As with past editions over the years, Microsoft follows the latest version of its genre-dominating Flight Simulator with the release of a more action-oriented combat flight sim. Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3 allows virtual pilots to fly for the Royal Air Force, the U.S. Army Air Force, the Imperial Japanese Navy, or Germany's Luftwaffe, in demanding missions above the battlefields of a war-weary 1943 Europe. No matter the force for which they fly, pilots will face enemy planes in the sky and anti-aircraft fire from below. The game's mission structure is designed on the tactical campaigns that vied for superiority in the sky through later stages of World War II. The game features a flexible storyline that develops according to players' progress. Great success -- or unexpected failure -- can change the course of events, leading to an alternate history determined by the player's decisions and actions.