"Ace Armstrong vs the Alien Scumbags!" Review (PSP)
About.com Rating
The Bottom Line
I'm really not much of a shooter fan (in fact, I suck at shooters of all kinds), but the tongue-in-cheek 50s/60s cartoon styling of the art in Ace Armstrong really caught my eye. The hero's got a raygun, so how could I resist? Alas, it took a long time and a lot of replaying to get very far in the game and eventually I gave up in frustration. And it's not just because I'm terrible at arcade games (I'm not really bad at all of them)--I looked at other folks' reactions to the game and found them the same as mine: it's a game that looks cool, but delivers mostly frustration.
Publisher's Site
Pros
Cons
Description
Guide Review - 'Ace Armstrong vs the Alien Scumbags!' Review (PSP)
I adore 50s and 60s space-themed stuff. I can look up from my desk as I type this and see a Mars Attacks ray gun on my wall, along with a collection of similar sci-fi weaponry. So I had high, high hopes for Ace Armstrong vs the Alien Scumbags!, even though my history with shooters is not great (which is to say, I try them from time to time, and sometimes I find one I like, but mostly I'm not very good). Alas, though it looks cool, Ace Armstrong didn't turn out to be one of the rare shooters I get along with.
Game Details
The controls in Ace Armstrong are easy to pick up. Move your ship through the side-scrolling levels using the d-pad or the analog stick, whichever you prefer. Shoot with the x button. Suck up the remnants of enemies weapons with the Recycl-O Ray using the shoulder buttons, and fire those recycled weapons with the circle and square buttons. So far, so good.
Succeeding in the game, though, is another thing entirely. There's the enemy fire to dodge, for one. While you can eliminate some of that by shooting the bad guys before they shoot you, there are some enemy ships that are indestructible (or nearly so), so you have to dodge a lot. There are also aliens shooting at you from the ground--you can take them out, but you have to get the right kind of enemy weapon to recycle into something that shoots diagonally, and you don't have much control over that.
If that wasn't enough, your ship is awfully fragile, and can't take many hits before it explodes. And you can't touch any of the scenery, either, or boom! And sometimes it's really hard to tell what's just background, and what's an object that will turn your ship into a fiery ruin.
There are some features to help you along. Depending on which level you start at (I began with "rookie" and still found it overly difficult, so I can't imagine playing at a harder level) you'll get a different number of continues--lose your life and the game lets you play on. For a while. If you haven't beaten the final boss of the level before you run out of continues, that's it, you start again at the beginning. And I really mean the beginning. If, somehow, you managed to battle your way to level 4 and ran out of continues during the boss battle, you don't start over at the beginning of level 4, you go right back to the beginning of the game. And while that does fit with the arcade roots of Ace Armstrong it's just one difficulty too many. (Actually, it's several difficulties too many, but I think that's the one that killed the game for me).
So, if you're a fan of unfairly hard shooters--and I know there are some of you out there--this game should be a nice challenge for you. For the rest of us, it might be a fun way to spend a few minutes now and then. Or we could save our money for something a little less frustrating.
Publisher's Site
The Bottom Line
I'm really not much of a shooter fan (in fact, I suck at shooters of all kinds), but the tongue-in-cheek 50s/60s cartoon styling of the art in Ace Armstrong really caught my eye. The hero's got a raygun, so how could I resist? Alas, it took a long time and a lot of replaying to get very far in the game and eventually I gave up in frustration. And it's not just because I'm terrible at arcade games (I'm not really bad at all of them)--I looked at other folks' reactions to the game and found them the same as mine: it's a game that looks cool, but delivers mostly frustration.
Publisher's Site
Pros
- Funny, 50s-style cartoon graphics.
- Easy to pick up, difficult to master.
- Recycle enemies weapons instead of gaining power-ups.
Cons
- Really, really hard to master if you're not a shooter fan (and maybe too hard even then).
- Have to start over from the beginning once you run out of continues.
- Too many cheap deaths.
Description
- ESRB Rated T - published by Laughing Jackal
- Graphics: Fun retro 50s/60s cartoon style. Flat art looks bland at worst, cool and stylish at best.
- Sound: Simple soundtrack with retro beeps and bloops fits the style. Some dialogue or one-liners would have added a lot.
- Gameplay: Simple sidescroller with only a few commands is easy to pick up, but other features make it very difficult to win.
- Multiplayer: No multiplayer, as with all PSP Minis.
- Replay value: If all you want is to mindlessly shoot and die and shoot and die, pretty high. Otherwise, no replay value.
- Recommendation: For those who like really hard shooters, go ahead, the price is right. For everyone else, not recommended.
Guide Review - 'Ace Armstrong vs the Alien Scumbags!' Review (PSP)
I adore 50s and 60s space-themed stuff. I can look up from my desk as I type this and see a Mars Attacks ray gun on my wall, along with a collection of similar sci-fi weaponry. So I had high, high hopes for Ace Armstrong vs the Alien Scumbags!, even though my history with shooters is not great (which is to say, I try them from time to time, and sometimes I find one I like, but mostly I'm not very good). Alas, though it looks cool, Ace Armstrong didn't turn out to be one of the rare shooters I get along with.
Game Details
- Publisher:Laughing Jackal
- ESRB Rating:T (Teen - Blood, Mild Fantasy Violence)
- Genre:Arcade Shooter
- Release Date:September 2010
- Format: download only
- Other platforms: none
The controls in Ace Armstrong are easy to pick up. Move your ship through the side-scrolling levels using the d-pad or the analog stick, whichever you prefer. Shoot with the x button. Suck up the remnants of enemies weapons with the Recycl-O Ray using the shoulder buttons, and fire those recycled weapons with the circle and square buttons. So far, so good.
Succeeding in the game, though, is another thing entirely. There's the enemy fire to dodge, for one. While you can eliminate some of that by shooting the bad guys before they shoot you, there are some enemy ships that are indestructible (or nearly so), so you have to dodge a lot. There are also aliens shooting at you from the ground--you can take them out, but you have to get the right kind of enemy weapon to recycle into something that shoots diagonally, and you don't have much control over that.
If that wasn't enough, your ship is awfully fragile, and can't take many hits before it explodes. And you can't touch any of the scenery, either, or boom! And sometimes it's really hard to tell what's just background, and what's an object that will turn your ship into a fiery ruin.
There are some features to help you along. Depending on which level you start at (I began with "rookie" and still found it overly difficult, so I can't imagine playing at a harder level) you'll get a different number of continues--lose your life and the game lets you play on. For a while. If you haven't beaten the final boss of the level before you run out of continues, that's it, you start again at the beginning. And I really mean the beginning. If, somehow, you managed to battle your way to level 4 and ran out of continues during the boss battle, you don't start over at the beginning of level 4, you go right back to the beginning of the game. And while that does fit with the arcade roots of Ace Armstrong it's just one difficulty too many. (Actually, it's several difficulties too many, but I think that's the one that killed the game for me).
So, if you're a fan of unfairly hard shooters--and I know there are some of you out there--this game should be a nice challenge for you. For the rest of us, it might be a fun way to spend a few minutes now and then. Or we could save our money for something a little less frustrating.
Publisher's Site