Aces High III

About Aces High III

Aces High III is a single player and multiplayer simulation game. It was developed by HiTech Creations Inc. and was released on August 23, 2017. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Aces High III offers world class modeling of World War II planes, vehicles, and boats in a combat setting with hundreds of other players pitting their skills in any given online arena.

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Reviews

60%Audience ScoreBased on 318 reviews

gameplay6 positive mentions

graphics13 negative mentions

Very realistic and immersive flight simulation experience with a large variety of historically detailed WWII aircraft, tanks, and naval units.
Strong community with many dedicated and helpful players, facilitating teamwork and large-scale battles.
Supports VR and various control inputs with a large persistent world and strategic gameplay involving base captures.

The game requires a subscription for full multiplayer access, which is considered expensive and outdated, limiting player return and growth.
Low player population especially outside peak hours, resulting in fewer multiplayer battles and less lively gameplay.
Dated graphics, complicated and unintuitive user interface, steep learning curve, and occasional technical issues including poor optimization and crashing.

graphics
54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9% positive mentions, 67% neutral mentions, 24% negative mentions
The game's graphics are widely regarded as dated and low-quality, showing little improvement over many years and lacking the visual fidelity of modern flight simulators. However, some users appreciate its customization options and the ability to run smoothly on modest systems, valuing gameplay and community over eye candy. Overall, while the visuals are not a strong point and sometimes impact performance, they are considered an acceptable trade-off for a large player base and realistic simulation elements.
- “Great population, the flight simulation was extremely realistic even despite the oldish looking graphics.”
- “One review said you can immediately use any vehicle you want, that wasn't the case for me - limited to 1 plane at first and a selection of tanks (which can only deploy on the centre island - surrounded by water)... I didn't expect much from the graphics but from what I saw of the cockpit of the 1 aircraft I was able to use, the instrument panel looked really good with amazing reflections.”
- “The graphics... yes AH does not boast the most top of the line graphics compared to some other flight games but I have always attributed this to an attempt to keep the game playable for as many systems as possible in order to keep the player numbers up and as far as I'm concerned having more people to play with trumps eye candy any day.”
- “Overall speaking it has nothing remarkable going on while the visuals are quite poor/dated especially in this day and age.”
- “The default settings look like ah ii but somehow even the default setting manages to run worse than it should for what the graphical fidelity is.”
- “- graphics are way outdated by nearly 10 years.”
gameplay
48 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13% positive mentions, 77% neutral mentions, 10% negative mentions
Gameplay in this game is a mix of sandbox-style, strategic, team-based combat focused on capturing bases with realistic flight mechanics and varied roles, offering a unique but complex experience. However, it suffers from a steep learning curve, self-sabotaging mechanics, dwindling player base, lack of competitive modes, and an outdated UI, which combined with a costly subscription model, limits its appeal for many players. While it offers no pay-to-win elements and can be rewarding for dedicated users, the overall gameplay experience feels dated, slow-paced, and less engaging compared to modern alternatives.
- “Land, sea, air... what it lacks in 'acceptable' graphics it makes up for in gameplay and community!”
- “Great game, loads of fun, great for casual/semi-realistic gameplay with team objectives and plenty of choice in how you fight in the game world :-)”
- “Strategic coop gameplay, you don’t just kill other things, you take and occupy areas and win the war or lose as a country, you can’t do it alone, lots to learn and do.”
- “Poor graphics, poor gameplay and no playerbase because of the monthly pay system that is just outright ridiculous.”
- “Gameplay: currently 4/10, used to be 9/10 when there were 5-10 times more players on.”
- “Having played WT and WOT (WT is my go to) I was willing to sacrifice graphics for a better gameplay experience, but I'm afraid to say I didn't find anything here worth keeping the game installed for.”
story
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18% positive mentions, 64% neutral mentions, 18% negative mentions
The game offers a wide variety of player-created and offline missions focused on realistic WWII and WWI air, ground, and naval combat rather than a traditional story-driven campaign. While the missions provide extensive replayability and challenging AI for skill training, the overall story aspect is minimal and not the central focus, with emphasis placed on community-driven content and simulation authenticity.
- “A few years ago they added offline missions against AI, which I think makes learning much easier.”
- “Aces High 3 desperately needed some sort of offline missions and they finally added them with lots of nice maps to fix the lack of offline content the game once had; I'm glad that got fixed!”
- “Now you can download countless maps to fly and mess around, and this time they added offline missions made by different users, which adds to the replayability value. In these missions, you shoot down enemy fighters, protect bombers, intercept them, and train your skills against a pretty challenging AI.”
- “Offline play is free, and you can play some poorly set up missions where it appears to be an easy game.”
- “I found no missions at all, but it took me a long time to check because the options and menus are also very confusing.”
