Hands up those of you who have ever wondered what it was like flying above the gloriously blue wonder that is the Coral Sea, hands tight around the control stick as you weaved about like a dragonfly on heat, swatting down those pesky Japanese fighters from the sky as you fly your way into the history books?

Road rage... Pilot style!

If that's a yes, then press play on that Top Gun DVD, grab that old dusty leather flight jacket from the box marked "trashy 80s stuff" and get ready for Heroes of the Pacific - a game that will put you in the middle of some of the most hard-fought and memorable battles of the Pacific campaign during World War II.

Based at Pearl Harbor, you play a fresh-faced navy pilot recruit, William Crowe, who watches in horror as the attacking Japanese forces bomb the Arizona into a watery oblivion, with your brother on board. Swearing mighty vengeance on the Jap Naval Fleet, you embark on 26 challenging missions based on actual battles that occurred taking you to Wake Island, Midway, Iwo Jima and all the way to the blue hell of the Coral Sea and beyond.

...and to the right we have Bikini Bottom.

Starting with the obligatory tutorial missions focused on learning the basics of flying which includes landing, stalls, targeting, waypoints and issuing orders to your wingmen, the single-player campaign opens with you taking off in haste to stop the encroaching enemy forces. At this point, youd have noticed how remarkably easy it is to fly about as well as the lack of endless rows of gauges, systems checks, radio commands or the weary task of having to wade through a hundred page manual on how to target something miles away. This is as simple a WWII flight sim as you get and I for one found it a very refreshing change. Of course, you have the choice right from the start to either choose the Arcade or Professional flight control options but trust me when I say this (no... I'm not a used car salesman... truuuust me), the differences are so subtle that both are equally as enjoyable and rewarding. It goes without saying though that Heroes of the Pacific has the usual difficulty scales Rookie, Pilot, Veteran and Ace. If you have the secret and perverse joy of being shot down from the sky in a great ball of fire (now where's my damn Top Gun soundtrack... mmm) in a very short space of time, then be my guest in choosing Ace. Otherwise, stick to Pilot or Veteran.

One thing that needs mentioning at this point is how unrealistic this game gets and how good that is. Realism gets boring sometimes, hence why we all love our games, read Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels and dress up in our trekkie uniforms and wear mums bras over our heads (why did I just say that?). In the case of Heroes of the Pacific, sure all the missions are based on real battles and the aircraft are picture perfect but dare I say it, if this was real the Yanks would have won the Pacific war based on one man's actions alone. Each mission, while varied to the degree of not having made to sit through 26 versions of the same one, you still get to grind through a huge amount of planes. Wave after wave they come, like ants to the huge pile of sugar, or in this case towards an American naval fleet or some other worthy target destined for destruction. Its pretty much the one draw-back to this game, the endless waves of fighters and bombers and the amount of killing one guy ends up doing. That said, don't think you can rest in between waves though. This game has you rocking along at such a brisk pace, I think I need to get my pacemaker recharged.

Remember how I earlier mentioned the wingmen training? They don't make much of a difference. But they do make for some nice screenshots. A better balance between the amount the wingmen do and what you end up doing would have been great. Should I also mention the unlimited ammo and the fact that when you collide with an enemy plane, you quite literally bounce off with only a small amount of damage to show for it? Like I said, go stuff realism in the back pocket and sit on it. I'd rather enjoy myself and in this game I did (damn these tight trekkie pants).

Okay, who farted?

As I mentioned, the missions are varied and fun to mince your meaty way through. From the defense of a vital carrier, destruction of a certain amount of enemy ships, attacking and neutralising the defenses on Iwo Jima including a bucket load of AA, bunkers and grounded Japanese planes, to rescuing a General from the merciless clutches of the enemy. With 26 missions on offer, you end up with a jolly good bag of fun to satisfy the biggest and grandest WWII flying fantasy.

The second issue I wanted to raise but wouldnt class it as a drawback would be the lack of save points. Some of the missions take quite a while to complete and thankfully you have auto-saves sprinkled though-out each mission which are very handy when you feel like doing something stupid like nose-diving into a bunker or trying to land on a carrier upside down. If for whatever reason you need to leave the game, you are forced into starting the mission from scratch and some of those missions can get long, hairy and quite hard (calm down, Richard). Heck, if I can bounce off an enemy plane, surely I'd be able to save when I wanted to. But I like said, it's not a major thing. Auto-saves make baby Jesus squeal in rapture but it could have been worse, like no auto-saves at all... good grief!

As expected, the eye-candy in this game is a pleasure to behold. The ocean looks a treat, with a multitude of sparkling blue hues making you want to grab the bikinis, jump out and go for a swim. All 36 aircraft which eventually get unlocked as you progress through the game (including all the infamous Jap planes like the Zero and the Raiden) look incredibly detailed and along with the islands you visit on your luxury cruise, each one is accurately recreated. I had a problem with the clouds in this game. They simply were not thick enough. Sure my mum was correct when she said I need to get my head out of the clouds, but damn it, every arm-chair pilot has the secret desire to dash into a cloud at a very high speed and get lost in a sea of white. No big deal but its always been a small... shall we say... fetish of mine with flying games (don't look at me like that). Heroes of the Pacific has the right mix of visual treats to sometimes make you forget about the mission on hand and simply head off in any direction to enjoy the sights.

*insert darth vader music*

Another aspect of this game and one which you'll notice from the first screen loaded is the comic-strip approach. To help settle players into the 40s feel, the games menus and loading screens come splashed with recreations of those WWII propaganda posters filled with cheesy pilots holding their thumbs up trying to encourage the hapless pilot into daring feats. A great addition to the game is the newsreel footage thats used in between campaigns. They help kick along the story just after a hard mission was fought and finally conquered.

The sound quality was awesome. For those of you with decent soundcards and speakers please make sure you turn this baby up. Everything from the rattling of the machine guns, the boom of the AA and the deep furious roar of the engines to the explosions of enemy planes made playing the game that much more enjoyable. Music was the usual rousing orchestral number and the voiceovers were all impressively done. Mind you, if you are the type to get a wee bit uncomfortable with crude language then you might get a shock as a few gems pop out of this game every now and again.

If you don't have a joystick for this game, then have no fear as I used the mouse and keyboard combo which at no time inhibited my enjoyment. But sure, if you prefer the real deal then a joystick's the way to go.

In summary, and to put it rather bluntly, I bloody enjoyed playing this game. It had the right combination of varied and historically accurate missions with both awesome graphics and sound to make this game worth getting. So, turn up that Top Gun soundtrack and sing Highway to the DANGER ZONE!!!, get that fan onto the desk, turn it up high and strap that scarf on as you dare the wild skies with nothing more than a hand on the stick and a grin on the face.