined my childhood.

    Edit: As well as scorched earth.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief in Space

      May 9, 2014 at 13:49

      Chopifter had my first RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE at gaming

      Reply

      • Kromas

        May 9, 2014 at 13:52

        Nah my first RAAAGGGGEEEE was with an old basic game called Nibbles aka SNake. Then I learned to code and cheated the hell out of that game.

        #NoClipFTW!

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          May 9, 2014 at 14:05

          lol I remember Nibbles too. I’m so old 🙁

          Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        May 9, 2014 at 13:59

        Played Chopperlifter HD on Steam yet?

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief in Space

          May 9, 2014 at 14:29

          Heh, no. Any good?

          Reply

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            May 9, 2014 at 14:41

            Yeah, it’s pretty fun when you want to play something for a few minutes.

    • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

      May 9, 2014 at 14:01

      Paratrooper! That’s the name!

      Reply

      • Kromas

        May 9, 2014 at 14:14

        Paratrooper was the first ever game that I had a peripheral with. Those ugly grey 1 button Joysticks.

        Reply

        • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

          May 9, 2014 at 14:19

          lol

          Reply

  4. Duncan Bell

    May 9, 2014 at 13:46

    Hey guys, just to let you know there is an android version coming shortly. Hopefully within a week 🙂

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief in Space

      May 9, 2014 at 13:49

      Awesome!

      Reply

  5. ?smail Nur

    May 9, 2014 at 13:57

    http://ukash-al.gen.tr/ ukash sat?n alma adresi

    Reply

  6. Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

    May 9, 2014 at 14:01

    Sopwith Camel was an awesome game!

    I bet you also remember the other one (can’t remember the name) where you had to shoot down waves of aircraft flying over your gun and they dropped men with parachutes that would stand on eachother, if they got to the ground, to get to the gun, which if they did you lost

    Reply

  7. HvR - THE Average GAmer

    May 9, 2014 at 14:09

    Shopwith, later Wings of Fury, Sky Destroyer on the 8-bit and countless others I can not remember>

    Worst addiction though was Scorched Earth, so many choices for destruction.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief in Space

      May 9, 2014 at 14:30

      Scorched Earth, the mother of all games

      Reply

  8. Mossel

    May 9, 2014 at 14:11

    Disqus is perfectly secure… Not!

    Reply

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