Laplace's review: finally!

[Dr. Laplace]

We did not get this game in Mexico as expected, so I bought it on my most recent trip to the US... hence the long over-due review.

My head was filled with all the negative reviews that some folks gave the game: flight dynamics not accurate, no german cockpits, etc...

First of all let me say to all the nay-Sayers: you guys were exaggerating. The game is fantastic in almost every sense. It's really one of the best combat flight sims I've played and it lives up to the old IL-2 for the PC in many ways. Sure, we cant expect to have so much control over the aircraft's systems but what the heck! the game is fun... very fun.

The set up with the Ace Edge stick is great. I would love to have rudder pedals, but I finally got used to the rocker on the throttle. I left the sensitivity on the highest setting and it worked fine to me.

First plane I loved was the P-51B. That little brick performed admirably in a dogfight against the MC202. The thing is to KNOW HOW TO FIGHT IN A P51B! The Macchis are graceful and agile, but the Mustang is a great zoom and boomer... Using the right tactic the 202's did not stand a chance. I always flew in simulator mode and NEVER STALLED ONCE. I did enter intentional spins that I was able to recover from.

My second favourite: BF109-G... now that's an airplane! First I fought against them in the G-2 version. They can pull G's like a champ. It took me a while to understand that I was never going to gun them down in a turning fight. I had to use head-on engagements where after the merge I would go vertical and stayed above them.

The russian planes rock. Period. The stability of the IL-2, the agility of the I-16, the incredible performances of the Yaks and the Lavochkins... I flew the mission where you and your squadron are to take down a few swarms of FW-190 A5 and went through them like butter.

Now, on the P-51D... yes I would love to have the actual cockpit on it; yes, it should perform a bit better than what it does in the game... nevertheless it was a good plane to fly.

I set up a training sortie against 4 BF109-G10 (the same model Bubi Hartmann flew) at simulator settings, limited F/A and veteran on the enemy's AI. No advantages, just plain ol' knuckle busting action.
First we passed head-on and I immediately went to the vertical. I climbed for a good couple thousand feet as my plane began nosing down for airspeed. The bandits had started a turn into me and climbed accordingly. At this point I was again head to head with 2 bandits that where shooting at me. I was diving at 70% throttle, 304 MPH and 6,000ft, cannon fire streaking by... I then saw the second element at my 11 o'clock in a left hand turn hurrying to my deep six. The separation was of about 1NM. I leveled out and turned into the second element. To bleed off some smash I turned into the oblique that quickly turned into a high yo-yo as I ended up on their 7 o'clock. The range was now roughly 900 yards and closing on the number two of the formation. We continued for about 20º of left turn when I lined him up at 400 yards for a nice deflection shot. I hit him and he went vertical. I followed in a formation style flight where he was about 60 yards away from my top canopy. As we came to the top of the loop I managed to get close to him and pulled the trigger at around 40 yards range. He blew up and fell, I continued on that altitude just to get my situational awareness up again. I spotted the original two 109's meeting up with the third one at my 7. After another head on pass, one of the bandits stayed level on a right hand turn and I followed him. I could not stay with him in the turn, but bot a nice snapshot at him that caused him to roll and dive. I followed and as we got close to the deck this guy started to put some real moves on me: rolling, turning, flying almost at a few feet from the ground. I had at that point enough altitude to chase him without actually playing "follow the leader" with this guy. We did some beautiful formation flying. At one point we were canopy to canopy turning in a slow and long barrel-roll (the real deal, not that what the game calls "barrel roll"). I managed to conserve altitude at all times and after a few rolls he took the dirt nap after I lighted up his tail with my .50 cal.

The other two bandits? well, I got so excited during this fight that I forgot about them and they shoot me like a turkey, at 100 yards range.

The game is awesome. When the DLC comes out, it will be twice as awesome. Period.

I'm setting up my xbox live again and will be looking for some of you up there.

[FOZ_1983]

Originally Posted by Dr. Laplace

We did not get this game in Mexico as expected, so I bought it on my most recent trip to the US... hence the long over-due review.

