It would be absurd to make it too easy, though. Shooting down everything on the horizon with smart ramjet missiles would be extremely dull, for one thing.
It would. And that leads us to a good point, actually. This game is meant to be fun as much as a sim. The game's many tight situations should make its shelf life stretch into decent territory, without making it ridiculously annoying, and you're also encouraged to use a bit of tactical common sense. The mission where you must help the agent escape in her jeep, for instance, becomes much more simple if you sweep the land and skies of as may enemies as you can before you make your rescue run.

Let's cut to the quick. How would you compare it to, say, Ace Combat 3, which was the first and is still the best flight sim on the PlayStation.
You'd have to say, on the evidence so far, that Ace Combat 3's graphics are a bit smarter. But having said that, both games are on a par in lots of other ways. For starters, they both have equally exciting and varied missions, as well as nice plot involvement to tie the missions together nicely and keep you involved. AC3 certainly had a decent light model and was a genuine sim in that you weren't rail-roaded down a path. The same can be said of Eagle One as, again, you're free to explore a 3D environment. So, graphics excluded for the moment (Glass Ghost may tweak them a bit, but the game does seem pretty finished to us), Eagle One looks like it might give Ace Combat a decent dogfight.

Sounds as if you like it.
Overall, you'd have to say that Eagle One looks fun and will be a welcome addition to the genre.

Do say...
It's Harrier Jumping Jack Flash.

Don't say...
It's a lot less bovver with a hover.