Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Space Ace Blu-ray Movie Review

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!" - Kimberly

Reviewed by PeteR April 1, 2008

You are Ace. Your mission is to defend the Earth and save your girlfriend Kimberly from Borf, an evil alien space commander. Borf intends to subjugate the Earth using his new weapon: the Infanto Ray. Unlike the Death Star, the Infanto Ray doesn’t destroy worlds...it changes anyone hit into helpless children. Normally this would be an easy job for our hero, but Ace was hit by Borf’s weapon and transformed into his nerdy former self: Dexter. A gangly teenager who would rather run than fight, he has to summon his courage and use his wits to defeat Borf, destroy Borf's evil forces, save Kimberly, and stop the Infanto Ray from being fired at Earth.

Ace and Kimberly are amazed to see how they look in 1080p

The second animated LaserDisc-based game from the studio of Don Bluth is a very different adventure from their first: Dragon’s Lair. Space Ace doesn’t take place in the dingy underground of a castle, but in the wide open vastness of outer space, inside colorful space station interiors and odd alien worlds. Instead of a mute and powerful knight, you are a talky and nerdy kid Dexter. In Dragon’s Lair, the action button served to draw your sword and slice at enemies. In this game, it serves double duty: at certain times you draw your laser pistol to fire, but at other times it causes you to “Energize”, which allows you to morph back into Ace and take on enemies with strength and power. It’s also different in the fact that you have several choices as to which path to take, and if you energize into Ace or not. Where the goal of Dragon’s Lair was to save the damsel in distress, once you reach her in this game she joins you in your mission to stop Borf. The game also plays fast and furious, amping the difficulty level several notches.
I enjoyed Space Ace, but not quite as much as Dragon’s Lair. It is a much harder game, and in the arcade this nearly made it impossible to complete without draining your college fund. The home version gives you a few difficulty options, as well as the option for “unlimited” lives. Even with that option I am still working my way through the game (there is no save option unfortunately). The game also gives you the option to watch the film all the way through without playing, but the split-second timing required for many moves makes completing the game challenging even when you know exactly what to do. The additional “branching” options are also usually just “mirrored” versions of each other: go left or go right and you still run through the same backgrounds and face the same challenges. The “Energize” option mixes it up a bit because as Ace, Dexter is much more powerful and not shy to use his weapon…which will make the “Han Shot First” crowd very happy. One thing’s for sure: you won’t be beating this game on the first night that you sit down with it. That alone makes it a better value than its predecessor.
Space Ace also differs from its predecessor by offering difficulty options in the “Setup” menu. You can start at “Cadet”, “Captain”, or “Ace”. Only in the “Ace” setting will you have all the scenes available for you to play through.
The science fiction theme will more than likely appeal to a wider audience as well: there are numerous references and styles cribbed from several science fiction classics such as Flash Gordon, 2001, Xanadu(!), and of course: Star Wars. I won’t spoil it by revealing specifics but you’ll know them when you see them. In the end, watching this on Blu-ray in 1080p with full surround sound is a terrific experience. Digital Leisure has done a great job in bringing this to the latest generation of home entertainment.

Space Ace Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Space Ace has been given a full restoration from the original elements and is presented in 1080p/24 using the MPEG2 codec. Overall the transfer is much better than Dragon's Lair, probably due to the bigger budget and longer production period. There is some grain and print speckling (especially in some special effects heavy shots) but it isn't too distracting. Some of these artifacts were no doubt part of the original cel artwork and removing them would probably impact the picture quality to a negative degree. We have all seen how aggressive digital noise reduction (DNR) can degrade a HD image. The disc itself is a vast improvement over the DVD version released a few years ago. Colors pop off the screen, and the animation is clean and sharp. There are no noticeable compression artifacts. Those of you familiar with the arcade version are in for a real treat. Imagine trying to play this in on a 25 inch or so CRT monitor, at LaserDisc resolution, in a noisy arcade environment. Now imagine it in 1080p on a large flat panel and I think you'll agree that it is amazing what Digital Leisure has done here.
One of my biggest complaints about Digital Leisure's remaster of Dragon's Lair was that the game had been cropped from its Original Aspect Ratio (OAR) of the arcade 1.33 to 1.78. Space Ace has also been cropped to 1.78, but the original 1.33 version has been made available as well! You have *both* versions to not only play, but also watch! Even the trailers for the other games are in both ratios, including Dragon's Lair (it makes me wonder if Digital Leisure is planning yet another version)!

