You aren't going to find many honest reviews of Fighter Ace on this message board. Most of the people here will simply call it names and dismiss it as trash (whether they've actually played it or not). Honestly it's a pretty good game and a worthy alternative to AH.
I'd say try AH (since the download is free), and if you aren't sure whether you like AH, spend the 5 bucks and try out FA (offline at least). FA has more gameplay options than AH has (particularly in the area of flightmodeling, with both "normal" and "easy" modes), so it may be worth a look.
There is also a game called WARBIRDS available, but it's not a whole lot different than AH and doesn't have anywhere near as many players. The online gameplay of WARBIRDS is somewhat more "historical" than that of AH however, so if that's what you seek than it may be worth a look--though it's pricey compared to AH and the AH "CT" arena arguably provides a similar sort of historical gameplay
J_A_B