My small review and first impressions

[Blackdog_kt]

A lot has been already said and lots of ground covered, so i won't go in length and repeat the same stuff all over again.

I've just flown two air-start sorties after setting up some controls, both of them over land (ok, near the coast but still not smack in the middle of the channel, so it did have to render terrain).

First, the free flight in a 109 to get used to it. CEM is nice but not overwhelming, i enabled CEM and the temperature effects and the engine didn't die on me. The engine won't die immediately if you go above the stated maximum of 2500 RPM, as long as you don't leave it there. Keep in mind that i only have a Sidewinder precision 2 with a single slider, so i used the keyboard for radiators and prop pitch and still, it was manageable.
You just need to check the gauges that's all, plus doing it is definitely a breeze with the high-resolution cockpits.

I alternated between clickable cockpit on and off, as i would pan the external cameras around with the mouse and then experiment with clicking switches in the cockpit.
I tried some low flying, the stutters begin under 1000 meters of altitude and intensify below 300-500 meters. I crash-landed due to coming in a bit fast, plus having some stutters.

For the second sortie i wanted to see what happens with other aircraft in the air. I used the Calais bomber intercept mission, five 109s against 9 blenheims (14 aircraft total with at least half the mission over land, at 3000m). Again, it would be perfectly playable if not for the stutters, especially when closing in below 300 meters. I scored a few hits on 4-5 blenheims but didn't shoot down anything. Coming from IL2, gunnery is a b*tch with the improved FM, you can really see the inertia in the aircraft and this throws off your aim. It's simply amazing, the slightest touch of aileron to correct your aim results in residual rolling motion after you've centered your controls.

I entered a spin after trying to reverse with an immelman and i can definitely say it seemed like a truly dynamic spin and not a canned effect. Again, the new FM is awesome, torque and gyro effects induced a rolling motion which coupled with inertia made me screw up the immelman. My 109 wallowed and stalled despite starting the maneuver with almost 400km/h IAS. After recovering from the first spin i was busy keeping my RPMs in check and entered a secondary one which i recovered from quicker than the first.

Finally, i reacquired the bandits, closed too much and got an oil leak after getting damaged by the enemy gunners. I decided to crash land in a nearby airfield but i misjudged it after deciding to view it from the external camera, so i ended up smashing the underside of the aircraft on a small hill before the airfield, ending with an explosion.

What impressed me here is that while i pancaked with considerable force i wasn't treated to an immediate explosion like it would happen in IL2. The poor 109 jumped back in the air, with dust being kicked up upon impact, only to finally crash again a few meters later and explode.

My specs:
I7 920 at stock clock speeds (2.7Ghz)
P6T deluxe motherboard
3GB RAM (3x1GB sticks in triple channel)
WD 1TB hard drive (the slow one, 5000 something RPM for storage and OS and yes, i know it makes sense to put the OS on a fast drive but i used to dual-boot until recently with XP as my main OS on the fast drive)
Seagate Barracuda 1TB hard drive (my fast drive, 7200 RPM, where i install my games)
MSI Cyclone Ati 4890 1GB
Win7 Pro x64

Graphics settings: 1680x1050, Anti-epilepsy filter off, Anti-aliasing x2, Forests and building distance at low, everything else on medium, roads and whatnot (the on/off toggles on the right side of the options screen) enabled.

My conclusion: All they have to do is get rid of the stutters, the rest of the game is a keeper. Sure, you can't max out all the graphics or have 100 aircraft in the air yet, but the rest of the necessary stuff seems to definitely be there.

As long as the developers correct the stutters and you don't expect to max everything out with a million aircraft in the air simultaneously, you're going to have a very good time with it.