Perfect Record achievement in Top Gun: Hard Lock

One of the more difficult things I've done in gaming - first, there are no instructions and/or guidelines on what to do to get a gold star on a mission. However, what I found is to achieve the gold star is first and foremost, PLAY ON HARD DIFFICULTY. This will make some of the missions tough. Also, shoot down as many airplanes/blow up as many ground targets as you can, as I also think it is point based (the harder the difficulty the more points you accumulate also).

The drones are pretty tough to shoot down on the missions that have them, but what I found to make it easier is do NOT hard lock them. It's easier to shoot them down if you do not hard lock them.

Also, I'm going to address one mission in particular, Mission 13. The last part of the level, you are by yourself (protecting a shot down Fury) and having to engage multiple fighters and tank columns (especially tough is the checkpoint doesn't start there, it starts 2 sections before, so if you die, you have to do those sections again ugh). When this section starts, immediately take out the tank column that pops up first (you will be able to do that before the fighters get to you). Immediately reverse course and start heading in the opposite direction of the rocket complex, as another tank column pops up there. You should be able to take that one out as the fighters pounce you. Now, that leaves 2 more tank columns to destroy. I would just roll and reverse your plane till you get to them, avoiding any fighters locking on to you. Once tank columns are destroyed, then focus on the fighters.

Other than that specific mission, the other missions on HARD difficulty are not bad. Good luck. GREAT BALLS OF FIREEEEEE!