AOPH is like peanuts ... it can be hard to stop after your first taste.
As an "install and play" arcade game AOPH is indeed easy to play however unlike its predecessor it has an improved way, incorporating a graphic novel style, of building up your pilots achievements and progress through the campaigns. Indeed what sets both AC, and even more so AOPH, apart is the branching mission campaign system whereby you select to take part in certain missions that link to other missions. This may mean that you not get a chance to take part in some engagements within the current campaign, although you can create a new character and play such missed missions in another campaign. This, coupled with the medals/promotion system, means that AOPH and AC are highly replayable as depending on your missions choices, partly dictated by your aircraft availability, no two campaigns for any pilot are ever the same.
As in AC while you can be shot down in AOPH you cannot die. Basically your character (must somehow) parachute to safety and make it back to your lines to continue the fight. What is lost is the plane you fly and it is possible though unlikely, unless you are very unlucky, to lose all your aircraft, thus prematurely ending the campaign. So in essence despite the occasional loss of your aircraft the war continues as does your role in it. Occasionally you may fail to achieve all your mission objectives resulting in mission failure however in AOPH this does not mean "game over man" as you will most likely be given the chance to replay the mission or if you so choose accept the failed mission result and proceed to the next mission. So again there is an implicit motivation to do better than you did before.
Each character fights in a two-part campaign, roughly split along the lines of Japanese ascendency (Pearl Harbour [***] / The Gathering [US]) in the early part of the Pacific war and increasing Allied supremacy (Divine Wind [***] / The Storm [US]) in the latter part of the war. Each of the four campaigns is introduced by, and ends with, a graphic novel style narrative to set the scene and provide some historical context. Your Japanese character immolates himself honorably as a kamikaze and a postscript explains for those unaware why such drastic sacrifices were made. Likewise the US campaign ends on a triumphant, though sombre note.
AOPH also has a (non-campaign) dogfight option for the single player to hone his/her flying and fighting skills. You pick your aircraft and select the location (map), time of day or night and weather/visibility condition, difficulty level and choose your number of opponents and preferred dogfight mission ending style: the number of enemy shot down, a time limit in the air, or simply fly and fight until you die.
You fly your selected aircraft using your mouse to climb or dive or bank left or right and the mouse buttons to fire your MGs or drop/launch your bombs, torpedoes or rockets and accelerate/decelerate. Additionally there are some keyboard commands as well though a few, as with AC, are not in the manual, including some useful view angles using (NumPad) Enter and (NumPad) 0. Indeed in the case of AOPH most of the NumPad keys seem to have some alternate view function. None of the mouse or keyboard assignments can be changed (even by editing .ini files), although this is less of an issue than in AC in which the default settings would benefit from reassignment. On the plus side there is no need to commit to memory the numerous key assignments in a "real" air combat sim with some keys representing 3 or more functions when coupled with Shift, Alt or Ctrl. AOPH is air combat light ... very light.
Some of the engagements included in the campaigns are: Pearl Harbour, Wake Island, Doolittle Raid, Darwin, Java Sea, Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, Philippines, Savo Island, Santa Cruz, Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, Tokyo and Okinawa. Indeed all the major battles involving carrier borne aircraft are depicted as are many land engagements for which you will provide ground support. You are however limited in the types of aircraft you can fly as there are only four types per side; although B-25s appear in the Tokyo missions but are not flyable. The flyable aircraft are:
Japanese aircraft:
o A6M1 Zero (single engine fighter)
o J1N1 Gekko (twin engine dive bomber)
o BSN1 Kate (single engine torpedo bomber)
o D3A1 Val (single engine dive bomber)
US aircraft:
o P-40 Warhawk (single engine fighter)
o Seafire F-MK-4S (single engine fighter)
o TBM Avenger (single engine torpedo bomber)
o F4U Corsair (single engine fighter)
While these aircraft are the only "flyable" ones in the game they all fly the same way, there is no differentiation between the types and this is consistent with AC. Sim purists will probably not be attracted to AOPH in any event, but it must be stressed the emphasis here is on fun and the well presented branching missions, the ability to progress your pilot through the campaigns and NOT on presenting a simulated flying experience.
As I write this review I am also earning my wings playing IL-2: Sturmovik, still the acknowledged best air combat (prop) sim available, and comparisons to AOPH would be like chalk and cheese. That said, for those air combat sim players wanting or indeed needing a break from those far more serious games AOPH can be a pleasant, though decidedly light, diversion. AOPH may indeed be a way to interest newer players in the air combat in general and serve as an avenue to introduce them to the sim genre. A good air combat sim game like IL-2 allows players to gradually increase the sim realism level, but I digress.
Visually AOPH is stunning, indeed cinematic in places. There is a sense of accomplishment every time a target is destroyed, be it an enemy aircraft, or carrier or ground target. The environmental effects are a leap ahead of those in AC. Land terrain and structures are very well done as you will experience in the first missions of either campaign at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Sound, apart from a musical background, is limited to engine noise, gunfire and bomb and torpedo blast sounds with the occasional radio message.
Some may say that AOPH is repetitive. Well if by that you mean you take part in the same sort of missions repeatedly, well that is true enough ... but then it is an air combat game and your targets will inevitably be either in the air, on the ground, or on the sea. Any shooter game be it a arcade shooter, an FPS, a stealth game or similar is to some degree repetitive. Sure eventually you will tire of AOPH but that said it's also easy to pick up and play again when a bit of light fun is called for. What sets AOPH apart is that you progress irrespective of being shot down or failing a single mission and you gained experience is reflected in your improving scores.
OVERALL: Attack on Pearl Harbor is a fun WWII arcade air combat game that presents interesting single player campaigns in a historical context. If you are looking for a realistic WWII flying sim then I refer you to IL-2: Sturmovik and its offspring ... AOPH is something in a different, much lighter, vein. AOPH is in many ways an improved version of Air Conflicts which I have also reviewed here at GameSpot.