Fly and fight with the best

~Summary~
This is a very good game that is best suited to people who prefer realistic flight simulators, it is best played with a joystick. Each mission may last a long time and the game cannot be saved mid-mission. The career structure is rigid and the missions can get a bit similar. IL2 is more a game for adults or teenagers with an interest in flying, than it is for children.

~Introduction~
This is the original IL2 Sturmovik game designed by Maddox Games and distributed by Ubisoft. The game is designed around the Russian fighter-bomber of the title, which was the most produced plane of World War 2.
The game gives you the option of flying one of 11 planes, 9 for the Russian motherland and 2 for the German fatherland. The game comes in a DVD case with one disc, there is a small inlay for installation with a manual in electronic format on disc. The game is rated for players 11+, but I think that this should be higher probably mid to late teens due to nature of the game, it is war after all.
There are five options of game play, Single mission, a Pilot Career, a Multiplay mode, a quick mission builder and a full mission builder.

In the single mission menu you choose the country, a plane and then one of the missions. This is a good way to get a feel for some of the planes. For the Pilot Career you select the country and a type of career, with a career lasting 100 missions or more from 1941-44. Multiplay mode requires an Internet connection to play with others online. The game has an additional program to connect you to Ubisoft's own hosting website. I found this part of the game enjoyable, but much harder as you are up against canny human opponents.

In the quick mission builder you select the planes on your side and the planes on the enemy's side. This is the best arena if you want to get into the action straight away as it starts you in the air at altitude. The full mission builder is a complex addition best used by the more experienced player who wants to develop more missions. I personally have not used the full mission builder as I found it over complicated.

~Playing the Game~
Control can be through the keyboard, but I use a joystick with a 'twist' rudder capability (see my review on the Saitek Cyborg 3D Gold) and a keyboard for minor functions.
The game basically consists of flying a plane to a destination and attacking a ground or air target. Flying the plane is relatively simple in easy mode, but there is a steep learning curve trying to find all the controls and getting used to flying the plane in formation.
For attacking target there are four weapon groups available, they are main guns, secondary guns, rockets and bombs. Firing the weapons is done by keyboard or joystick input. Some planes cannot be fitted with bombs or rockets so at the very least you will get two sets of guns. The missions can be long, so expect a standard mission to last from 30 to 60 minutes. The quick missions normally last only 15 minutes or less and is better for quick action.
There is however a time control that allows you to speed up the game up to 8 times normal or slow it down to a 1/4 of normal time. Speeding up is good if you want to reduce the flying time to target and slowing down is for when you get something in your gun sights and need a little more time to adjust your aim.

~Finishing the game~
Ending the game is easy, you can die, hit 'escape' for a menu screen, bail-out or land safely in friendly territory. Only a landing alive in friendly territory will allow you to progress to the next mission, but in all cases you get an end mission statistic screen.

~Flyable Planes~
There are 11 planes to fly, and all planes available are single engine fighter types. The planes available for the game are the IL2 Sturmovik, several Russian fighters, an American built Bell P-39 Airacobra, the Messerschmitt Bf-109 and the Focke-Wulf FW-190. Okay so no Spitfire's or Mustang's, but they do appear in the newer versions of the IL2 series.

~Flight model~
In my opinion this game is the closest that I can get, without having to fork out a lot of money to fly the real deal. It is hard to describe to a reader who has never had a 'hands on' flying experience but I think this game is a good representation of a real flight model. The controls need constant adjustment and 'tweeks' to keep you straight and level. Any damage to the plane is quickly felt in the way the plane flies, sometimes you may be unlucky enough to get a large hit in the wing and instantly the plane is pulling and requires more correction to fly. Overall the flight model is excellent and reacts very well to control input and any battle damaged gained.

~AI Vehicles~
There are another 40 AI planes that you cannot fly, these planes range from small fragile spotter bi-planes through to multiple engine transports and bombers.
Other AI items on the ground include artillery guns, cars, trucks, trains, tanks and ships. These AI items add a lot of depth to the game and give you a feeling of the vastness of some of the maps.