My head was filled with all the negative reviews that some folks gave the game: flight dynamics not accurate, no german cockpits, etc...

First of all let me say to all the nay-Sayers: you guys were exaggerating. The game is fantastic in almost every sense. It's really one of the best combat flight sims I've played and it lives up to the old IL-2 for the PC in many ways. Sure, we cant expect to have so much control over the aircraft's systems but what the heck! the game is fun... very fun.

The set up with the Ace Edge stick is great. I would love to have rudder pedals, but I finally got used to the rocker on the throttle. I left the sensitivity on the highest setting and it worked fine to me.

First plane I loved was the P-51B. That little brick performed admirably in a dogfight against the MC202. The thing is to KNOW HOW TO FIGHT IN A P51B! The Macchis are graceful and agile, but the Mustang is a great zoom and boomer... Using the right tactic the 202's did not stand a chance. I always flew in simulator mode and NEVER STALLED ONCE. I did enter intentional spins that I was able to recover from.

My second favourite: BF109-G... now that's an airplane! First I fought against them in the G-2 version. They can pull G's like a champ. It took me a while to understand that I was never going to gun them down in a turning fight. I had to use head-on engagements where after the merge I would go vertical and stayed above them.

The russian planes rock. Period. The stability of the IL-2, the agility of the I-16, the incredible performances of the Yaks and the Lavochkins... I flew the mission where you and your squadron are to take down a few swarms of FW-190 A5 and went through them like butter.

Now, on the P-51D... yes I would love to have the actual cockpit on it; yes, it should perform a bit better than what it does in the game... nevertheless it was a good plane to fly. Have to disagree alot

I set up a training sortie against 4 BF109-G10 (the same model Bubi Hartmann flew) at simulator settings, limited F/A and veteran on the enemy's AI. No advantages, just plain ol' knuckle busting action.
First we passed head-on and I immediately went to the vertical. I climbed for a good couple thousand feet as my plane began nosing down for airspeed. The bandits had started a turn into me and climbed accordingly. At this point I was again head to head with 2 bandits that where shooting at me. I was diving at 70% throttle, 304 MPH and 6,000ft, cannon fire streaking by... I then saw the second element at my 11 o'clock in a left hand turn hurrying to my deep six. The separation was of about 1NM. I leveled out and turned into the second element. To bleed off some smash I turned into the oblique that quickly turned into a high yo-yo as I ended up on their 7 o'clock. The range was now roughly 900 yards and closing on the number two of the formation. We continued for about 20º of left turn when I lined him up at 400 yards for a nice deflection shot. I hit him and he went vertical. I followed in a formation style flight where he was about 60 yards away from my top canopy. As we came to the top of the loop I managed to get close to him and pulled the trigger at around 40 yards range. He blew up and fell, I continued on that altitude just to get my situational awareness up again. I spotted the original two 109's meeting up with the third one at my 7. After another head on pass, one of the bandits stayed level on a right hand turn and I followed him. I could not stay with him in the turn, but bot a nice snapshot at him that caused him to roll and dive. I followed and as we got close to the deck this guy started to put some real moves on me: rolling, turning, flying almost at a few feet from the ground. I had at that point enough altitude to chase him without actually playing "follow the leader" with this guy. We did some beautiful formation flying. At one point we were canopy to canopy turning in a slow and long barrel-roll (the real deal, not that what the game calls "barrel roll"). I managed to conserve altitude at all times and after a few rolls he took the dirt nap after I lighted up his tail with my .50 cal.

The other two bandits? well, I got so excited during this fight that I forgot about them and they shoot me like a turkey, at 100 yards range.

The game is awesome. When the DLC comes out, it will be twice as awesome. Period. Some DLC is already out, 2 new planes (P47 and TA152) and a few P57 single missions. 800MS points. Abit steep though.

I'm setting up my xbox live again and will be looking for some of you up there.

Glad you like it. Anything i can help with or have a view on ive highlighted. On the whole it is a great game, everyone here will agree as everyone here are the ones who play it and enjoy it. The haters have long since left, though the occasional troll will turn up

[Ancient Seraph]

Looking forward to you in your P-51 . Not playing so much until the patch though..