This sim is fun,action, and painful realism. Too bad it is being hurt by some small (or big) annoying bugs.
This simulator is very enjoyable, but it could have been better.
Graphics are great for the time it was published : The planes and airfields are detailed great, and cities look realistic from above (a little small and homogenic, but still).
The sound is ok, the music is a little too repetitive.
The campaign is built like this : you choose if you want to be a dog-fighter or a bomber and you continue with this path, but even if you choose one of them, you still have a few missions where you need to do the other job (bombing mission in the dog fight path, for example).
Since i'm a critic, i'll write first on what should have been done better: The bugs which annoyed me the most where:
1. First and foremost - the mission taping. This could really be great - you record your flight and get to watch it.
But - you don't have any video editor.
In the 2 times i tried the recorder, it took out the planes I was after, so i saw myself shooting in the air...and it also showed my plane crashing and surfing the ground, which of course didn't happen.
2.Sometimes in the end of a mission , i got 2 messages - one of them said the mission was successful, the other indicated that i failed the mission...
3.The panels between missions are lame and minimalistic.
4. It is almost impossible to read the flight gauges.
5. The tutorial is basically OK, but lacks regards to some key functions and demonstrations.
6. You don't get to choose the planes you fly with, or what missions to take, which means the campaign as a whole is very linear.
I must attest that both enemy AI and your teammates are pretty good, even in the "Easy" setting.
The good stuff is here in abundance - 1. You have a variety of planes to fly in and attack at.
2. You as you advance with the missions, you get to command other planes by radioing directives.
3. The game mechanism is great, so both bombing and fighting are so much fun. When you take a bomber, you can use both as a tail-gunner and as the pilot.
4. Time compression saves you a lot of time flying long distances that don't require militaristic attention.
5. On the other hand, even though it is not real, you can slow down time, so you can aim better at both air or ground targets.
6. Mission editor.
7. You get to fight in various weather and visibility conditions, which are very believable (When fighting in a storm, the lightnings blind you or make you think you were shot)
The game is not easy , even in the "Easy" setting. Taking off, a simple mission in other flight sims, requires a lot of attention (for example - you must be in the center of the runway, and not even a tad askew), or else you crash on the runway.
The campaigns are very long and will take 15-20 hours to complete each.
I know this game is old now (as old as my computer...), but if you can lay your hands on it - do it !
Favourite music to listen to while playing this :
Shot down in flames - ACDC
Tailgunner - Iron Maiden