Off you go, into the wild blue yonder.

BOOM.

"Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces" is an arcade-style anime flight game based on the "Sky Crawlers" war film (2008) inspired by the Japanese book series. You play as Lynx, a rookie pilot drafted to stage dogfights to entertain the public. You live in an alternative universe where peace reigns, so your missions are just for fun.

Then big business realizes there's big money to be made and the dogfights get deadly. As a twist, you learn some fighter pilots are genetically programmed to take hits. They're immortal.

As Lynx, you have to complete a series of air raids and missions in your biplane, get promoted, and figure out the mystery of the immortals. You don't talk, you are an action man. The villain of the game is Mozume, your boss, who is trying to entwine war and the economy. Your squadmates include Maumi (the token girl), Sprite (a judgmental albino), Kaida (the fun guy) and Yamzaki (the original squad captain with a heart of gold).

The graphics are really good in this single-player flight simulator. There's not much you can do with skies, but there are clouds and plenty of aerial views to enjoy. The music is OK, kind of electro-New Age. This game is just for the Wii, and you use your nunchuk as your flight stick, the Wii-mote as the throttle as you sweep and soar. Your clock and various gauges are on screen so you can pace your attacks in raids and dogfights. When you shoot a rival down, a red "mission accomplished" sign flashes up.

In my opinion, most flight simulation games are kind of repetitive -- you end up just flying around a lot -- but I suppose any video game is redundant if you play it long enough. This one is OK, with likeable characters, visuals, and a moral -- give peace a chance -- so I'll give it three out of five stars. Bon voyage!

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. James Gascoin, 17, one of the youngest professional gaming critics in the nation, writes exclusively for the Times. Reach him at TheVidKids@aol.com.