The closest thing to an actual aerial-combat situation, best aerial warfare game.
First of all there are a lot of planes to choose from, you can also choose some of the weapons you'll take with you in your missions, you can issue orders to your wingman (not to reliable but still a good bait in some tough spots) and some other allied units.
The campaign is superb, although a bit too easy for experienced pilots, the short movies that play between missions are astounding, the music breathtaking, everything in this game was made to suit perfectly to the situation.
Enemy AI is good once you play in the "Hard" difficulty of the game, otherwise you will find it lame at times, that is when you don't run into the enemy aces team.
Multiplayer is one of the best aspects of this game, you really get sucked in, although if you are inexperienced you will build a lot of frustration, mainly because of the handicap of normal planes against the "idolmaster" planes which are the same planes only with anime pictures one or two bugs, and hell of stats. Other than that multiplayer experience is pretty rewarding.
Do not compare this game with HAWX, they aren't in the same league, it's like trying to compare Kane&Lynch (which sucked) with GTA IV.
Good luck out there pilot!