Every time I closed it down, I just wanted to open it back up again
Be warned: it is by no means an aerial combat simulator. You don't have to take off or land anywhere, everything is simplified to be accessible to a larger audience, and if this means giving you 80 missiles to make the unrealistic (yet highly rewarding) task of taking out an entire naval fleet by yourself possible, then I'm all up for it.
The game looks great. What Ubisoft has done is implement satellite images taken by GeoEye's IKONOS and GEOEYE-1 Satellites to create relatively realistic settings. I say it is relative, because it is relative to where you are at any given point. When you're a couple of kilometers up in the air, the world looks amazing. Everything looks like what it should look like. However, once you start getting into the grit of air-to-ground combat, where you have to approach ground targets for the up-close kill, the world looks bad. Just plain bad, with micro-stuttering (obviously, when you're taking pictures of a couple of inches with a satellite) and pixellation.
Those are the visuals. Let's get into the gameplay.
The gameplay is great. As stated before, it's easy to pick up and play. I would highly recommend the use of a joystick if one is available (not necessary), it makes the game all the more fluid and enjoyable. However, the keyboard will be all you need if a joystick isn't available.
The story is set in the near future, where private military companies (PMC's) have a major role in the security of nations and the outcome of wars. As a discharged pilot from the United States Air Force (and their special elite branch, H.A.W.X.), you join an up-and-coming PMC, Artemis. With the help of you and other former H.A.W.X. pilots, PMC becomes a major player in the PMC market. Going any further would be spoiling the plot, so I'll leave it at that.
There are enough twists to make the story interesting, and none of the levels feel forced: they all seem to have a place in the continuity of the plot.
It's a game that I recommend playing. It's not a flight simulator by any stretch of the word. It's more of an arcade-type combat flight game, where you focus on taking down the enemy with no regard for your fuel, your hull integrity, how many bullets you have, and in a way, how many missiles you have. It's just plain fun.