Attack on Pearl Harbor is a good game -- if you heed this one caveat: That is, hard-core WWII and flight simulation enthusiasts are advised to check, well, almost every expectation at the door. This is not your grandfather's best-generation Pearl Harbor, this is Pearl Harbor and points beyond run through the "mindless fun" filter.

Players can take the role of either American or Japanese airmen. The game is divided into four campaigns (two for the Americans, two for the Japanese), and the historical setting takes a decided back seat to the extremely friendly, arcade-based gameplay, with a technical learning curve of about five minutes, followed by all the hours of glossed-over, pick-up-and-play physics you can handle.

In terms of aeronautical authenticity, Attack on Pearl Harbor harkens back to Crimson Skies for the Xbox. Japanese or American, the mission types fall expectedly into the appropriate categories -- bombing missions, escorts, torpedo attacks, recon missions, and dogfights and well as, dogfights, dogfights and dogfights, all employing a simple mouse-and-keyboard control scheme, a handful of special controls, a fixed follow-cam perspective, and the ability to swing the camera around your plane (a handy way of keeping track of potential targets).

Some 50 missions are available, and despite the forgiving, arcade-style physics, the mission-progression element system goes a bit beyond the standard beat-the-level scheme: Players have a finite number of available types of planes, and planes you've lost can only be replaced by taking down enough of the enemy's aircraft. It makes no logistical sense in the scope of the missions, but it works.

Long after you've forgotten the admittedly-thin single player experience, Attack on Pearl Harbor's multiplayer component supports up to 12 players (internet or LAN) for quick-access, beer- (or saki-) and-pretzels action.

Attack on Pearl Harbor's user-friendly simplicity will give aviation purists aneurysms aplenty -- but those looking to bash their friends, talk smack and hoot for an hour or so at a go without huge time commitments will feel right at home.