This game is a classic childhood memory, and I jumped at the chance to play it again with friends after years of fruitlessly trying to patch the original to work with Vista and XP. The game is more fun than I ever remembered, and nothing beats the thrill of taking out those pesky bogeys in perfect sync with your wingmates. Tons of co-op and head-to-head (and full campaigns for both Empire and Rebellion, 40+ missions!) along with randomized dogfights mean that this game never grows old. Many of the missions are so challenging that it is almost impossible to get past on Hard without a bunch of elite friends who've grown up playing the game too. The only wrinkle that disturbs this otherwise perfect dream of a game is that it isn't playable without a joystick. At all. If you do purchase the game, be prepared to buy a joystick as well if you can't dig your old one out of storage (if you do buy, I recommend shopping online, as most game stores carry only a limited selection, usually just a single, overpriced model as I found to my regret). The fact that the game requires a joystick makes it tough to play this at a LAN party, since everyone who plays needs to have one. Still, the mechanics of the game are rock-solid, which should come as no surprise since it was developed by Lawrence Holland. The use of a joystick really helps capture that vintage flight simulator feel. I've heard there are still online servers out there, but I haven't looked for any since it's so much fun playing over LAN. Summary: A must have at any price, fun alone, funnest with friends, but requires additional computer hardware (joystick).
