Rating: 
Summary: The dawn of a new Era!
Review: I'm an enthusiast of jet era simulations and have usually bypassed all prop-sims. So, naturally when I first heard all the hype surrounding this new offering from a relatively unknown Russian developer, I didn't give it much consideration.This all changed the day I bought it. From the moment I first fired it up, I was struck by how real it all felt. Graphics are amazing and everything right down to the pilots' swivelling their heads inside the cockpits to try to check their 6 is depicted. Plane damage models are impossibly believable. They are so detailed and varied I doubt I have seen a repeat representation in over 2 months of gaming. The planes themselves are not only picture perfect (some have used screenshots from the game in place of movie captures) but so real (oil slicks, dirt, rivets) you can almost smell the leather of the seats, and the engine exhaust. Flight models are so different I find that I can now tell which aircraft I'm in just by the way it handles. Multiplayer is solid and bugs are minimal. Even those few that were discovered are being patched by a developer who seems to be more dedicated to actually making it perfect than his fans. I mean where have you ever heard of a developer actually engaging in 1 on 1 discussions with his customers to address each and every gripe, no matter how trivial. The only things to consider before buying are:
1. Are you prepared to take the time to actually learn how to fly the aircraft in the game?
2. The Multiplayer aspect of the game seems to have been given more attention, if you only want offline play this isn't for you.
3. Do you have a life? Prepare to forget about it if you buy this game, it is more addictive than any other game in history and I've been playing computer games for close to 2 decades. This game, no sim, has signalled a new era in computer gaming where nothing but the best shall be acceptable. Some have even commented that the only thing missing between this game and real life is the absence of the ability to blow up your PC to simulate a crash!
Rating:
Summary: IL-2 shturmovik
Review: The best flight simulator I've ever seen...
Rating:
Summary: This is the best I've seen!
Review:
I've previously stated that Jane's WWII Fighters was the best flight sim I've tried, with Microsoft's Combat Flight Sim 2 running a close second. IL2 is better than either. I only wish it dealt with the Pacific War instead of the Eastern Front, because I'm a Navy veteran and my favorite aircraft of all time is the F6F "Hellcat" by Grumman.
Perhaps the Ubi-Soft people will come up with some other sims later. I hope so! This sim has the best graphics I've ever seen, and the flight modeling of the aircraft is superb. To recap what others have said, it models a great many German and Russian aircraft, including the little-known (until lately) IL-2 "Sturmovik," the Polikarpov I-153 "Chaika" (which Russia used in Spain during the Spanish Civil War), Bf 109 "Emil" and "Gustav" in a number of models, several versions of the FW190 "Butcherbird", Lend Lease Bell P-39 "Airacobra," (which the Russians loved for its 37mm cannon, but Americans were less than enthusiastic about) and a great many other airplanes, a couple of which I was unfamiliar with. The Sturmovik, which we called "Stormovik" during the Second World War, was less well-known over the years than the German fighters. It was mainly a tank buster, and it flies very well in this game. I am personally partial, however, to the German Bf 109, in which Germany's Eric Hartmann scored an amazing 352 air victories to become the world's highest scoring ace by a considerable margin--almost all of them on the Eastern front--and lived to tell about it. Many of his quotes are in the User's Manual of this game. America's top ace, by contrast, Richard Bong, flying a P-38 in the Pacific, scored 40 kills. Which brings us to my only complaint, so far: the type in the printed manual is gray, rather than black, and is so small you need a magnifying glass to read it! This game was put together by pilots and aeronautical engineers, and the flight characteristics are remarkably close to those of real aircraft. I first soloed in 1946, and have flown a variety of full-sized aircraft, and in the last few years have also flown radio-controlled models. These airplanes mimic the real ones very well, except for the lack of the "seat-of-the-pants" feel, for which there can be no substitute. I am currently running a Gateway 1.8 GHz CPU, with Windows ME as an operating system, and incorporating ATI with no extra video acceleration. It has 512 MB of RAM and I use CH Products Flightstick Pro USB and rudder pedals USB, which I connect using their Control Manager system. It works fine with this program, and installation was no problem. There are many features here that are interesting: training, mission building, mission recorder, and you can come up with your own insignia and paint jobs, too. It also, of course, has a multi-player function and it can be played against human pilots on the internet through the Ubisoft game service. By all means, if you are a flight sim buff, buy this one. It is a winner! Joseph Pierre, USN (Ret)
Rating: 
Summary: Built by soviets for soviets...
Review: Well, at least they tried. I saw this game hyped becuase of "Realism", and what I got, while not any worse than anyone else, has it's share of quirks. The issue that really gets me is how all the quirks add up on the Russian side.
