I actually ordered this game as a secondary choice. Boy was I wrong, this is definitely first rate.  I was extremely impressed with the level of detail in this simulation.  The smooth scrolling of the terrain make low level flight a definite experience.  The only drawback is that the AI is  severly lacking in creativity.  The freindly aircraft will come to your  assistance but are dependent on your commands to make any intelligent  decission when it come to target engagement.  The enemy aircraft follow  standard offensive and defensive tactics which is okay for the gamer and  simulator buff, but those craving realism require an AI that will adjust to  your moves and counter accordingly.  The shortcomings just noted are  minimal in comparison to the visual effects, audio and overall gameplay.  Nothing can be done to reduce the 5 star rating because this sim deserves  more than that.  So far running on a PIII 450 with 192 megs of RAM, 60gig  ATA66 and a Voodoo3 3000 AGP, there have been no lockups and everything has  been smooth sailing, the video after a full install that requires 1100MB of  space is still a little choppy running from a 50x CD-ROM.  Having only been  in one actual air-to-air engagement(Helicopter), I can't really ding this  game on realism.  The spectacular explosions are quite exagerated. All  minute problems aside this is deffinitely the sim to purchase, and if you  somehow thought you had a personal life... you do in front of your computer  with flightstick in hand.