UPDATED! For flight sim fans this is worth playing, but the fun comes with a heavy cost to your sanity.
I have been playing flight sims of all sorts since there were flight sims (yes I am an old gamer). So I write this mainly for hard core flight sim fans.
This game is by no means a hard core flight sim, but it does capture the essence of said sim just enough to satify your fighter jet combat pangs.
It is very fun, but you will have to forgive alot of design choices that are intended to simplify the game and make it accessable.
This game does satisfy my hard core flight sim cravings, even though there are some rather gross concessions made in terms of weapon capabilities and the how your loadout affects your plane (all weapons are weightless! Alot of the missiles are very unrealistic, but still fun to shoot at things).
I am glad that each plane has a 3d cockpit and that you can padlock targets, though it is a bit uncomfortable to do so with a game pad.
It's a fantastic looking game. Very very pretty, and looks better than any PC sim on the market.
The sound effects are good, but pretty generalized. I wish they could have captured the haunting whine/buzz of the A-10 better, rather than making it sound like a lear jet.
The combat is very fun, but be warned: if you don't have a HDTV you'll find it hard to tell what the hell is going on on your radar or HUD. The "radar" display is always on the HUD, and it's rather large, which is annoying.
Another thing you'll have a hard time swallowing is the whole premise. The story takes place on some fantasy world, where the soviet-like country is trying to invade the american-like country ala red dawn, but with more jets. There are gigantic flying aircraft carriers in one mission, which is silly, but it's still pretty damn fun.
The story... will make you gag. Seriously, I would have given this game a nine if it were not for the HORRIBLE story, HORRIBLY HORRIBLE dialogue, and the HORRIBLY HORRIBLE HORRID writing. Good god it wil make your ears bleed, or make you very uncomfortable. Let me give you an example:
New enemy fighter catain: "Hey I can have any girl I want!"
Enemy fighter pilot, thinking: "I bet he can. Why if he was more serious, and I was a woman, I would fall for him myself!"
Yikes. It's not even funny in a national lampoon way, but more uncomfortable in the awkward silence kind of way. Yes the game comes from Japan, but the dialogue is in english, by english speaking people, so there is no excuse for such painful cut scenes and briefings.
I'm serious, they are very very bad, but you'll need to listen to them to figure out what you need to do. This is not only painful, but sometimes difficult to comprehend.
To be fair, the radio chatter during combat does make the battlefield feel alive, but it's often very confusing when hearing enemy radio chatter mixed with freindly radio chatter. Some of your enemies have accents...wait...only 2 enemy characters have accents, but they are your friends...and...yeah, no the radio chatter sucks actually.
Ok, so the story and dialogue are the worst things. There are some serious violations of physics and reality in general. However, the game makes you feel liek a fighter pilot, and it's damn fun. It's like a mentally retarded girl who is also really really hot.