Pilot Academy

The Good
Pilot Academy provides a nice mix of both civilian and military flying on the PSP with plenty of airplanes ranging from WWI to the present. It features detailed and realistic airplane models including visible landing gear, flaps and airbrakes. Completing missions unlocks new airplanes and further missions thus giving one a sense of progress. Missions vary in many aspects from air combat and bombing runs to aerobatics and stunts like barn-storming.

Free flight mode allows you to fly around one of the mission areas (a group of islands) with any of the planes you unlocked.

The Bad
While there are plenty of missions with lots of variety, they are mostly rather short, usually between 5 and 10 minutes long. They are obviously designed to be completed quickly on the go but slightly longer missions might have been more immersive. The Ace Combat games on the PSP manage to engage the player for longer periods at a time and thus make the player feel more deeply engaged with the game and its world.

Despite the rather complex controls and detailed airplane graphics (for a handheld title), the game features no fuel gauge which could have added to the simulation aspect by forcing the player to pay attention to their flying and fuel consumption. Then again, most missions are so short that this wouldn't be a factor.

While the airplanes re detailed, the environments are rather simplistic with some obvious boxy tiles showing and the draw distance being noticeable.

Sound effects and music are there, though not very memorable. The voice acting is decent and in one case hilariously bad -- though probably intentional.

Free flight mode is limited to only one area and time of day. Variations in landscape, daytime and perhaps even weather could have made this more interesting.

The Bottom Line
Despite its minor shortcomings in presentation and gameplay, Pilotwings... erm Pilot Academy is probably the best (and only) allround flight simulator for the PSP.