1942: The Pacific Air War is a flight simulation set in World War II, more specific the Pacific War between Japan and the United States.

The focus is on the realistic simulation of the ten aircraft, this means for instance that there is no indicator for ammo. The game features several missions which can be either played independently from each other or in two campaigns for the United States or Japan. The goals are mostly to liberate an area, to defend an area or to destroy a specific target.

The special feature of this game is that it also can be played as strategy game. On an overhead map the player gets presented with the position of all aircraft and he can order his troops around. The player can take control over every aircraft he wishes to and switch between both modes instantly. He can also record his performance and cut small movies with different camera angles out of them.