Rating: 
Summary: Climb into the sky!
Review: A must have game for all flight simulator enthusiasts. It is as close to reality as you can get without spending millions on buying your own Bf-109 or Hurricane. But probably it is "too real" for anyone who does not have at least some basic knowledge of theory of flight. Of course, the game has big range of settings which can switch off most physics effects and turn it into an arcade style shooting, but it's a shame to use the game this way.
I do not agree with complains about "godlike" AI flying and gunnery. If you do not get you perception of aerial combat from the "Pearl Harbor" movie, you will be all right in the realm of "Sturmovik". I have my own complain however. I flew numerous missions on both sides, and it looks like game logic favors Russians - even in early stages of war missions playing a Luftwaffe pilot was more difficult for me. Russian planes, even outdated models, seem to have superior performance, fire power and survivability, and all their pilots are very hard to outfly and shot down. Which, given historical data about losses and victories on both sides, seems inaccurate.
Rating: 
Summary: And now the bad news...
Review: Before I begin, I'd better say that, yes, this is in many ways (e.g. graphics, flight model, range of flyable planes etc.) a superb game - perhaps the best WW2 flight sim ever. (Maybe it deserves a few more stars, in fact, but I'm voting tactically to cancel out the more sycophantic reviews.)Unfortunately though, I'm the kind of guy who is cursed to walk through life paying more attention to the negative aspects of things... This game has a fatal flaw: The AI, or to be more precise, the AI's performance in aerial gunnery (manifested both in fighters and the gunners in bombers). Let me explain. As far as I can tell, the following rule seems to be hard-wired into the game: Whenever an AI gunner (in a fighter or bomber) is physically capable of hitting your plane, and the range is less than 500 metres, it opens fire, and fires continuously. The proportion of his bullets/shells that hit you seems to be more-or-less constant (and very high), whether you're dodging about or flying straight (with just one exception - if the AI is either directly ahead or directly behind you, then 100% of his shots hit you). What it amounts to, basically, is that the AI has zero reaction time, and always judges its maneuvres with 100% accuracy to match yours and keep you in his firing line. I can live with all the other AI flaws (e.g. the fact that it can always see you, regardless of cloud or light levels, and its engine never overheats etc) but not this one - it pretty well ruins the single player game. For example, suppose you're whizzing along near Mach 1 in your Me262 jetfighter. If you fly through a formation of bombers then regardless of the angle of your approach, and the absurdly difficult task faced by the gunners, you'll invariably get hit once or twice. The incoming fire has an uncanny knack of causing your cannons to jam, or else hitting your cockpit and injuring you, even though one would think that the odds of these things happening would be vanishingly small.
Similarly, head-to-head "jousts" are unwinnable at distances below 500 metres, unless you have clear advantages in armour and firepower, and even then the enemy shots always gravitate towards the critical parts of your plane (i.e. the pilot).
Now, I know that lots of human players are lethal jousters, but the key thing is that it takes *time* to set yourself up for a joust, whereas the AI aligns itself instantly and perfectly. Also, any human jouster will agree that if your opponent takes evasive action at the last minute then it's virtually impossible to get a hit, but if you try to pull out of a joust against the AI, it'll fill you full of lead just as if you hadn't bothered. The galling thing is that I bet it wouldn't be all that difficult to remedy this defect. The simplest thing would be to implement a reaction time: Say the AI only has access to your position 0.1 seconds ago (but of course, allow it to try to interpolate your current position). This way, dodging about would throw off its aim just as it does with a human, and I really can't see such a little extra processing having a significant effect on the frame rate. Another galling thing is that although the gunnery algorithm in the original IL-2 must have been virtually the same, it didn't ruin the game nearly as much (the "accuracy quotient" must have been set to something like 0.2 as opposed to something like 0.8). Now, I know that fans of this game will protest that the AI is very beatable - just get onto its tail - but for me this doesn't cut it. Why should you have to fly in a totally artificial way - avoiding ever presenting the enemy with a shot, even a humanly impossible one - just to indulge the artificiality of the AI routines? Furthermore, the fact that it's still relatively easy to beat the AI in spite of all this should give an indication of how weak it still is. I guess it's "lucky" for Oleg and co that you can't see the AI on the back of the box. Enough! Let's move on. While the campaign game in Forgotten Battles is an improvement on the original, it still shares most of its flaws (primitive, uninvolving and uninformative briefings and debriefings, no atmosphere or sense of history, little connections between one mission and the next.) Basically, Wing Commander it isn't (OK, some may think this is a good thing...) So, to sum up, I'd only recommend this game to you if you hadn't got the original IL-2, and were mainly interested in playing it online. If this is so, then you'll love it to bits. If not then you'll become just as frustrated with IL-2 Forgotten Battles as I am...
Rating:
Summary: Pure enjoyment
Review: Forgotten Battles is IL-2 souped up and really ready for serious action. The new dynamic campaigns generate heart-stopping missions that have me sweating when - or if - I get back to the airfield alive. The AI is smarter and way tougher than any I have ever experienced in a flight sim, and you have to be on your toes as never before when enemy aircraft are near. The graphics are fabulous - stunning on 'perfect' with the most realistic looking water I've ever seen. All the new aircraft are a treat. The new scenarios are almost unknown in the west - Finland, Hungary - and provide massive thrills as well as a history lesson. I have never had so much fun with a combat flight simulator as I am having with this one. It runs flawlessy and smoothly on my AMD XP2100, GeForce 4400, 1.5GB RAM system (a big contrast to CFS3). There are few bugs - P-40's that explode when going fast, a few flight model quibbles, perhaps over-accurate ship flak, and some phasing effects with the sound on some settings - but these are minor, and perhaps more importantly, given the track record of Mr. Maddox, will doubtless be fixed quickly. I recommend this game 100%!
