If you’re familiar with War Thunder, you’ve got a good frame of reference for what to expect out of Aces of Thunder. In the broadest sense, this is a trimmed-down War Thunder, but in VR.

Being a full-on simulation title, Aces of Thunder expects you to have a fairly thorough understanding of simulation aerial combat. There is sort of a tutorial, but it feels more like training as opposed to anything truly comprehensive. This is unfortunate.

There’s a lot to understand to enjoy the game to its fullest. Even just the act of taking off and successfully getting into the air can be overwhelming if you aren’t prepared.

Once you’re in the air, however, the game gets an opportunity to truly shine. Highly immersive and visually phenomenal, the game looks great — even on a base PS5. The cockpits look exceptional, with a useful hover feature to let you know which gauge you’re currently looking at. Other planes are discernible from a great distance, and the sound design is impeccable.

It looks, sounds, and feels fantastic — you just need to master its controls and manoeuvring to get off the ground first.

One of the biggest problems is that there’s no ideal control scheme. The PSVR2 controllers are great for navigating the confines of the cockpit, but it’s far too easy to accidentally end up in a tailspin. Some of the levers and switches don't always respond either.

Meanwhile, the DualSense controller – in the non-VR mode-- offers better control of the plane, but less nuance in the cockpit. The ideal solution seems to be a full HOTAS setup, but that’s asking a lot of someone casually interested.

Luckily, there’s a wealth of content to get you up to speed. There’s a 10-mission campaign, some standalone challenge missions, and PVP. There's also an impressively robust mission editor to boot. There are tons of planes at launch, including basically every major power in WW2, and a few WW1 planes as well.

In the end, you get a title with little interest in holding your hand or teaching you the ropes. However, if you put in the time to learn, there’s an impressive amount of content to enjoy. The presentation makes it all worth it, offering a wildly immersive experience.