Proving it was worth the wait, Top Gun: Maverick brought back the “summer blockbuster” with great success. Tom Cruise returned to the fighter pilot franchise, delivered it to a new generation of movie-goers, and brought nostalgia to fans of the 1986 movie. Top Gun fans old and new, were likely stirred up by the end, raring and ready to jump into a cockpit and live out their piloting fantasies.
While getting into the pilot seat of any airplane, let alone a military grade fighter jet, is an impossible feat for the majority of the population, video games offer up numerous cockpits for Top Gun fans to enjoy. Gamers have been blasting away in flight combat games for years and there are a plethora of games to satisfy anyone with the need for speed.
10 Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge Is A Throwback Worth Visiting
Top Gun focuses on high-speed air flight action. While the films are set in the 1980s and current day, Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge is set in an alternate universe during the1930s. Giving gamers a real raucous ride in the cockpit, the original Xbox game offers an arcade flight experience rather than a pure simulator. Players also receive a robust campaign with large levels and open-ended missions.
Players can execute special maneuvers like barrel rolls all while blasting away at enemy planes with onboard machine guns. Players can also challenge their friends in split-screen dog fights. The Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge is accessible through Xbox’s backwards compatibility program.
9 Explore The Unknown Skies In Ace Combat 7
Blurring the lines between arcade and simulation gameplay, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown puts players in the cockpit of numerous fighter jets as they engage enemy factions amidst a war in the skies. While the campaign offers an interesting story, the game also features online multiplayer deathmatch and battle royale modes to indulge in.
For those with a PSVR headset, Ace Combat 7 features a VR mode, allowing players to fully experience what it’s like sitting in the cockpit of a fighter jet during a dog fight. Add a flight stick controller to the VR experience and players will really feel like Maverick taking to the skies.
8 Microsoft Flight Simulator Is The Most Direct Route To Any Fan’s Top Gun Fantasy
Quite easily the most realistic flight sim to date, Microsoft Flight Simulator gives gamers a chance to live out their realistic flying dreams. Even though it was delayed due to Top Gun: Maverick’s delays, the Top Gun free DLC is now available to all players.
The DLC includes a Maverick skin for the F/A-18E Super Hornet, three training missions, and an aircraft carrier landing mission. Once those are completed, players can access five high-speed canyon challenges, a mission to fly into the stratosphere, and access to a hypersonic aircraft which can hit a speed of up to Mach 10.
7 Arma 3 Is A Good Wingman
While other flight combat games focus on the dogfight aspect of air warfare, Arma 3 gives players the bonus task of providing support on the battlefield. Players can still engage in heated one-on-one fighter jet battles, but for variety’s sake, players can strafe heavy tanks on the battlefield and perform bombing strikes on specific targets to help the soldiers below.
While Arma 3 doesn’t offer the same depth in the gameplay mechanics as other flight combat games, it offers enough of a challenge for players to feel rewarded when executing perfect bombing and strafing runs between blasting other planes with rockets.
6 Fighter Jets Join The Chaos Of Battlefield 4
While Battlefield 4 is known for its FPS mechanics and gameplay, the game offers planes as a vehicle for multiplayer battle modes as well as in the story campaign. The campaign mission is full of scripted dog fights, but when gamers enter multiplayer, there’s additional freedom.
Players can use planes in large-scale modes like Conquest or in the strictly air combat mode Air Superiority where players only use planes to shoot each other down and control the skies. Even though the planes are a minor aspect of Battlefield 4, they offer a fun combat experience worth checking out.
5 Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2 Is An Excellent Outing
While the first H.A.W.X game saw decent success, Ubisoft followed it up with Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2 which improved its predecessor. The game offered a story campaign which could be played solo or co-operatively with up to three fellow Aces.
H.A.W.X. 2 introduced take-offs and landings into the series. Adding a new challenge for players to conquer, landing mid-mission allowed planes to reload on ammunition. The game also added user-guided missiles to the arsenal rather than the “send it and forget it” missiles of the first game. It even offered a variety of missions from the standard dogfights and air support to espionage and drone surveillance.
4 Find Arcade Action In Neon Vibrancy With Rogue Sky
Rogue Sky is an interesting title within the flight combat genre as it sheds all realism for a neon schemed, polygonal aesthetic. However, this doesn’t mean that the game should be overlooked. There’s a good amount of depth to the actual gameplay.
Each mission is procedurally generated, and before they begin, players can choose their plane, loadout, and delivery. Rogue Sky offers 12 jets and over 30 weapons to choose from, giving players a variety of customization choices concerning when flying through levels, or blasting away tanks, battleships, and other fighter jets.
3 M.A.C.H. Scratches The Air Combat Itch On The Go
M.A.C.H or Modified Air Combat Heroes released on the PSP back in 2007. During the action racing game, players controlled different fighter planes in races or arena combat. The game featured power-ups like mines and cluster rockets, and players could upgrade individual planes to increase their stats.
M.A.C.H. offers a fun experience for players looking to take to the skies on the go. However, it leans heavily on the arcade style of gameplay by using power-ups, almost giving it a weird “plane meets Mario Kart” feel that doesn’t always work. Nevertheless, it’s still worth a zip between the clouds.
2 War Thunder Is An Excellent Free-To-Play Choice
War Thunder is a free-to-play flight game which features planes from World War II to modern day. While the game focuses more on its arcade game mode, there are also realistic and simulator modes for those looking for a different experience.
While Top Gun fans will focus on piloting the modern fighter jets, War Thunder also offers opportunities to play in helicopters and tanks. This variation in gameplay and the many choices on the battlefield, give players a more chaotic experience in online game modes.
1 Ace Combat 4, 5 And Zero Are The Holy Trinity Of Dogfight Flyers
Ace Combat‘s three game run on the PS2 marked the high point for gamers who wanted to live out their fighter pilot fantasies. The games offered great campaigns with engaging stories, but they also provided fast and frenetic fighter jet gameplay.
While blasting through the skies, Ace Combat gamers must dodge buildings, other planes, and enemy missiles while locking targets and shooting opponents out of the sky. Any of the three games is a good choice for someone looking for high-octane arcade flight gameplay opportunities, and the graphics on haven’t aged too poorly over the years.