Players will have over seventy planes to choose from as they take part in over fifty clandestine operations for a secret “agency,” including the F-14 Tomcat, F/A-18 Hornet and A-10 Thunderbolt. These missions include dogfights, bombing runs, surgical strikes, and reconnaissance.

Graphically, the reports coming in place the action at a smooth 60 frames per second, albeit with a considerable amount of fog on the horizon, but Konami has stated that this will be cleaned up for the final version. All of the special effects one would expect from a flight combat sim will be present, including lens flare and massive fireballs when your target lock hits home. As you might not expect, the game will also include a myriad of minute detail effects including the jet wash from behind the fighter, and the particle debris that will fly off of a plane when damaged. The texture mapping seems to be varied in its quality, from photo-realistic at high altitude to a bit muddy when flying low to the ground. Perhaps this will also be cleaned up in the final version. Konami promises to utilize a great number of the Xbox’s groundbreaking graphical assets in this title.

Surprisingly, the game will feature two control schemes. One is designed in a simpler, arcade style fashion and one is designed for a more complicated flight sim setup. This should serve to satisfy both the impatient and the detail freaks alike (you’ll be able to adjust flaps, etc).