YMMV / Janes USAF

• Best Level Ever: Nearly each campaign has one.
  • In the Vietnam campaign, you get to fly Operation Bolo, the deception that triple ace Colonel Robin Olds pulled off. Normally, the enemy Migs employ hit and run tactics, going after bombers only, then fleeing when fighters engage them. You fly Phantoms role playing as F-105 "Thud" strike aircraft, trick a gaggle of enemy fighters into attacking you, then pounce.
  • In the Gulf War campaign's second mission featuring a coalition combined arms strike, you get to fly the F-117 and strike some very heavily defended targets, while showcasing the plane's stealth capabilities.
  • The very first mission in the Red Arrow campaign. Your base (Nellis AFB) comes under attack, you take off just before your own runway gets cratered, there are enemy Migs and Flankers swarming all around you, and four Su-24 attack aircraft are inbound to strike your headquarters. Pull off this mission and you feel that you can handle anything the game will throw at you.
  • The final mission of the Sleeping Giant campaign. You escort a chopper as it inserts a test pilot who will steal an experimental fighter, then fly it back to friendly territory. You will have to escort him back, but unlike other Escort Missions, he is a competent fighter.
  • The Fasten Seat Belts single mission. You are a lone aircraft sent to rescue an airliner that is being forced by Iraqi fighters to land at an airport and become Saddam's hostages.
  • Air Force One, where you get to play a mission similar to the events of the film of the same name.
• Demonic Spiders: The aircraft version of this are the F-16 Aggressors you fly against in the Red Flag missions. They have ECM jammers to spoof missiles you fire at them, and will fire AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles at you. These missiles are extremely hard to dodge.
• Difficulty Spike: Occurs during the "Guided Weapons" and "Night Operations" training missions. The guided weapons training starts off easy - the JDAM is a simple fire and forget glide bomb, the AGM-65 Maverick is a fire and forget ground attack missile, and then you have to guide the AGM-130 TV guided glide bomb to its target. Being a glide bomb, you don't have the same control authority on it, as you would with a rocket powered missile, so it handles extremely sluggish. And you are flying it in rugged hilly terrain, making it easy to crash into a rock face before reaching its target. To top it off, the game throws you a curveball by marking the wrong vehicle as your designated target. Glide your bomb to the vehicle marked with an encircled T and you only destroy a missile launcher, missing the intended target and failing the mission. You must recognize that the mobile radar platform is the target you must hit, and guide your glide bomb accordingly
  • The Midair Refueling training mission starts off easy - you just extend the refueling probe, which automatically contacts the tanker, who in turn replies with a heading to reach it. You fly to within 5 miles of the tanker and engage the Auto-Refueling system. Now, all you have to do, is sit back and enjoy the ride. Then the mission requires you to manually refuel. Which means that you have to maneuver the airplane into a precise position relative to the tanker, so that its refueling “boom” can attach to the refueling probe. If you fly from the cockpit, you’ll have a devil of a time getting into the perfect position. Unless you can somehow translate the tanker crew’s instructions to go “left/right/up/forward x feet” into careful controller inputs. Your best bet will be to switch to third person view and maneuver the airplane. Even then, climbing and side slipping in small amounts can be challenging. One wrong move and you can crash into the tanker.
  • The Night Operations mission has you practice laser guided bomb usage with both active and passive target designation. Then you must successfully land that plane. At night without a lot of visual cues that would otherwise help you flare the aircraft correctly.
• Goddamned Bats: ZSU "gun-dish" anti aircraft artillery. And the 85 millimeter anti aircraft guns. As well as Mig-17 fighters during the Vietnam missions.
• Large Ham: The Islamic radicals who intend to shoot down Air Force One sound really hammy.
  Terrorist leader:"This is the holy revolution brothers! You PAAAAYYY for your fight against Islam!"
• That One Level: Every campaign has these too.
  • The Vietnam campaign gives us the Khe Sanh seige. There are multiple 85 mm BFG around the base, hidden in the foliage. Fly too high, and you don't destroy them before they shoot down the cargo aircraft resupplying Khe Sanh. Fly too low, and you can see them. But they can also see you and shoot you down.
  • Red Arrow's final mission has you taking out a reactor's control center without hitting any other parts of the reactor, to prevent an ecological disaster. This means you must use your gun as bombs will do too much splash damage, and the enemy has missile hammers in place to neutralize your Mavericks. You must also approach that control center on a very precise trajectory, to avoid your cannon shells from striking the reactor. And the enemy has placed AAA right in front of you, on this path. You've also got to watch your speed, as approaching this target too fast, will cause you to kamikaze into the reactor. But at low speeds, you are easy meat for the AAA. Have fun!
  • Sleeping Giant gives us the Battle of Salzburg. You must fight your way through a sky full of Russian Su-35 fighters, outnumbered nearly 8 to 1, to reach their Ilyushin 76 and shoot it down. By that stage, you might not even have sufficient missiles and ammo.
  • The single mission called Barrier is an especially tough butt kicker. You have to fight off waves of Russian attackers, to prevent them from destroying your radar complex. The first wave are Su-35 attack fighters, who put up a decent fight, but will drop their payload and destroy your EWR if they get anywhere near it. The second wave consists of a Tu-22 Backfire bomber with fighter escorts. The third wave is 5 attack helicopters, who have snuck in u der the radar while you were tangling with the fighters. They are flying in really uneven and craggy terrain, and by this time, you are most likely out of missiles. Watch your speed and heading while trying to gun them down, or you'll go splat. Oh, and don't Take Your Time or they'll make short work of your radar complex. The final wave has you change to Buick flight and scramble fast to get there before enemy Su-24 attack aircraft do.