Rating:
Summary: Unlike others, I have flown a preview copy.
Review: Highly recommended, the preview copy I have ... is solid, stable and looks good. It takes the strong points of IL2 and improves on them. The game looks better, flies better and the campaign is much improved. A definate must if you want to play the most realistic WW2 Combat flight simulation in existance. Heck, I consider it the best flight simulation ever made.
Rating:
Summary: Why people why?
Review: I am sure this game will be great (I am currently waiting for it to arrive) but why do these dumb... write reviews before a game is even out? I suggest that more people write 1 star reviews to get this evened out.
Rating:
Summary: Difficult but enjoyable
Review: I bought this sim. I find it to be the best one yet! Yes it is difficult, but I play it often. You might want to adjust it to suit you. I added external views and automatic engine controls.
I'm running a campaign now and its really addicting. My system is a ecs L7s7a2 mainboard, 2 different sticks of 256meg DDR ram a amd xp2100 processor and a chaintech nvidia fx5200 128 meg agp video card. The controler is a logitech usb wingman flight stick. It stutters once in a while, but I have several background apps running. I only get about 5 victories in 20 missions. I love the challenge. I have ms combat flight sims, but haven't bothered to put them on this system.
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST FLIGHT SIM EVER MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I LOVE THIS GAME!!! It is by far the best flight sim ever made. I would even say that it is the best computer game ever made. The graphics are just amazing. It looks like real life at times. There are so many planes in this game. No other flight sim has had this many planes before. A good number of these planes have never been modeled in a flight sim to date. The historical accuracy is unbelievable, even down to the bombs and rockets, which there are many different kinds in this game. Every aspect of this game has been researched in the history books and replicated on the computer. The detail is mind-blowing. We need more games like this. I have read the other reviewers talk about the computer AI being too hard, and that they are having a hard time with the AI gunners shooting them down. They all need to go wash out their vaginas. You will love this game. That I PROMISE!!! If you visit the official website for IL2, you will find some of the best on-line support for a computer game. This game will keep growing with another future release that will add even more planes and maps. I predict that IL2 will be around for a long time, so you had better get a copy and see what it is all about. If you want to get as close to real WWII combat as possible and still have fun, then IL2 Forgotten Battles is for you. CHECK IT OUT!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: FB: Understand what you're buying...
Review: I made a serious effort with the original (i.e., IL-2) when it was released; since my system is kept current in terms of memory and video there were no problems running the sim and the interface and graphic's were the best ever produced at the time.
I gave up due to the overly complicated joystick tuning routine (I use a Logitech Wingman Extreme Digital 3-D) and the constant patches released by the manufacturer. I purchased FB realizing it was a standalone sim - not an expansion of IL-2. FB has the same interface and the default joystick routines are the same but now I have no problems with flight and obviously UBI have responded to feedback from consumers on this issue. The AI has been critically reviewed by many; I agree that it is extremely tough but the designers goal is to create a simulation - not a game. This is not a product for the casual gamer. If you are looking for a serious, detailed simulation of air combat on the Eastern Front than FB is the ideal platform. To be blunt, if you're not willing to invest the time required to overcome the learning curve then you will be extremely frustrated. The rewards for your investment will be rich as the sim provides the most detailed atmosphere for air combat ever produced. You will need a 'current' system to run the sim at full detail levels. FB gets 4 stars instead of 5 because I agree with other reviewer's that the dynamic campaign interface is 'cold'; there hasn't been a good atmospheric campaign interface since Micropose's EAW. System: OS: XP Home. Intel Pent. 4 2.80 GHz. 15" XGA TFT with Radeon IGP 345M Video Card. 40 GB 2 Hard Drive. 512 MB DDR SDRAM.
Rating:
Summary: A magnificent flight sim (except for the "Teen" rating)
Review: I was sold on the game after playing the impressive free demo in 2003. Since then I've purchased Forgotten Battles and the Ace Expansion Pack. The graphics, historical details, and technical accuracy are top notch, as is the ability to create custom missions with a variety of air, sea and ground objects. The gameplay comes across as mature and intelligent. Unlike other sims, IL-2 is not focused just on the glamorous and powerful combat aircraft, but allows players to try out unusual and obscure planes as well, including early war biplanes like the Russian I-153, the Italian Fiat CR.42 and the UK Gloster Gladiator.
The only flaw is the game's "T" (teen) rating, due to strong language (but there is a way around this). This is a disappointment, especially when so many flight sims, including UbiSoft's own Lock On: Modern Air Combat, have an "E" rating. Luckily, you can fix this with some basic editing on the game files. As noted on the IL-2 site, players can edit/replace/delete the voice .wav files as well as edit the in-game message text (hud_msg.properties). It's worth trying if you'd like to turn IL-2 from a "T" to an "E" rated game!
Note: If you get the Ace Expansion Pack (AEP) make sure you install the 2.01 and 2.04 patches (available from the Ubisoft site) as they give you additional flyable planes, including the German He-162 jet, and AI planes, like the B-25!
Rating:
Summary: Crash & Burn
Review: I've been flying the original IL-2 since it came out, and it's a great game, so I was looking forward to getting Forgotten Battles. I wish I'd forgotten the whole idea. This game is a real clunker unless you have a cutting edge system to run it on. Just loading a single mission takes five minutes, and even with the graphics turned down to the bare bones it runs like a slide show. My system is a AMD 1gb with Nvidia GeForce 2MX/MX 400 so while its no longer top flight it's not exactly bottom rung either. I'll keep the game to use when I can afford a better system, but be aware that you may be in for problems if you don't have a serious new system to run it on.
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