Sid Meier Talks Ace Patrol: Pacific Skies

Ace Patrol: Pacific Skies is a lot like the first Ace Patrol, but with more to do and no more pesky in-app purchases to slow things down.

I had a chance to go hands-on with Firaxis’ dogfighting sequel and ask developer Sid Meier about the changes he and his team made to the game. Here’s what you can expect when Pacific Skies releases on Steam and iOS early this November.

Pacific Skies is set during World War II, specifically in the Pacific Ocean theatre. The development team drew inspiration from tales told by military aviators, but it also mined Meier’s established interest in aviation.

The four factions from the first game have been reduced to two – the Americans and the Japanese. When you begin you’ll pick a nation to fight for, and then you’ll select either the Army or the Navy, each with specific bonuses. American Navy fighter planes can perform more stressful High-G maneuvers, for example.

Core gameplay is largely unaltered, though there are noticeable improvements sprinkled throughout. Combat is turn-based. It takes place over maps littered with military bases to avoid, clouds to hide in, and objectives to attack or defend. Planes are moved with simple taps, but you have to unlock more directions and maneuvers by playing the game. Keeping the gameplay familiar was a big priority for the development team.

“What we liked about the original was that it was easy to pick up and play – very visual,” Meier said. “There wasn’t the classic problem where you can’t see behind you. A lot of flight games are very disorienting until you figure out what’s going on. In Ace Patrol you can dive into the strategy and tactics pretty quickly.”

While the turn-by-turn gameplay will feel familiar, there’s now a higher level of strategy to think about as you progress through a campaign. Planes that take damage in combat retain that damage until they are periodically healed. This keeps you from using the same few pilots over and over, which was a perfectly viable tactic in the first game.

Also, when you receive a new plane, you can now jump back into the cockpit of a previously owned plane. Each pilot can keep up to four planes, so it’s possible to create special teams that are better at specific objectives.

Another change to the game is the introduction of “Ace skills.” For example, a pilot with the “teacher” skill can share his maneuvers with a wingman – which would allow the wingman to specialize in other movements and just leech off his leader to make up the slack.

The switch from free-to-play to a premium pricing model was a response to fan reaction. According to Sid, it worked out better from a development perspective.

“One of the messages we got loud and clear from fans was that they were more comfortable with the premium model,” Meier said. “‘Give us all the content and don’t dribble it out piece by piece.’ For less than what it would have cost to get all the content for the first Ace Patrol, you’ll be able to get everything from Pacific Skies. That way we can make the game and we don’t have to worry about how to introduce in-app purchases. It turns us into game designers instead of salespeople.”

Ace Patrol: Pacific Skies releases next month. Until then, check out our review of the first game.

Brian is an Associate Editor at IGN. Follow him on Twitter for cat pictures and Dota talk.