MouseOne

Basically, this is either a) one of the best things made with videogame technology ever made, or b) booooorring why can't I shoot anything? The key to understanding this "game" is that it isn't really that (for all the silly joke score at the end of each level). It's an art installation thingee that explores a good number of coming of age themes, as well as some of the not so submerged fears of that period in people's life. Some (see category b) call that "pretentious", by which they mean "I don't like that sort of thing". Others, myself included, see The Path as one of the most important works of the last decade. As they say on the internets, your mileage may vary.

If Rise of Flight were to be graded only on excellence of its flight model, it would deserve an 11 here. Seriously, speaking as a RL pilot with a couple of decades of professional flying behind me (military and civilian), RoF is pretty much the only PC flight sim I've played that feels like a plane. And yes, all you Il-2 fans, I've played that. The modeling of the aircraft is exquisite, and a WW1 aviation junkie like myself thrills to see the various start sequences animated correctly. Everything but manually priming the cylinders on the SE-5a! The damage model seems pretty spot on-- there's no arcade style instakills (unless you nail the pilot or tank, just like old MvR said to). Expect to miss a lot, grind your teeth at jamming guns, and wish the damn plane would stop bobbing around in turbulence so much. Most of the complaints some of the other posters made have been addressed-- MP is much better now, TrackIR is plug and play, and 777 seems to get pricing-- the ICE pack is really the way to go, with more than enough planes to make you happy. That said, ultimately this game is really only about dogfighting right now. There's a promised campaign mode coming, two seaters and all that, but if you're expecting Over Flanders Fields, you'll be disappointed. Then again, if you want a realistic flight model, you'll be disappointed in OFF. In a perfect world, there would be a game that had the best aspects of both-- and maybe RoF will have that in a year or so. But right now, it's just the best damn flight sim out there. And that's something.

Actually, this game needs two scores: one as purchased and one as patched. As purchased, it's about a 5 by modern flight sim standards. I know the IL-2 fanatics will disagree with me here, but truthfully the flight model isn't really as convincing as, say, Aces High 2 or Rise of Flight (my two fav prop sims). Patched, the graphics bring this about the AH2 standard, and the game deserves a 9 there--- BUT you'll either need a friend to point you in the right direction, sift through forum posts, or just suffer trial and error. For example, it took me forever to figure out how to integrate TrackIR, whereas any state of the art game just is plug and play. Before everyone gets snotty about the guy who gave it a 0 for lack of tutorial, imagine if you came to this game with no previous flight sim time. Not explaining controls isn't a badge of honor, nor does it make those who figured it out better people. Bottom line, although its age shows, as played probably the best WW2 flight sim out there. But expect to put some work in-- not in learning to fly, but in futzing with patches and such. Then again, at $10, you can't beat the price (AH2 is $15/month, and while it has a better FM, the graphics are just painful)

Dogfighter is, as the saying goes, what it says on the tin. Grab an antique looking (but not performing!) airplane, then launch immediately into aircombat with other players online or AI. Darkwater takes great pains to explain that this isn't a simulator, so check all thought of realism at the door. On the other hand, that means your planes can zip down mineshafts while executing ridiculously hairpin turns, all while using weaponry that would make the modern US airforce green with envy. Seriously, you haven't lived until your WW2 ish looking plane turns on afterburner, fires up an invisibility cloak, then takes out a Red Baron style triplane with a shotgun (yes, shotgun). Downside? there's almost no depth to this. Okay, no depth at all. No narrative, no campaign, just a pack of Steam achievements. But that's not really the point. This is a game for that 15 minute break in the middle of the work day when you really, really really need to blow something up fast. Admittedly, sometimes said break can stretch to an hour. Or so. You've been warned.