I picked this up 2nd hand off Amazon for a tenner.
Money well spent ;)
This game came out a year or 2 ago, something went very wrong in the original release and the game ended up on American shelves only 3/4 finished, subsequently the game got slated for being released in an incomplete state.
Anyway - this was re-released with the first long awaited patch and what a little gem it is. The game is open-architectre, anyone is free to create terrain, planes, explosion effects (one guy is making a tactical nuke which is very near completion)
The sim is based on the early US jets of the 60's, all engine, no frills. No head up display, merely a gunsight, you lock a sidewinder on by listening to the audible tone as you get the bogey in your gunsight - the dogfighting is out of this world, and beats LOMAC by a mile in my opinion, guns guns guns and unreliable missiles - incredible explosion effects, debris, the feeling of speed as a Mig 17 flashes across you with guns blazing has to be seen to be believed ;)
The best bit about this game is the community, loads of talented 3D modellers producing free add-on aircraft which are every bit as good as the stock planes that come with the game, Harriers, Migs, A-7 Corsairs, the amount of quality stuff available for free download is staggering.
Aside from the default desert map, I have Vietnam, Europe, America Northwest and North Cape, all made by 3rd party modellers and artists, and its getting better and better.
http://www.max-gs.com/adave/
Multiplayer i haven't tried yet, but I've been assured it is very good, but like all other aspects of this game its a rough diamond that needs a little polish.
And you don't have to strip your PC down to a no-frills hot-rod to run it either :)
http://www.skiisworld.plus.com/SFP1/aboveclouds2.jpg
