User Reviews (1 - 11 of 11)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

If You Play This Game, Do You Get Flight Wings For Real???

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 14 / 19
Date: April 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Being a lifelong combat aircraft buff, I was immediately attracted to this title. Graphics looked great, and the ability to fly 60+ aircraft (including some real rare birds the like F-104 and the F-86) made this game appear all the more like an outstanding title. Well kids, It is not. Thankfully, I rented this one before I bought it. My biggest complaint the the control, or lack thereof, especially in the training missions. Completing the training missions is required to unlock various aircraft. Training missions consist of things like take-off, landing, rolls, loops and so on. Later training missions involve combat maneuvering, formation flight, and weapons. There are also training modules involving rotary-wing (choppers) and VTOL aircraft. Sounds fun and involved, right? WRONG!!! The training requires you to be so precise in your control, that even the slightest mistake will cause you to fail and re-take the "test". Yeah, I know that the REAL jet jockeys and chopper drivers go through the same thing, ... Maybe I'm just whining. Also, while you are in "school" you can be "scrambled" to respond to airborne threats. You may be required to simply identify and unknown aircraft, or you may have to shoot him down. You never know when you get the call. That part was kind of cool, although the radio voice vectoring me to the target did get a bit annoying. Other than that, I must admit, there were a wide selection of aircraft (all with Japanese Air Force markings) and great graphics. On one hand, I have been known to complain about the Ace Combat series of fighter plane shooters, stating that they are painfully unrealistic. But, I guess that there can be an overdose of realistic, and (in my opinion) this game suffers because of it. But again, the myriad of aircraft (including combat choppers and heavy transports) gave this game a nice variety, and prevented me from giving the dreaded one-star review. I guess if you mastered the training portion, than this game would be a blast, but I suppose I just lost interest.

More detail than AC4 (for advanced pilots) but less fun.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: July 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Aero Elite outclasses Ace Combat 4 in terms of realism and detail but sacrifices fun in the name of it. The weapons, for example, are exact to the real specs and number. You have to pay close attention to your speed and altitude when landing, especially if you're flying VTOL in a Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier. The vertical take-off and landing feature of the Rolls Royce Engine only engages at a specific airspeed. Going through the VTOL training really helps you learn the basic skills for flying the AV-8B Harrier. Unlike Ace Combat 4, you can pre-program your replay views before saving it and even choose a different background music. Not to mention, you get the whole replay for the entire length of the game! Ace Combat 4 only replays the last 4 minutes and you cannot save each individual replay movie. Aero Elite even lets you land any plane on a city freeway or on almost any flat surface you can find on the face of the Earth like parking the F-16 Falcon on that helipad in front of your house in the Snowy Mountains Mission. Try parking the huge F-15E inside the pyramid in the desert mission. Mastering the technique of landing the AV-8B Harrier on the LHA at sea can be hard to learn at first but you'll be proud once you get it right and to watch or show that perfect replay is almost enough reason to own this game. Not recommended for beginner pilots. Advanced pilots dare this!

I Sure Hope There Will Be A Sequel!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: May 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I accidentally stumbled across Aero Elite at a GameCrazy one day - but had never even heard of it. The price was marked $12.99. I read the description on the back and thought.. "Well, what the heck - it might be fun to just have around and the price is decent." Being an avid fan of the Ace Combat series and even reaching into the combat flying sim abyss with Top Gun and Bogey: Dead Six (Anyone remember that one??) I figured 1 more pretend flight sim couldn't hurt the collection...

And then I played Aero Elite for the first time..... and haven't touched another flight-related title since.

Having always wanted to be either a Navy or Air Force pilot and having searched fervently for the best flight sims possible on a console station, Aero Elite was the perfect match!

Beware of all the "critics" of this game that bash the gameplay, the physics, the realism engine and who whine about the Training Mode. This is not a game - this is a combat flight simulator. From over 60 planes to choose from (yes, you have to unlock 90% of them by completing Scramble Missions and Training Modes) - take-offs - landings - dogfighting - air to ground missions - free flight - carrier-based missions - a head-to-head death match and Aero Meet 2002 (various competition missions against AI), the replay value of this game is priceless.

Oh.. speaking of "replay" - none of the other reviews mention that you get to watch a replay of your entire previous flight from over 40 different camera angles! (OH YEAH, BABY!!)

The Bottom Line is This: Aero Elite Combat Academy is the best (and only) true combat flight simulator in the console world today. In addition to the myriad of planes available, there are also rotary-wing craft (3 helicopters including the Cobra and the AH-64 Apache) that are the true jewels of this simulator. ((Wanna REAL fun challenge?? Try landing the US-1A on the dam lake at Base Island at night! What a rush!!)) With continual practice and patience, this sim will reward you like no other.

No game collection is complete without Aero Elite.

Oh... one more "fruit" for thought.... if the critics of this simulator are correct - then why is Aero Elite so difficult to come by? And even if you do find it on sites like this one, then why is the price marked so high? That in itself speaks more volume than anything anyone could write about it.

