FA-18 Korea

It has been quite some time since I heard about this game. It came out in the mid 90's. Around 96 or 97 I think. At the time it was very realistic. You started each mission with a briefing that had a video and in the event you failed the mission, you could select a different mission and come back to it later.
The hud was very well designed and I have noticed other games that have used similar designs, such as IF22. The physics of gameplay were good, although some of the climbs and drops were a little unrealistic.

The other drawback was the enormous number of keys required to play the game. Although this gave a high degree of control, it made it sometimes difficult to remember what all the keys controlled.
Although I have never been to Korea, the terrain reminded me of a desert with vegetation covering the floor. It was kind of flat. I do however enjoy the replay ability of this game as you don't have to start at point a then continue to point b. It reminded me of other games such as Falcon or Afterburner.
If you are willing to take a little time to learn the controls and the feel of the planes dynamics, I feel that this game would definitely be worth a try. There are an overwhelming number of flight sims that came out around this era but most of them had either disappointing graphics or non realism feel. I had tried others but always found myself going back to this one.
This game also supported multi player, which for the time was really a great idea. You could compete against a couple of friends. The other thing I really liked was the fact that you could create your own missions to play. Sometimes I would create an impossible mission just to see how far I could get.
Overall if you are willing to be patient with the learning curve of the controls and are willing to invest a little time and want a simulator that is based on the Hornet, I would definitely give this one a shot. It may not be the best as compared to the standards of today, but it was cutting edge in its day. Not only will you fly the Hornet, but you will have to taxi and request take off from the control tower before you can proceed.