Movie-to-game translations aren't exactly a favorite of mine. But the DS is sorely lacking in a flight title. ........
I'll get the negative out of the way. There is occassional slowdown and background flickering. It's fairly rare but still annoying when it happens. The game saves your options when you start a save file but won't update them beyond that if you change anything, and when you load a file and return to the options, the settings are commonly wrong (even though they are correct in gameplay). There's no excuse for those kinds of bugs. Finally, try and forget that there is a Top Gun movie, because this game was apparantly designed by people who did just that. The dialogue tries to include a few catch-phrases, but it seems more like they went down a list and less like they actually have a grip on the spirit of the movie. Oh yeah, and there is a touch-menu, but the icons give no visual cue when they're pressed. I often times find myself moving to make a second tap thinking that the game didn't register my first one.
Okay, so it needs more debugging and the dialogue is crummy. But who plays a flight game for the story, anyway? The flight speed is blistering, when you want it to anyway, and that's what helps make the game enjoyable. 3 weapons at your disposal at all times. Ammo on rockets/missiles is limited but still plentiful, and control is solid (touch-screen is used minimally). The ground can be a little lacking in detail and ground targets seem to just disappear in a puff of smoke, but outside of that the graphics are oustanding. The jet models are well detailed, the backdrops are beautiful, rocket trails vary in visibility depending on the environment, and blowing up an enemy jet will light up the night sky.
The first one or two missions may seem a bit mediocre. But once you've gotten a taste of real dogfighting, you're hooked. The missions are decent in length and cover a surprisingly wide variety of situations. High altitude, low altitude, air-to-air, air-to-ground, air-to-sea, reconnaisance, solo, wingmen, protection, escorts, sneak attacks, and even a high-speed retreat from a buttload of anti-air fire. It's all there. And on top of that, the game includes several "Free Mode" arenas where you can just dance with the enemies for as long as you want.
The game could have used some sprucing up in the music department, though. When is some developer going to come to their senses and get the rights to use Danger Zone and Mighty Wings along with the Top Gun license? None of that here, the title theme is the only thing you'll hear from the movie. For the missions there are only 3 music tracks, 1 of which is exclusive to the training mission. They are fitting enough, but still, it could have been better.
One vital option you need to be aware of is the steering style. There's "arcade" and "flight sim." The arcade style uses the D-pad to steer left and right as you'd expect. It's simple, but maybe a little too simple. The Flight Sim style uses left and right on the D-pad to roll the plane, and you must roll and raise the nose to turn. The game uses the arcade style by default, so if you feel it's too easy or simplistic, try the Flight Sim style. It has a higher learning curve, but it adds a much-needed level of complexity and allows you to pull a few wild maneuvers that are not possible in the default Arcade style.
Overall, Top Gun has its bugs and may not be totally authentic, but it's an enjoyable high-speed experience that caters to a wide range of skill levels, and is worth the $30 admission if you have a jet itch that needs scratching.