Movies like Top Gun and outstanding games like IL-2 Sturmovik and Flanker 2.5 have helped capture the exhilaration and challenge of taking to the skies in a fighter plane and fighting exciting aerial battles. Games like these are experiencing something of a renaissance, and even though it's been popular in the past to set combat flight sims in historical conflicts, like World War II, we're glad to see a new crop of games that take place in modern-day settings, complete with the kind of the sleek, top-of-the-line multimillion-dollar fighter jets and attack choppers we've already enjoyed seeing in action in films like Behind Enemy Lines and Black Hawk Down.

The A-10 Warthog makes its triumphant return.

One of the most promising games in this new breed of flight sims is Lock On: Modern Air Combat, a game set in a modern-day, fictitious conflict. Lock On will let you fly nine of the world's top military aircraft, including the F-15C Eagle, the A-10A Thunderbolt, and the Su-33 Flanker, and engage in fierce, fast-paced dogfights with enemy pilots. From what we've seen of the game so far, Lock On promises some very impressive-looking graphics, including beautiful environments and incredibly detailed ships--which are carefully modeled down to the individual dials and switches in the cockpit. And much like in the most exciting movies (and with the real thing), you'll have your hands full with chatter from both your allied wingmen, as well as from friendly AWACS (airborne warning and control system) aircraft and ATC (air traffic control) on the ground. And though the developer plans to have a campaign game in place, Lock On will also have instant-action modes that will let you hop into the cockpit and get right to the point.

To find out more about this promising game, we checked in with Matt Wagner, former intelligence analyst for the US government, designer of Jane's F/A-18, and producer of Lock On: Modern Air Combat at Ubi Soft.

GameSpot: Thanks for taking the time for this interview. It seems that the combat flight simulators we've seen in the past few years were mainly focused on historical conflicts, especially World War II. Could you explain why you chose to go with a modern-day setting for Lock On instead?

Matt Wagner: Lock On began as an outgrowth of Flanker 2.5 by Eagle Dynamics. Three of the flyable aircraft from this title were the Su-27 Flanker B, the Su-33 Flanker D, and the MiG-29K Fulcrum. Given the work already accomplished for these aircraft, it was a logical choice to bring the Su-27 and Su-33 over to Lock On. Initially, what is now called Lock On was once termed Flanker Attack. This product was to add a dedicated Russian ground attack aircraft in the form of the Su-39 Frogfoot (also known as the Su-25T). Like the Flanker 2.5 aircraft, the Su-39 was also included in Lock On. With the demise of other A-10A simulations and the strong desire in the flight simulation community to fly the Hog, we felt it was a great opportunity to take advantage of. This combined with adding a true counterpart to the Su-39 led to our decision to add the A-10A. To round out the mix of US and Russian aircraft and to provide a counterpart to the Su-27 we decided to add the air superiority, "not a pound for air-to-ground," F-15C Eagle, instead of the F-15E variant. Finally, we added the ground-based versions of the Fulcrum--the German MiG-29 Fulcrum A and the Russian MiG-29 Fulcrum C--as well as the Su-25 Frogfoot.

Lock On will have three different versions of the swift MiG-29.

There is only one other major "modern" air combat simulation in development at the moment besides LO: MAC. That competitive title is historical in nature and does not feature current, modern-day aircraft. There is room for competition in the area of combat flight simulations, but we certainly like the opportunity of being one of the only ones in development. Overall, the differences between LO:MAC and the other moderns sims that were released in the past few years are the following:

We are taking the best elements of a study simulation, which focuses on detail and high fidelity on one particular aircraft, and combining it with the variety of a survey simulation, featuring a wider range of flyable aircraft that are modeled in detail with respect to performance and appearance.

We are focusing on both Russian and Western aircraft.

And we are attempting to create a product that appeals to both the sophisticated or "veteran" flight sim users while making the game accessible to the new or novice player.