- “There is no story-driven flight simulator for propeller-driven aircraft in VR, limiting the narrative experience.”
optimization
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25% positive mentions, 50% neutral mentions, 25% negative mentions
The game suffers from poor optimization, particularly on modern hardware, resulting in high CPU usage, performance issues, crashes, and connection problems. While VR performance is noted as good and flight/weapon physics are realistic, overall optimization and stability need significant improvement before the game can be recommended.
- “The VR performance is great.”
- “The damage model offers fuel and oil leaks as well as damage to various parts of the frame which cause flight performance degradation.”
- “Physics for ground vehicles are highly realistic with some small performance issues.”
- “If the game becomes optimized better, I'll play it, but until then, I cannot recommend this game, which is essentially just AH II with a slight graphics boost.”
- “The game is not optimized for modern gaming hardware and can be very CPU intensive.”
- “I am having a lot of crashing, connection, and performance issues with this game.”
grinding
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50% positive mentions, 12% neutral mentions, 38% negative mentions
Users praise the game for its absence of grinding mechanics, highlighting that progression doesn't rely on in-game currency or repetitive tasks. This allows players to enjoy flying vehicles freely without the frustration of earning experience or coins, making for a refreshing and enjoyable experience compared to other similar games.
- “10/10 for a completely free game with no grinding”
- “There is no grinding.”
- “There is basically no grinding in this game, pick your plane/vehicle and fly/drive!”
- “☐ You'll need a second life for grinding.”
monetization
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33% positive mentions, 17% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions
The game's monetization is subscription-based rather than truly free-to-play with optional microtransactions, with no purchasable skins or perks outside the subscription. The lack of ongoing content updates, marketing, and clear communication about payment models has led to frustration and limited player growth.
- “I figured when it was free to play and had in-app purchases it was skins or perk points for planes, not paying for the one server with maybe 175 people on busy days.”
- “I thought the game was free to play with optional in-app purchases for skins or perk points, but it turns out it's actually subscription-based and not truly free to play.”
- “I thought when it came to Steam with all the indicators of it being free, I was going to be able to at least enjoy what I could of the game while slowly becoming competitive, even supporting the apparent in-app purchases indicated by the store page assuming it meant I could use the paid skins or pay for perk points to use advanced vehicles. But I was mistaken, as those were not options provided. As far as I can tell, what they mean by saying it's free to play with in-app purchases is that it is not free to play and is subscription based.”
- “I figured when it was free to play and had in-app purchases, it was skins or perk points for planes, not paying for the one server with maybe 175 people on busy days.”
- “It wasn't designed to drain your bank account with microtransactions just to compete; there is nothing else you can buy beyond the subscription.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33% positive mentions, -33% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions
The game's stability is inconsistent, with some users experiencing frequent and frustrating freezes preventing them from joining matches, while others report smooth performance and reliable operation. Support responsiveness appears to be a concern for those facing issues.
- “Game randomly freezes before I can even join. As soon as I click the join button for the lobby, the game freezes every single time. There's nothing I can do to fix it. Support does nothing about this issue.”
- “Game freezes every time I try to join a lobby, making it impossible to play.”
- “Support hasn't addressed the frequent freezing issues, which makes the game unplayable.”
music
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions
Users generally find the game's music to be loud, repetitive, and dated, with the opening theme and audio warnings described as particularly unpleasant and intrusive.
- “A tip for those who install though and are met with the loud repetitive music.”
- “Dated graphics and music with a poor GUI.”
- “From the terrible (and incredibly loud) opening theme song to the lame voice over warnings about fields being under attack.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 33% negative mentions
The humor in the game received mixed reactions, with some finding it unfunny while others appreciated its satirical and ironic elements as genuinely hilarious.
- “I find it hilarious how hypocritical they are.”
- “That's funny stuff.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
Users express strong frustration and disappointment with the emotional experience, primarily due to a poorly designed VR control scheme that causes frequent crashes and loss of control, leading to a stressful and aggravating gameplay experience.
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions
The addition of user-created offline missions significantly enhances replayability by offering diverse challenges like dogfights and protection tasks against challenging AI. This improvement makes the game more engaging and intuitive, increasing its overall appeal.
- “Now you can download countless maps to fly and mess around, and this time they added offline missions made by different users, which adds to the replayability value. In these missions, you shoot down enemy fighters, protect bombers, intercept them, and train your skills against a pretty challenging AI.”