Definitely worth experiencing.
Now let me throw this out right now. If you are a fan of the arcade flight sim genre, and are looking for something that's just a blast to play, heatseeker is for you. If you are looking for realism, depth, or especially multiplayer, look for Heatseeker in your bargain bin or rental store.
That being said, I love this game. It's not the game of the year by far, but it's an intense thrill ride that seems to be a perfect fit for the Wii. This genre is definitely made for playing on the Wii I can tell you that right now.
I'm basically going to say why I think the rating this game received was right/wrong in any way.
Gameplay: Original gameplay, not really. It has a very similar feel to Crimson Skies. But that is why the gameplay is fantastic. The controls are, dare I say, perfect and the style is a great adrenaline rush that leaves little to be desired.
Graphics: Honestly, this is what made me angry. All I keep hearing from multiple reviewers is how the graphics look like bad PSP renders. WHAT?!? Are you kidding me people? This game is beautiful! Vibrant colors, impressive battle animations, and pretty landscapes. The only thing that I desired was more detail in the water, which was a bit of a problem since almost every map 90 percent water. It was very bland, like something out of a N64 game. No waves, no swell, not even any reflection. This made it exceedingly difficult to tell whether or not you were getting too close to the water or not. Other than that, this is a very pretty game.
Sound: I'll give them this, there are times when the sound flat out sucks. I don't know why this is such a problem. You would think that in todays game programming world there would be decent afterburner and missile sound effects that don't cut out whenever someone wants to yell at you for not shooting that plane you flew by. For the most part it was okay, but once in a while the sound just hits a brick wall. If you lay on the afterburners for a while, you have a great acceleration and sonic boom into supersonic travel, and you begin to have tunnel vision. Great effects, until something else happens and the sound cuts out. Ruins the immersion. I'll be roaring across the sky, chasing after a cargo plane and then all of the sound disappears as my commander tells me to get a move on. Completely ruins the moment.
Value: Again, I'll give them this one. No multiplayer KILLS this title. This would have been amazingly fun with two player dogfights or, god forbid, some missions that you could set up like survival or a race mode. Come on people. There is no excuse for this crap anymore. If a game deserves multiplayer, then by god you give it some freaking multiplayer. Atop of this, the game is relatively short, but replay value is there, especially the bonus planes and weapons they give you a chance to get by finding secret objectives in each mission.
So far I have had a blast with this game, and it seems like sometimes the critics are a bit too critical. If anything, give Heatseeker a try with a few nights of rental. It's at the very least worth that.