the game both easy and difficult. Atkin complained of frustrating air-to-ground missiles, which only lock onto vehicles but not buildings. Lackey considered the missions to be the best and worst aspects of the game, describing them as both "cleverly crafted" and "frustratingly difficult". Atkin wrote about the missions: "They're certainly anything but typical - what other sim lets you navigate your F/A-18 through a maze, Quake-style?" Lackey described the maze level as "the most bizarre mission I've ever seen in a combat flight game". Atkin noted that the game's campaign missions have far more in common with the James Bond films than with the Tom Cruise film. He concluded that there was little to recommend the game, other than "some original (if wacky) mission scenarios". McDonald criticized the "silly" storyline and "sci-fi super-weapons", while describing the latter as feeling as untested. He wrote that the game could have had "some glimmer" of potential with better flight programming and missions that were "actually tested". Evans felt that the Instant Action and multiplayer modes played better than the main campaign modes, which were criticized by some reviewers for their linear gameplay. Stephen Butts of IGN criticized the inability to customize the weather, cloud coverage, and time of day in Instant Action. Some critics noted that no one was playing the game on MSN Gaming Zone at the time of their reviews. Criticism went to the game's lack of realism and its flight physics, including the slow plane maneuvers. McDonald wrote that the Hornet "handles like a pig stuck in the mud", while Lackey stated that it "is nowhere near as responsive as a real plane". Mahood stated that the plane's flight model and avionics are badly constructed. Dultz opined that the flight model and avionics have been watered down to the point where the game feels more like an arcade shooter than a sim-lite. Chick criticized the "simplified" action for being "generic and dull". Mahood stated that the "cartoon simplicity" would not appeal to hardcore flight simulation gamers, although he considered the game easy to learn. Smith wrote that the flight simulation fans would be dismayed with the game being easy and having simplistic controls. Butts praised the simplicity of the game, stating that it "strikes a nice balance between realism and playability". Reviewers stated that the game had only a minimal relation to the film. Atkin believed that fans of the