This game...isn't very good.
I've played this game maybe 5 hours or so, and I can say that if you like these kinds of games, you may just be able to spare a place in your heart for this one. I myself do not like flight simulators. I find them boring, and difficult to play. However, aside from my personal feelings about flight simulators, the game isn't as bad as most people make it out to be. I have once, only once, been able to land the plane on the carrier, and have never gotten past the second level.
The game play is standard flight simulator fare. There is an inside view of a cockpit, and a bunch of instrument panels. I'm not quite sure what they say, but I know that do say something. If it is essential to playing the game, which may just be the reason I've never gotten very far.
Shooting down the enemies is rather cumbersome, as you either shoot at them, or launch rockets at them. Both do the exact same thing, but shooting is a bit easier. Trying to aim is terrible. You can't move the plane in any direction other than up, down, left, right…something you are probably wondering about, but I mean it like this. In other flight simulators I've played you could move in a 360-degree rotation, not just a few different ones.
The enemies come and go too quickly. One minute you see them on your radar, then they are there, and then they are out of your line of fire. There is almost no time to react, and they come in pairs so it's even harder to do anything. The most annoying is when they are coming head on, as they just flash on the screen for a few seconds. The second most annoying is when they shoot rockets at you. I can't dodge those, and shooting them is nearly impossible.
The last part I can comment on is landing the plane on the aircraft carrier. Why is this so hard? I mean, all it tells you in up, down, left, right, speed up, or slow down. If I do all of this as it tells me to, how can I fail? It's terrible. I've only landed it once.
I also have the U-Force, but I do not have the flight stick. I guess if I get it, I'll add an addendum to this review.