We all miss the glorious, missile-spamming days of Ace Combat 6, and diving into a VR cockpit sounds like the ultimate dogfighting fantasy. Unfortunately, Air Brigade on Meta Quest is a stark reminder that not all budget flight sims are created equal. While the control scheme will feel immediately familiar to arcade-flight veterans, the complete lack of a story campaign, barren battlefields, and PS2-era graphics make it a hollow experience. Worse yet, the extreme motion sickness across all camera views will leave even seasoned pilots reaching for a bucket. Here is my brutally honest breakdown of why this game is a hard pass—and which VR games you should actually spend your money on instead.
Game Introduction
I’ve always loved Ace Combat. That series lets you carry an absurd amount of ammo that would never happen in real life. Dozens of missiles, fired nonstop. The one that really hooked me was Ace Combat 6 back in the Xbox 360 days. Flying an F-16 and opening the fight by launching 4AAMs at an enemy formation 5,000 meters out, wiping out an entire line in one go. That feeling was unforgettable.
There was a full story campaign too. I’ve forgotten most of the details by now, but soaring into the sky in an F-22 Raptor and surviving a one-against-twenty dogfight is something I still want to experience again.
During the PS4 Pro era, there was even a VR version of Ace Combat. From the very first hangar scene, it felt shockingly real. It genuinely made me think, am I actually about to take off right now?
Once you lift off in an F-16, the sky is unbelievably blue and beautiful. But then enemy fighters start closing in from beyond the horizon, and that’s where the fear kicks in. Normally, I can clear Hard mode without much trouble. In VR, though, even the weakest enemies completely destroyed me. That tension and sense of hopelessness were pure VR.
Flying a fighter jet in VR comes with a problem, though. The motion sickness is brutal. The sky may be beautiful, but the pilot ended up throwing up.
There’s no Ace Combat on Meta Quest, so instead I found this VR air combat game called Air Brigade on the store. It’s cheap, but unfortunately there’s no story mode. You either play locally or look for opponents online.
There are a few modes available. You can host your own room or jump into someone else’s lobby and play that way.
This game supports multiple languages, including English and Chinese, so you can switch to whatever you’re comfortable with. You can also tweak the graphics settings to better match your preferences.
That said, the visual quality itself isn’t particularly high, so it’s better not to set your expectations too high.
When you jump into the game, it has this oddly nostalgic feel. The hangar only shows older aircraft at first, but you can earn money and use it to buy new planes.
You start out with just a MiG-29 available. Save up a bit, and you’ll be able to purchase an F-16.
The controls feel pretty close to Ace Combat. Roughly speaking, it works like this.
- Press left stick: show map
- Press right stick: reset or adjust view
- Left stick forward or back: accelerate or decelerate
- Left stick left or right: roll the aircraft
- Right stick: control flight direction
- A button: switch missiles
- Left trigger: machine gun
- Right trigger: fire missile
- Grip buttons on both hands: directly grab the throttle and control stick in cockpit view
If you played Ace Combat back in the day, this should feel familiar pretty quickly.
The controls work like this.
You start in tutorial mode, and it throws you straight into the sky. The moment the screen came up, my reflex was to blurt out, wow, I’m going to get sick.
The tutorial has you learn basic flight controls while shooting down two F-4 Phantom IIs in midair. Even though I was flying an F-16, I couldn’t line up the enemy at all. I drifted around for minutes before I finally managed to get behind one and take it down. Honestly, it was exhausting.
There are three camera views available: third-person view, cockpit view, and panorama view. All of them can make you feel motion sick. If I had to pick one, panorama view is slightly better, mostly because the wider field of view helps a bit.
Third-person view:
Cockpit view:
This one gives you the strongest feeling of actually sitting in the pilot’s seat. At the same time, all the shaking and movement hit you directly, and the motion sickness is about as bad as it gets. You can clearly see the instruments and HUD, but once you start aggressively maneuvering the aircraft to chase enemies, it doesn’t take long before your stomach starts to turn.
Panorama view:
You can see the entire outline of the aircraft, and the field of view is wide. That does help with spotting enemies, but the motion sickness is still there. It’s manageable for a short while, but there’s no way I could handle this view for long sessions.
Once you finish the tutorial, you can jump into proper dogfights. The problem is, there aren’t many people online, so it usually ends up being a short session against CPU opponents.
In the settings, you can choose the match length (4, 8, or 12 minutes), the battle rules (kill count or time limit), and team size (1v1, 2v2, or 3v3).
The maps aren’t limited to the ocean either. There’s also a desert area. There is some visual variety, but whether you can actually enjoy the scenery without getting sick is another question entirely.
Mechanically, it’s close to Ace Combat, but there are no large enemy formations or ground forces at all. Because of that, the battles never really build any excitement, and honestly, it’s not that fun to play.
The graphics also feel stuck at around a PS2-era level. And to top it off, there’s actually a sequel to this game. It’s free, but the ratings are even worse.
Game Rating
The Highlights
- It really feels like a low-end version of Ace Combat.
The Drawbacks
- The motion sickness is extremely intense.
- The graphics are very barebones.
- There’s no story mode, and the combat never really gets exciting.
Setup & Safety
This game can be played while sitting down.
It feels closer to playing a PlayStation game, and there’s no need to swing your arms around or do any special movements. There isn’t much you need to watch out for.
Final Score & Comfort Level
Final Score: 🌟 (Strongly Not Recommended)
VR Comfort Level: 🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀 (Uncomfortable)
Video Overview
Meta Quest Official Information
Price: 4.99 USD
This game often gets discounted during seasonal sales, holiday events throughout the year, Black Friday, and New Year sales. Most of the time, the discount sits around 10 to 20 percent.
If you enter VRPUPU at checkout, you get another 10% off.
Rating: 4.1 / 5 ( 51 Reviews)
Official Description
Soar through the skies in this arcade-style VR air combat game.
Jump into intense dogfights against real players or AI, earn money, and unlock even stronger, deadlier fighter jets.
If the aerial combat in Air Brigade feels too rough and makes you sick, switching things up can help. Try blowing a trombone or piloting a robot for a change of pace.