The featured aircraft is the soviet IL-2 Sturmovik ground attack plane. In reality, this was a heavy, bomber type aircraft, but in the game, under AI control, exhibits enourmous feats of manueverablilty. Whilst on about AI, I'll just say that the AI here has the usual stupidity, but I'll go on to say that AI programming must be VERY difficult, becuase no one really seems to have gotten it right. Right now, it is marginally better than MS. I also didn't like the huge smoke screen that is generated when the guns are fired. We have all seen some camera footage where there is a SMALL amount of smoke, but this is ridiculous! Speaking of guns, apparently, if it's not a cannon, it doesn't count! The IL-2 takes THOOUSANDS of rounds of 13.7 without any appreciable reduction in performance, in fact, Ive never shot down a soviet plane with just machine guns...hmmm, smells funny there. As far as views, the 3D cockpit is too difficult to read guages, and pans FAR too slowly. Despite what some have said, I think the graphics are equal to CFS2, albeit, shinier in some spots..plenty of screenshots availble from both...you decide. Flight model, just like every other flight sim, I think it gets the numbers subtantially right, but I never get the feel of flight. It's also limited to the planes in the box, and a rather sterile campaign. I know..."That's so we don't have online cheating" to which I say "Bull", I've seen all the AI planes, I know about the engine off trick. Seems like there'll always be cheaters. I also don't like the limit to the soviet front, but to each his/her own. and don't bother asking any questions about these things in any online IL-2 forum unless you're into abuse! All in all, pass it by and wait for CFS3
Rating:
Summary: Most Detailed WWII Flight Sim Yet
Review: I've been a serious flight simulator enthusiast for almost twenty years and have seen many titles come and go. But IL-2 is the best offering that I've seen to date! The graphics for both inside and outside of the aircraft are supurb... the atmospheric conditions of clouds, ambient lighting, sun and glare are so realistic I think that I'm looking at a piece of aviation art instead of a computer game!! The imersion factor of being at the Eastern Front during World War II is very convincing. The authors of this program have done an imense amount of research to come up with all the fine details that are present in the simulator. I can't say enough about the hours of enjoyment I've received from playing and participating in this outstanding product!! If a person wanted to get the best flight simulator out on the market at this time, they need not look any further than IL-2!!!
Rating:
Summary: Sturmovik
Review: The best flight sim release since Falcon 3.0. Graphics stunning, game play awesome. More than a challenge for entry level and expert sim gamers.
Rating:
Summary: Best flight sim!
Review: This is the flight sim to beat! The planes, aerodynamic effects, sound, all are so well integrated that you feel like a real WW2 pilot. Just a note: buy a joystick to fully appreciate this flight sim.
Rating:
Summary: You should at least get the demo
Review: This is my second flight sim and I this one is much better. Why? Well, for one thing it's more accessible. Sure, the manual is too small and the gray on gray print is illegible, but you don't need the manual that much. I needed it to turn on the engine because I didn't know that I turns it on. Everywhere I looked, they told me how to rev up the motor and the booster and set trim tabs, but nowhere could I find out that I turned on the engine. Once you get the engine running, the game is fun. You will be sucked in by the exhaust cloud as the plane sputters to life. The scenery looks great from the air, especially the planes. The water and sky are fantastic. A couple of quick tips. In takeoff just get the plane going down the runway by throttling up. Don't worry about tilting forward or back during this. All you have to do is keep it going straight with the z and x keys or twisting the stick. The instant you are off the ground put up your landing gear with g. I kept reading about tilting forward and back on the runway and you don't do any of that. The plane is balanced, you don't pull back on the stick til you're ready to leave the ground. The flying in this game feels good. You feel like you're being pulled around by a prop while rather delicately balanced. Mistakes and manhandling will lead to crashes, but so will just keeping the nose to high to get altitude. You can have the wrong flight angle and just not build up speed. Eventually you'll fall to the ground Probably the best part of the game though is the damage model. I think this is what sold me on Il Sturmovik. If you watch from the f8 view, you'll see your plane coming apart in the air as another plane shoots it or it gets hit by AA. There are just so many ways to get damaged and it all affects the way the plane handles. It's fun to try to land a damaged plane. It's fun to try to bail out. It's a blast to fly and drop bombs. Many of these things are quite hard, but that's a positive. They aren't boring. They might be frustrating, but they'll keep you coming back trying to perfect your skills. The demo has about everything you could want from this game, but the mission editor is fun too. I've spent quite a bit of time designing, flying in or just watching some amazing attacks with gigantic bombers and large explosives. A lot could have been done to make the mission editor better. For one thing they could have some keyboard controls to let you zoom in and out of a scene. Right now the only way to zoom in is to use a tiny slider on the left. Putting in objects like armor or planes is also rather a case of working in the dark. They don't tell you if this particular piece will fire on anything or not. Everything is labeled with it's military number. You get a small rotatable picture, but I'd have liked to make it bigger. If you place a bunch of objects, like tanks and then discover they are the wrong color, let's say blue for Germans and you meant them to be red, you now have to click on each one and change it. Tedious. Very tedious. I can't believe they made the missions using this, but then again, I can believe they made the missions like this. The mission are the worst part of the game. They are nice missions, but they involve a lot of flying. Even with the time speeded up 8X, they take time and you can't save to retry your bombing run. You have to start from the beginning. The targets are tiny specks. Ground objects are not labeled. Only way to know if they are enemies is to look at the map, which is it's own set of problems. In the end you will find that Il Sturmovik is so good at some things it will make you put up with a lot of junk in other things. You'll probably love quickmission or online dogfighting, but the campaigns and missions will leave you a little flat. The scenery, skies and replays with you moving the camera around will be fun, but setting up a mission will have you annoyed that it wasn't designed a little better. Finally, to best enjoy this game you will want a geforce 3 with 500 RAM or more or so I've heard and you might still get the occasional stop in action, but it's pretty smooth for me. I feel I have good idea of how difficult it was to be a Russian pilot in WW2. I feel I've accomplished things and learned some skills. That can't be said for many games. I almost want to buy a plane now.
Rating:
Summary: It is a great game
Review: It is great, I enjoyed every bit of it. I am looking forward for UBI soft modern fighter sim, I tried it on winxp pro it worked perfectly fine. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Realism beyond belief !!!
Review: This game has to be seen to believe. Download the free demo for a closer look. You will want the full game. If you are a newbie or a expert this flight simulator has something for you.
I was blown away by the awesome graphics and realism. With major website support, you can't run out of missions, even if you finish the ones supplied. There are so many adjustments to the game you can make it work on just about any system.
The depth of this game is just incredible. Couple it with a force feedback joystick and you have realism that can't be beat.
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