~Graphics~
The graphics for IL2 are a little blocky, particularly the ground vehicle detail and the pilot detail, but the detail to the planes interior is very good. Maddox have spent so much time detailing all the dials and knobs on in the cockpit that when you fly everything moves as it should. The detail is so great that there are moving items for flaps, landing gear, altitude, speed, fuel, oil temperature and sometimes even a functioning clock!
Externally there are puffs of smoke when an engine starts up, vapor trails at altitude and smoke or flames if your engine is hit. One of the best things I like about the graphics is the damage model. If you take hits you plane will show holes and hits right where you got hit. In IL2 there are so many ways to die that it is almost a pleasure to get shot down, as you will never die the same way twice.

~Sound~
The background sound is good even parked on a runway with the engine off there is a faint humming sound of the equipment all powered up, much like a running computer. The engine running sound is one of the most realistic parts of game package as the various different planes are given totally different engine sounds. The engine sound even changes when it takes battle damage. You can hear the grinding sound as your engine loses power, soon it gets louder and eventually comes to a horrible metallic crashing crescendo as the engine finally cuts out.
The sounds for take off and landing are good due to a very realistic metallic rattle as your plane bounces along the ground and a separate grinding sound when you active the brakes to stop.
Sounds during combat are good with a realistic sound of bullets as they race past your cockpit. Another well-done aspect is the radio chatter as you get to hear authentic Russian or German radio chatter as you fly and see it as it is instantly translated for you as text at the top of your screen.

~Difficulty~
There are four types of difficulty level in the game and these are set in menu screen before play. The four are Easy, Normal, Realistic and Custom, the first three are set by the game, whilst the fourth is set by you on a difficulty setting screen.
Easy level allows your plane to be vulnerable to enemy fire, but you will have unlimited ammo and fuel. You will also be given marker tags to air targets to allow you to tell the difference between friend or foe and how far away there are. Also you can follow the progress of all planes on the map screen.
Normal level brings you up to a more realistic flight model as well as reducing your ammo and fuel to a limited quantity. You lose the tag markers and the map only shows you and your route. The AI steps up a level and your bullet trajectory is now affect by gravity and wind, so this makes it harder to shoot down other planes.
Realistic level is a completely realistic model with no external views and a map with no marker on it so you have no idea where you are unless you can read a map properly. It is certainly realistic, but it is by no means an easy feat to achieve.

~Rank~
When you start a game, you can choose your rank. The default rank is the lowest rank for either Russian or German. Effectively this means you will be at the back of a formation and you will be following a leader. If you choose the highest rank at the bottom of the list you will be the flight leader and you will be responsible for leading the flight to the target. This has it advantages as you will not be the first in line to get shot down, but you will now have to communicate orders to other planes.

~Communications~
You can communicate to your wingmen and squad mates via a communications list. These are fixed commands in the form of a text list in the top left-hand corner of the screen that is accessed by the 'Tab' key. You will only be able to perform the communications that are numbered in a light color, with the unavailable options in a dark red.

~Replay value~
For me the replay value is huge, as a World War 2 plane enthusiast I love it and have spent hours playing the game. As for other people all I can say is you will either love it or hate it.

~Conclusion~
The graphics are a little blocky, but the colors, the level of detail and accuracy is fabulous. The game may not suit everyone, but if you have patience you will learn to fly and fight with the best.

~Further Information~
Released by Ubisoft (see www.ubisoft.com)
IL2 Sturmovik (2001) £9.99 about $18.

~Technical information~
Minimum PC Specification
Pentium 3 800/AMD Athlon 700 or better
Memory 256MB of RAM
Windows OS 98/ME/2000/XP
DirectX 8.1 or higher
3D Video card with 32MB RAM
4xCD-ROM or better
Audio, DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
1.1GB of space on hard drive
For Multiplay an Internet connection of 56Kbps or better is required.

Thank you for reading and rating.

Martin

This review can also be found at Dooyoo.co.uk and Ciao.co.uk under the same user name. This US version was shortened and edited by me.