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(More customer reviews)I have been a casual fan of flight simulator programs for over 20 years.Not a hard-core simmer, by any means.But I usually buy the latest iteration of MS Flight Simulator and Combat Flight Simulator and have logged more hours than I care to admit in the PC cockpit.
So I was very excited when the PS3 came out.At last, a console with the innards to handle flight simulation!Powerful CPU?Check.Great graphics chip?Check.High definition?Check.High capacity Blu-ray game discs to handle mountains of terrain data?Check.
Imagine my disappointment when, upon purchasing the PS3 two years ago, I found the flight-sim category to be virtually non-existent.The last two years have been slow to fill the gap.I got "Blazing Angels 2" and it was a joke.The irritating bravado of the characters, the silly missions, and the unrealistic physics--you could fly a plane straight up, indefinitely, until you hit a magical glass ceiling that defined the boundaries of the game--made it more like a cartoon than a simulator.HAWX was not much better.
Il-2 is different.This is an extremely well-done combat flight SIMULATOR.It is easy to learn, fun to play, and nearly impossible to master.It is the PS3 game that I have been waiting for--a combat flight simulator for grown-ups.
For starters, the whole tone of this game is different from the other PS3 combat flight sims.The presentation is understated and respectful of the historical events it recreates.There are black-and-white news-reel clips that introduce each of the "chapters," which are excellent.The "encyclopedia" gives the historical background of the events.And at the end of each of the missions is a journal entry of the character you are playing.All of this is very well done.The sober good taste does not detract from the fun of the game.It enhances it.
The graphics, too, are top-notch.There are a million tiny details that the developers got right, creating an extremely realistic landscape to fly though.The fields and hedgerows of southeast England have a believable patchwork irregularity to them.The habitations are realistic, too--with the cities organically fading into suburbs and then into farmland.Topographic features like the cliffs of Dover are convincingly rendered.And the sea and sky, what beauty!Seeing the streaked reflections of mid-summer cumulous clouds in the English Channel, a sunset reflected in the Volga near Stalingrad, or a frosty morning over Bayonne is alone worth the price of the admission.Unlike "Blazing Angels," you feel like you are flying through a real world that extends indefinitely in all directions, not a movie set.
As a bonus, the night skies are rendered accurately, too.On one night mission, I saw a familiar "V" in the sky, which I suspected was the Hyades in Taurus.Sure enough, it was.Close by were the Pleiades, Orion, and Gemini.And I soon located the Big and Little Dipper. I spent a whole mission stargazing--to the consternation, no doubt, of the bomber flight for which I was supposed to act as fighter cover.
Although the game is playable on the standard PS3 Sixaxis controller, it really cries out for a joystick.I got the $30 Thrustmaster stick and have been pleased.I would really like a force-feedback stick--to get a better feel for the control surfaces and get a jolt when hit by enemy rounds--but I am not sure the game supports force-feedback.
The game has two main single-player modes: "campaign" and "single mission."They both progress through different chapters--i.e., theaters of war.So you start out with "Battle of Britain," which has four campaign missions and a dozen or so single missions.Then you proceed through the Battle of Stalingrad, Sicily, Korsun Gap, Battle of the Bulge, and Battle of Berlin
There is a good mix of scenarios.Not every mission is a dogfight.Some involve ground attack with a fighter-bomber using rockets and bombs.Others involve providing top cover for a bomber flight.Some missions don't involve any fighting at all, but just require you to navigate to and land at different airfields.And there is just about every permutation of day/night, sunny/cloudy, summer/winter, urban/rural that you can think of.If those variations are not enough, you can create your own missions with the "training" option, where you can choose your plane, time, weather, theater, enemy planes, enemy skill, etc.The various "trophies" encourage you to explore the different possibilities that the game affords.
The developers have done an excellent job at making Il-2 playable for novices, while still retaining the feel of a simulator.The "arcade" mode gives your plane very forgiving aerodynamics (you do not get into a spin if you pull back too hard on the stick), unrealistic performance (your Spitfire can, with "War Emergency Power," exceed 500 mph--way beyond actual performance), and over-the-top lethality (a single short burst is often all it takes to down a Stuka).But it still feels real.You still have to maneuver into firing position and "lead" your target--a targeting aid helps you with that, too, though.The game is easy enough to learn that my 8-year-old son has completed several of the missions already.
If you are experienced at PC or console flight sims, it probably will not take too long to get through the missions on "arcade" mode.But that's where the fun begins.Once you move to "realistic" mode, the game takes on a different character entirely.Suddenly, your plane isn't Superplane--it's just an ordinary fighter.It takes more bullets to down an enemy, and you have to calculate the lead yourself.Your plane also becomes aerodynamically unforgiving.Pulling back too hard on the stick will stall your plane and, more often than not, send you into a vicious spin.And with just an ordinary engine, it takes some skill to get into firing position with an enemy fighter.I have just completed the Battle of Britain on realistic mode, and it was tough.
If that weren't enough, the game has "simulator" mode, where ALL computer aids are turned off.You no longer have on-screen labels or a "tactical map" showing where the enemy is.You have to use your own eyes.I haven't even been able to complete the tutorial for simulator (I keep losing my instructor and the Bf 109 I am supposed to shoot down) so it likely will be many more flying hours before I can step up to that.The game really is as difficult as you want it to be.
I suppose that any review has to include some "cons."But there are not many with this gem of a game.First, the voices in the game are repetitive, which is annoying.Not a big deal, though.Second, there is no two-player mode.I would like to go head-to-head with my son but, alas, the only multiplayer mode is online.Third, you cannot tweak the realism settings.There are only three options, Arcade, Realistic, and Simulator.Small, Medium, and Large.I would have liked an option to have retained all the aspects of Realistic mode, except for the diabolical tendency to enter into spins.Though I understand and respect the decision to simplify the interface for the general console-playing public.And I am getting better at avoiding and coming out of spins, so no big deal.
Overall, though, this was Christmas in September for me.I have annoyed my wife by staying up `til the wee hours on many nights fighting off Messerschmitts and Stukas.And the game has prompted my 8 year old to say the three magic words that every father longs to hear from his son: "Awesome kill, Dad!"
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Product Description:
Experience the rush of aerial combat as you engage in history-s most iconic airborne missions. Annihilate your enemies as you launch into massive dogfights and aerial bombing missions. Battle for supremacy over stunning landscapes, from the patchwork fields of Southern England to the smoking ruins of Stalingrad.
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