IL2 is great because.......

[KAV]

Because there is still new players recruited to the game, keeping it alive.

[olife]

il2 is great...because it become now hard to play il2 for me(exept late the night)...yes very hard to say to my young son and my young daughter : kids! u are now playing il 2 since 1 hour (offline) ,now daddy want play...
...no no daddy,please we want play with the planes!!

[Slothboy]

This game is great for a lot of reasons.

1. Realistic mode. While it isn't truly "realistic" it comes a lot closer than all the other Arcade style flight sims on consoles. When I first picked this game up I played on Arcade difficulty and wasn't impressed and shelved it. I tried it again recently and upped the difficulty to realistic and there it was... the game I had been looking for. Kills are gratifying, even in Single Player because it feels like it takes some actual skill to accomplish.

2. Multiplayer! I had my first experience with multi last night thanks to this forum. It was the most fun I've had online in quite a while. Cool people just out to have fun. WTF? On Xbox Live? Impossible!

3. The Ground. In the other flight "sims" I have played on the console the ground is basically just a flat texture down below the area you normally fly in. The terrain and detail of the ground in BoP is far better than anything on consoles. Maybe you can't pick out individual blades of grass but I've often found myself in Single Player missions or training just sightseeing. It really adds to the immersion.