Reviewing the Windows 95 version, a Next Generation critic summarized the game as being "designed for realism over ease of use." He noted that the notations in the cockpit are in Russian, and that the game has no introduction of any sort when it boots up, instead simply presenting a long list of files with undescriptive names, leaving the player with no idea of where to start. He concluded that serious flight sim enthusiasts should consider getting the game for its "unsurpassed" realistic modeling of the Su-27, but that anyone else would be completely lost. He scored it two out of five stars.[3]
Su-27 Flanker was a runner-up for Computer Gaming World's 1995 "Simulation of the Year" award, which ultimately went to EF2000. The editors wrote that Su-27 Flanker features "an astonishing variety of allies and targets in the air and on the ground, as well as extremely challenging computer pilot AI."[5]
