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You will see so many games being offered in so many different versions that it seems there is a glut of quantity but there is a shortage of quality. It's very refreshing when a so called budget game turns out to be more fun than one of the branded Playstation 3 games that are supposed to be the cream of the crop.

Make no mistake, in buying video games, the Ps3 Red Baron Arcade definitely is a budget game. At this very moment it is for a mere $19.99, and it definitely doesn't have the depth or extras of your average full-price game, but sometimes the extra crap gets in the way of making a game fun... and naked of cut scenes, voices, complex mission structure and other high dollar features, it shows that a game can be fun even if the developers didn't mortgage a nation to make it.

It appears to me that Ps3 Red Baron Arcade is just a revised version of the twenty-five year old game known as Red Baron. Atari produced the original game. It featured a green and black 4 frame per second vector graphic wire frame flier. It was a lot of fun to play and even now I sometimes still play it. It brings back some great memories.

The Playstation 3 game Red Baron Arcade has 23 solo missions plus several online missions you can play with other people using GameSpy. The options allow you to choose whether you want "arcade" or "simulation" controls. If using simulation mode the control stick is more realistic, instead of the basic point-and-shoot method of arcade. Because of this option, both casual gamers and those interested in flight simulators who want a realistic experience will be happy.

But beyond that, there isn't much realism to be found here. Enemy planes often appear out of thin air to join the battle, and of course what biplane or tri plane could carry so many darn bombs? There's also an "energy" bar that refills over time that you can use to perform special maneuvers such as a turbo boost, and what my father (who is actually a pilot) refers to as an "Immelman," that is, basically half a loop-de-loop with a twist that makes you nearly instantly change direction.

As soon as you start the game you are airborne and on a mission to shoot down other planes. You get other juicy targets like Zeppelins and get to go on bombing runs too. You get your choice of eight different planes to pilot and you can paint your plane in any colors you want. You're not the only one doing the shooting, so you will get shot down too, but that's part of the fun, and you can be back up in the air in no time.