Choosing between ratios is available in the "Setup" option in the main menu.

Space Ace Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The audio has been remastered to 5.1 and encoded in Dolby Digital (DD) @448kbps. Compared to their first game, the audio mix is much more active, plus there is a music score throughout the entire game (the game is fast and furious, and has music to match). Dialogue is for the most part crisp and clear except for Commander Borf, who is actually the reprocessed voice of creator/animator Don Bluth! Plenty of space ship whooshes, attacking creatures and robots, laser zaps, and explosions zoom from channel to channel. There really is not too much LFE to speak of unfortunately. Keep in mind this is a fairly low budget animated arcade game from 1984: most of the sound effects are canned stock from many science fiction films, and the score was created on a synthesizer. The new mix remains faithful to the original intent and opens it up somewhat for home theater: making the game much more immersive and involving. The only improvement I can think of is including a lossless track, or even letting the DD track stretch its legs at a healthier 640kbps. One wonders if it was encoded this way because of the limitations of a certain competing format (now deceased).

Space Ace Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Like the main feature, all extras are presented in 1080p MPEG2. Audio is DD 2.0 @192kbps.

Watch (various running times): Each scene of the game is available to watch without having to play. There is also a "Play All" option, however it does not show the various death animations that the individual chapters have. Depending on how you set the screen in the setup menu you can watch it in either cropped to 1.78 or its original OAR.

Video Commentary (0:24:45): Don Bluth, Rick Dyer, and Gary Goldberg appear in a (hard coded) Picture-in-Picture window accompanying the game film. They discuss the creation from beginning to end, points of interest (such as odd background details), and various facts about the production and reception of the final product. Interestingly, this is the only way to view the various death scenes, additional branching scenarios, plus attract mode sequences not available in the "watch" mode. Unfortunately this extra is not available in OAR option. The creators have so much information to give that the film actually begins again before they are finished!

Creator Interviews (0:05:54): add additional tidbits not mentioned in the video commentary. They mention the music score, improvements in technology, favorite scenes, and the economic crash of the video game industry at the time of production.

Progression Reel (0:02:03): Short comparison video of all the various incarnations of Space Ace over the years including the original LaserDisc version. Anyone wondering how it compares to the original will be stunned to see just how much better the HD version looks.

Previews (various running times): Attract Mode trailers for Space Ace, the original Dragon's Lair, and the next (& final) game from the Bluth LaserDisc era: Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp. One cool option Digital Leisure has added is a playable level for both of the Dragon's Lair games, *and* (as I mentioned earlier) they're available in either HD 1.78 or OAR 1.33!

Space Ace Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Space Ace, as presented by Digital Leisure, is an improvement over their first outing into the world of hi-def with Dragon's Lair. I especially appreciate having both the OAR and HD ratio versions available. Any flaws in the presentation mainly have to do with the original source materials and not the mastering itself. The amped up difficulty actually gives it more value, since you're more than likely going to spend a lot more time trying to complete the game, especially on the "Ace" level. The lack of more comprehensive extras can be chalked up to the fact that Ace wasn't as groundbreaking or successful as Lair. Even then, most of those flaws can be overlooked since it is such a vast leap over the original materials. It's ironic that in the year separating the two releases in arcades saw the LaserDisc-based game fade, peak and die. Coupled with the great videogame crash of 1984 we saw the beginning of the end of arcades as we know it. Ironic now that home video games are more successful than ever…some even out gross Hollywood big budget films! Digital Leisure has done a very good job and I look forward to Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp. Hopefully they will take advantage of the new Blu-ray disc authoring methods and outdo themselves again.