Dawn of Aces

Reviews / previews

Review: Dawn of Aces

Feeling a lot like George Peppard in The Blue Max, I swaggered onto I-Magic Online's Web site, fired up my Albatros D.Va, and completed my takeoff roll into the French skies in search of fresh Allied cannon-fodder. Three minutes later I was spiraling to my death in a cloud of engine smoke with half of my port wing shot to pieces. This scenario would repeat itself several times in I-Magic's new online WWI fighter sim Dawn of Aces before I swallowed my pride and decided to get a little more offline training.

Dawn is I-Magic's new companion to its critically acclaimed WWII-based WarBirds series. Grafting the tried-and-true WB engine onto a WWI sim is sure to be a popular move with biplane aficionados whose online options presently rest somewhere between slim and none. The purity of the seat-of-the-pants aerial combat between these historic wood and fabric planes provides a challenge that few modern flight-sims can match.

The DOA software is available as a free download from IMOL's Web site (8MB for the main client, 3MB for additional art-it's all on this month's PC Games.exe). Once it's installed, you can set up an account that'll give you five hours of access per month, with additional time billed at $1.99 per hour. Although pricier than competing WWII-themed sites like GameStorm's Air Warrior III and Microsoft's Fighter Ace (which offer unlimited time for $10 a month), the sophisticated flight modeling and high level of challenge that comes from taking on the best virtual pilots on the Net certainly hasn't stunted the growth of I-Magic's similarly priced WarBirds.

Departing from the multiple-country scenario of WB, DOA offers participants the option of flying for the Allies or Central Powers. There are only six planes available at this stage of the game's development, but each exhibits its own unique flight characteristics with some authentic physics modeling that will challenge even the most grizzled of veterans. Unfortunately, other than an option to form squadrons or jump into a tail-gunner/observer position in the Bristol F.2B or Halberstadt CLII, the game is a pure dogfighter and contains none of Warbirds' tactical bombing strategy.

DOA offers both Full Realism and Relaxed Realism arenas, but the biggest problem at the time of this review-shortly after the game's launch-is the absolute poverty of online players. After several visits to the site, I have yet to see more than a dozen or so people logged in, which is in stark contrast to the crowded WB arenas. This definitely cuts back on the sim's entertainment factor, but it's probably too early to say whether it's the price, the lack of planes, or simply the newness of the game. It does play well over a modem.

All in all, Aces has quite a bit going for it. The accelerated D3D graphics, although not spectacular, are pleasing to the eye. The flight model is authentically tricky and difficult to master, and the game's burgeoning, WarBirds-like community of online pilots is slowly building. This sense of community was clearly demonstrated to me by BruceC, a pilot from the UK who patiently walked me through several spin-recovery techniques in a private H2H session. I still may not be as cool as George Peppard, but at least I don't feel like George Costanza anymore!-- Andy Mahood / GamePro