The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces

I know nothing of this series. Understand that from the start. But this game is excellent. I understand Giant Bomb's aversion to the Wii. It is a second hand videogame system. I am saving up to get a PS3. The games I have reviewed on the other systems are from using my friends' units. But this game is as good as the Wii gets... as far as graphics, story, and gameplay go. 
 
Innocent Aces is a manga based air combat game. It combines a story and actual air combat very well. In some situations, I even played the game just to see where the story was going. It even gives animated sequences in certain situations in the middle of battle. This can be annoying when you are diving on an enemy and crash after the cut scene... but it teaches you to stay high in battle. 
 
The settings of battle are about as good as an air combat game on the Wii are going to get. If you are looking for super realistic graphics... I really don't understand why you have a Wii.  The story is not complicated, as I have never seen any of this series, but I picked right up. I was amazed at how well the animation was portrayed in the story sequences. As far as gameplay, there was little difficulty with the controls. It felt pretty natural after I went through the tutorials. As much as the Wii tries to make a player feel involved, this game feels like you are flying a plane... minus the gravity effects.  
 
The negatives of this game are few. It can be slow at times, story-wise. but you can skip the story, if you are so inclined. In fact you can skip the briefings also, if you want to enter battle completely blind. Also, if you ignore the descriptions of each plane, you may get frustrated with the controls. I seriously yelled at my wiimote because it wasn't making turns as sharp as I wanted. Then I read my plane description. The handeling was way below the airplane I was used to. So ... that is actually a possitive more than a negative. The controls are crazy sensitive. I did have a problem with the game freezing one time. but it never did again.
 
If you are adverse to the Wii, I don't know that you would like this game. But if you are open to all game systems when the games are good, I highly recomend you try this game. I found it used at Game Stop for under 10 dollars. It has proven to be one of my favorite games in my collection for the Wii. There is very little I have found wrong with this game. I have wanted a playable and enjoyable flight combat game for the Wii for a long time. This has provided all I had expected, plus it has a good story, a natural feel, and it is challenging. I nearly forgot the fact that it is hard. every level increases the difficulty. I had to revert to easy level just to see the story. Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces is a great game all around.