Take me to the danger zone
The base game of Falcon 3.0 is one of the finest old-school flight sims around, and stands comfortably alongside F-29 Retaliator and TFX as a must play for genre fans. The game has all the detail and realism fans demand but makes things pretty accessible so even if you're not familiar with the complexity of such titles, it's still hugely enjoyable. Naval Strike Fighter is an add-on for the base game and gives players the chance to take the role of a Marine Corps or US Navy pilot and fly the FA-18 plane in a variety of missions across various theaters of war, including Bosnia and which allow you to play out some intriguing 'what if?' scenarios. Your missions will also see you flying alongside F-16s, while one of the many interesting options allows you to create your own missions, flying with the F-16s in areas from Falcon 3.0. As you'd expect, there are plenty of things to tweak, including enemy difficulty, the flight model (meaning you can tailor the complexity of things to suit your nature as a veteran or beginner) and weapon effectiveness. The game's main appeal is the chance to fly an all-new fighter and in this respect, the game certainly delivers. The FA-18 is suitably different to mean that flying it is a very different experience and it proves to be a very rewarding and exciting one. This is thanks to the variety and challenge of the well-designed missions, which are both satisfying and intense, and which are backed up by some solid visuals which help to immerse you in the action. Really, if you're love Falcon and are after a way to extend its lifespan, this is a no-brainer.
