Star Wars: X-Wing

The Good
Great background, good action, simple yet effective controls, different challenges, different crafts to fly with and fly against

The Bad
While there's a lot of action, most of it involves a lot of timing and keeping track of a LOT of targets, objectives not always clear, too hard to aim

The Bottom Line
X-Wing is one of the better space combat games. With a full 3D engine, the game features a lot of action, a great background story, and plenty of action. Ability to find keys to certain targets is invaluable. However, the nature of the mission objectives were not always clear (Freespace was able to fit in an "objectives list" on the screen, including the ships that needed protecting). And a lot of the mission objectives is too dependent on timing and target tracking. It's also VERY hard to get hits (much harder than Wing Commnader).

If you want more action try Wing Commander instead. If you want your space action to come with a bit more tactical considerations, then X-Wing should fit your requirements.