Going into each mission requires minimal setup, which involves picking an armament for your plane, and then picking your wingmen and their planes as well. Once that's over and done with, it's on to the action. The game is easily played with a controller, and allows you to pick from a variety of different views, some useful, some worthless.
Because you are taking some high tech pieces of aeronautical equipment into the air, the controls haven't been dumbed down to third grader quality. Instead, this scheme is about as close as you're going to get to a real sim without going overboard. The first thing you'll notice is the HUD, which is chock full of stuff to look at. However, most of the readouts don't need your attention 100 percent of the time, and the more important ones let you know when something's up.
All in all, Lethal Skies II adds up to a quality gaming experience. Plenty of planes, missions, weapons, and a bit of replayability land this title at a safe distance from other clones of the genre. If you're in the mood for some decent aerial warfare, check out Lethal Skies II.