Is there anything quite like them now? I love this era of flight sims but the modern ones look a bit too much for me. I love F-19 and later ATAC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2pqS4fo8qA
If you want to fly a "modern" jet without needing to read a manual or learn very complex radar systems, this is the game for you.
Both profiles are well worth a scroll through if you have any interest in sim-lite games. Really like the breakdowns on old school simlite games and what really made them fun (since it wasn't strictly a matter of realism = better).
MicroProse's F-19 is the flightsim I played and enjoyed the most, and it wasn't realistic.
If you download DCS World directly from the site instead of getting it through steam, you can get a 2 week trial of each module every 6 months.
Flaming Cliffs 3 is the name of the less realistic module. It comes with several planes or you can buy them individually. As I said before, you can try them all for free for 2 weeks each and it resets every 6 months.
Actually they have an iOS version, which isn't bad, except the lack of joystick support.
If you used to love GraphSim's F-18, definitely do check out Tiny Combat Arena. It has the same vibe!
MicroProse F-19 hit that awesome spot of some realism (laughable today, but it wasn't meant to be an arcade game back then), with a really easy flight model and cool missions and scenarios you could really complete. And besides knowing the keyboard mappings, you really didn't need a manual. It was thrilling to play mission after mission, getting all those medals, and having your character be promoted in rank. I spent a lot of time with that game -- probably flew as many missions as an actual combat pilot!
The only other flightsim I found almost as engrossing was Gunship 2000, with its "dynamic" campaign system, but it was way more difficult.
I find Tiny Combat Arena captures some of this thrilling but simple gameplay, but it currently lacks content (more campaigns, more maps, more things to do).
The complexity of the game hits a sweet spot for me. To get into the air you have to go through some startup steps (maybe 8, most of which involve hitting "power" buttons). There is some light air traffic control simulation that you can interact with (or just take off yolo style). Mission design is diverse and there are a decent number of fan made missions.
The initial tutorial missions do a good job getting you up in the air, after that you benefit from watching some youtube tutorials because each weapon system and aircraft have their own unique features.
Random fact - the artwork was by Tom Ashton - previously the guitarist for The March Violets, also performed with The Sisters of Mercy, and went on to Clan of Xymox.
Also, this was the project I worked on before BRender - covered in another thread here.
dcs may seem very complicate, because there' a ot of buttons to memorize, and it indeed is for more modern planes that can switch between ground/air mode, weapon targeting modes, datalink modes etc
but
simplified planes with non interactive cockpit just have a few step to memorize and once you're going, you're going.
like, once you watch and execute the f-15 cold startup tutorial, it's always the same sequence in the same order and sets your plane exactly in the same mode ready for combat.
(nav light management etc is there, but it's kinda optional and not required to learn from the start)
then you get three button for radar mode you actually need (close combat, flood/boresight, beyond visual range), two button to switch weapon, and the rest is the slightly more complicate part, which is radar management
you get a set of buttons to look up/down/left/right, a set of button to move the pip close/far/left/right, a button to toggle scan mode, and a button to lock/unlock a target - it's a lot to set up, but it's quite easy as it has immediate feedback on what you're doing
the rest comes down to actually positon yourself in a way to maximize kill probability and defending from retailiation.