first run, fresh impressions (essentially for those waiting another week)

[Jatta Raso]

first of all my current video card is still my thrustworty 8800 GTS 512MB G92 (don't laugh) as my new 570 is arriving one of these days; for what's worth it runs Crysis on ultra-high 1600x900 no AA with a sweet 25FPS average... which for Cryengine is enough so you won't even think about frames (take that COD).. in fact only the horrendous unoptimized Metro 2033 made me notice FPS drops... even Crysis 2 runs like a charm on same rez on above the stock hardcore settings (edited config yes)

so i fired up IL-2 Cod and no surprise at min rez low settings (only very high for models and cockpit) it brought it to its knees.. you can fly over seas, slide show over land, however not as impossible as i thought.. the take off was completely unbearable though.. but gotta love the detail of the grass, the hangars, the parked autos (roofless red sports car) and trucks.. it's another league, even on low, the landscapes are incredible, i can't believe some folks comparing it to IL-2

i must say the cockpits are truly amazing, you can open canopy, slide view left and right, the shaking and the light, it's incredible, with a decent monitor you'll fell you're actually there

the experience of steering the kite is something to be re-learned, i took the spit mkI over sea for a lone ride (full realism settings) and it bounces and shakes nervously as you try to force it out of it's natural aerodynamic path (i'm mechanical engineer and know something about airflow and such) i really felt the machine had a will of it's own. i never went into combat (as if i could) but damage model is there from first second.. try to steer straight down without an inverse roll and you'll have your canopy filled with oil well before you choke the engine; i took all sorts of end-game damage even before i knew what i was doing.. forget the IL-2 Sturmovik days when you could brute force your plane in almost every sort of way.. you wil HAVE to learn how you fly this time around

one of my greatest concerns was to find out that London would be noticeably downscaled on its size, but hurray it's gigantic, even if i had to fly high above to get the plane to move.. i must say however that never it was so terrible that you could barely see the landscape moving; i find it rather promising considering my current video card even at the lowest detail possible. even the most hardware beefed ppl must reconsider the 1900x1080 thing right now and settle for something like 1280x960 or similar, at least for the time being

sound is better IMO, engine definitely packs more punch and guns is a matter of taste (and historical accuracy for those who can tell)

as for the menus, i found them quite slick and practical, they're well presented a suit the mood well, overall more immersive than IL-2 Sturmovik. the pilot customization one is great add-on and works well. found no fuus whatsoever about key mapping, although in-game my throttle axis wasn't responding well for the time being

so my verdict over a very limited take on CoD is that... well IMHO this game will absolutely shape the face of video games, not only sims, in the years to came.. i can see it down the road, hopefully not to far down. have patience with the bugs, they will be ironed out.. no one builds such monumental piece of software to leave it out to dry, makes no sense to me. it IS demanding on the hardware, but it will grow over time as ppl starts to upgrade. just guive it a couple of years.. this thing will surely be used for documentaries on TV instead of CGI.

and yes i had the AVG thing, you have to add the mentioned file to exceptions or the game won't run, apart from that everything in the setup and running went flawless for me.

so buy it grab it steal it send the money to 1C 'cause they freakin deserve it - it's that great

and for the 'epic fail' guy and the other grass whiners... have no worries. let them bitch. they would't see a classic even if it smashed them full in the face. IMHO. happy flying ppl, congrats 1C, the new era has come - this is next gen sims

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Q6600 2.4GHz (going OC 3.0GHz as soon as get better cooler)
Gainward GTX570 Phantom
2x2GB DDR2 800Mhz GSkill
1TB SATA 3 64MB
Asus P5K-E Wi-Fi
SyncMaster 24'' P2450 Monitor
Win 7 x64
Thrustmaster T.Flight Stick X