Ace Combat never ceases to amaze and is still the reigning champ among combat flight sims.
The game is near photo realistic in its graphical presentation, although ground texture do leave much to be desired if you get low enough and are moving slow enough to closely examine them. The aircraft are modeled accurately, and look like the real thing.
The game is not a flight simulation, as the most realistic part of its flight model is the fact that you blow up when you fly into the ground or other objects. All of the planes vary in performance, and have different roles. A-10's are slow and armored and carry mostly ground attack weapons, where as f-14s are fast and are fitted with Air to Air weaponry. Other planes such as the f-16 and f-18 are more balanced between the two roles. All the planes can perform turns, roles, and climbs defy physics and pilot endurance.
Despite an unrealistic flight engine, the game is fun, there are allot of targets to fight in a given mission, and you find yourself needing to climb and dive and turn to doge the bevy of missiles after your plane. The type of plane you choose & its weapon load-out makes a difference in how you approach a mission.
The Cut scenes in this game are probably the worst part of the game, they use the analogy of "dancing with the Angles" way too much. which is made even more annoying by the poor voice performances and lip syncing in the cut scenes.
I would recommend Ace Combat 6 to anyone looking for a new action game for their Xbox 360. Its controls are simple enough that anyone can play the game, and it has plenty of action and explosions to keep the most avid of first person shooter fans occupied for a good while.