Previews
We take a look at this promising WWII flight-combat game based on a PC best seller.
I'm a huge fan of IL-2 Sturmovik on PC. Whenever we get around the water cooler and start talking about flight sims...well, that doesn't really happen. If it did, though, oh man -- I'd be gushing about that game daily. A few years ago, I even bought a couple copies of IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 for my friends so we could all play it online together, and it's one of the few games I've purchased twice for myself. Needless to say, when 1C announced IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey last year as a console game (for 360, PS3, PSP, and DS), I was giddy as a schoolgirl. It took a year, but I finally got my first hands-on time with the 360 version last night at a 1C press event held here in San Francisco.
The developers greatly simplified the game's controls from the PC version: You use the left-analog stick for pitching and yawing, while the right stick handles the throttle and rudder -- you don't need to hold the throttle forward to keep speed up a la Blazing Angels, however; you can set it and then leave it alone. The upper left of the screen displays the throttle, airspeed, ammo, and altitude numerically, while the upper right shows the radar -- a very minimal interface overall. You fire with the Right trigger, cycle through weapons with the Left bumper, and use the Back button to control the landing gears.
![[IMG]](http://www.1up.com/media?id=3730668&type=lg)
The D-Pad commands your fellow squadmates: left to assist you, up to attack the current target, etc. You cycle through targets by pressing A, and by holding it down you can lock-on. Once you target an enemy, you can track their position by holding down the left trigger. If you want to see the view from behind, you can press down on the right analog stick, or you can cycle through various views with the Y button. Got all that?
Now, if the screens and video don't give it away, this is a very good looking game. When trying out a mission from the Battle of Britain -- the game features other theaters of war as well as different national aircraft, such as Battle of the Bulge or taking control of the IL-2 Sturmovik itself -- I flew a Spitfire against the Germans over England; the amount of action and detail happening on-screen all at the same time floored me. The only noticeable slowdown occurred when too many smoke trails showed up on screen at once, but it didn't affect my ability to play the game (hopefully the developer will fix this for the final release).
Birds of Prey has two different flight modes to use: arcade and realistic (the difference being that arcade mode makes it easier to control your aircraft through tight turns and gives you unlimited ammunition). I spent most of my time with the realistic setting, and after just a few minutes found it to be miles better than what was in Blazing Angels (the closest console counterpart) but not nearly as intense as what is available on PC. It's a nice melding of approachability with the heart of what makes flight combat so exhilarating: playing chess in the skies, trying to shake an enemy plane, balancing throttle and proper positioning for the kill, etc. I didn't want to hand the controller off to anyone.
While it was great to get hands-on time with a single-player scenario, there's plenty left to reveal -- from modes, to controller support, to whether there will be a mission editor. "[And] there will be multiplayer," says 505 Games' Jeremy Barnett, "We're just not ready to talk about that yet."
At this point, neither 505 Games nor 1C plan to bring IL-2: Birds of Prey to the PC. We'll have more information on IL-2: Birds of Prey as it gets closer to its intended Fall '09 release date.
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