Happy Flying!!

Come on!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: June 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Thank god I bought this at a store that has a money back return policy wiith receipt. This game was one of the worst games I've ever played.
To start, for a flying game to be any good you must first get some sense that you are flying. Aero elite seemed to go out of its way to take that sense from you. For perspective, I would say that Ace Combat 4 gives you a far better sense of flying. While that game was not terribly realistic in that your plane could hold 50-70 missles, it is in every other way a far superior game and would give it 3.5 to 4.0 stars.
Aero elite's graphics are Ok nothing great and certainly no better that Ace Combat 4's. The controls are horrendous, from accelerating to decelerating, to the firing of missles, to just flying the plane around the screen.
There is a great selection of planes, however, It's no fun to fly any of them because it doesn't feel like your flying any of them.
It is a shame that in the middle of 2003 companies are still creating games that would have been better for the original Sega system from 10 yrs ago. This game is worth between $1 and $5, no more. Not even worth the $6 to rent.

this is the most realistic flight game on PS2

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: May 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Areo Elite ROCKS. You can really pilot 60 aircraft including an
su-25,f-15,and an AH-1.It may seem hard but after a little while it gets easy.By the way this game is not ace combat.
ace combat=arcade style
areo elite=simulation
the only downfall is that you can only fire your weapons when you get within range.
other than that this is a great game
and also don't complain about all the training because real pilots go through many years of training and are not guaranteed a mission.

Aero Elite: The only realistic simulator/Combat flight game for PS2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

So, you're looking for a game the puts you in the cockpit of a fighter jet. There are a few of them out there, and I have tried them all. I own Ace Combat 4, Ace Combat, 5, Lethal Skies 1 & 2 and of course Aero Elite: Combat Academy. I got bored with Ace Combat 4 & 5. You point the plane in the direction you want to go... and you go. Which is nice, but doesn't add anything to the realism of flying a fighter jet. Lethal Skies 2 is a nice title, but when it comes to realism... Aero Elite has them beat.

Aero Elite will allow you to take off, fly, and land your plane. I wanted this so bad in the other titles, but it's just not there. I want realism... I can't say this enough! In Aero Elite, you control your landing gear, airbrakes, rudder and weapons selection. G forces and stalls can become a problem when fighting the enemy. This isn't a point and shoot flight game. If you're looking for an arcade like flight game, look at the Ace Combat titles.

I will say this about Aero Elite, the training missions can get a little frustrating at times. The thing about this though, is that if you try a mission without going through the training... you're in trouble. Incoming missile from behind? What do you do? The bad guys have all been destroyed, but you have to land your F-14 on an aircraft carrier to complete the mission? Should of done the training missions, and you will.

Scramble Missions; 2 player head to head dog fighting; 60+ aircraft including helicopters; Brilliant Graphics, and great sound... It's all here.

I bought the Playstation 2 for its flight games. Xbox doesn't have anything worth mentioning, so I picked up a Playstation 2 and bought all the flight games for this platform. I find myself playing Aero Elite: Ace Combat more than all the other titles. This is a challenging game, but stick with it and you'll love it.

best console simulater

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: May 31, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I'm a very big fan of flight simulaters and i've got to say this game is awesome even though i just played the demo when i get the full version i'll get back to you

Highly realistic game...not for the light-hearted aviator

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: March 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

For the first time that i can recall, there is now a realistic flight sim on a game console...and that sim is Aero Elite. This game gives you a far better sense of what it is like to fly and fight in a combat airplane. Obviously, those too accustomed to the AC series (don't get me wrong, i'm a fan of that too!) won't like this game because there are so many other aspects that go into it than point the nose at something and shoot. This game requires you to use ACM and tactics above all else, and actual missile evasion tactics. Gunfire is as accurate as can be and you'll tear someone apart in a single quarter second burst. Of course there are a few draw backs G-limit for example is the on-paper current limit, not actual airframe tested limit (a plane like the F-14 should be able to pull 9G, 7.34 under high load, and the F/A-18 should not have a limit of 7.5) but for these small faults, the game is amazing, second only in my mind to the archaic Fleet Defender PC game from '93 that still awaits an equal.

WOW!!!...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 4
Date: April 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is the MOST REALISTIC console-based flight sim EVER! Not only are the aircraft flight sequences outstanding, but the VTOL and rotary options are without equal on console.

THIS GAME ROCKS

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 26, 2008
Author: Amazon User

man o man ive been waitning a long time to get this game back again. haha its been at least 5 years and i never got over how bad i wanted this game when i first rented it. i would have stolen it to if i took the chance. anyway i would buy this game. but BUYERS BEWARE GET THIS GAME FROM A SELLER WITH AT LEAST A 100% rating cause even 94 could be a risk. better safe than sorry people including you young ones out there

Review Page: 1 2 Next 

Actions