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IL-2 Sturmovik Birds of Prey first-impressions
Harry Neary (Akeldama) // Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

I must admit to being very jealous of Adam when he went along to the IL2 Sturmovik Birds of Prety event last week. I've been chomping at the bit to play - but with a new baby in our household I couldn't just run off to London to the event.

However today saw the release of the game's single player demo on Xbox Live and I thought I would share my impressions with you.

The short version is "wow", you'll have to read on for more details.

Something for everyone

Firing up the demo you'll be given the choice of several training missions and two campaign missions. I really do recommend tackling the training missions first as completing them will unlock the "realistic" and "simulation" modes.

The training missions introduce you to the basics of flight and combat, albeit using the "arcade" mode. Here it's hard to get into too much trouble, you'll have to try very hard if you want to lose control of your aircraft and shooting down enemy aircraft only requires a few hits. You may use the games three different view modes, third person, cockpit and virtual cockpit. The later is a first person view with some primitive HUD type guides to help you stay orientated.

Realistic mode adds much more complex flight dynamics and this changes everything. Now stalling the plane is very easy indeed and you'll have to be smooth and gentle with the stick. You may still use all three view options.

Simulation mode brings another level of difficulty as you'll no longer be able to use the third person view. The planes are very skittish and flying feels convincing. Shooting down a bomber takes quite some effort and you may only damage enemy bombers on your first pass, having to come around to finish them off. Stalling the plane is an every present danger and damage from enemy fire is lethal. You'll need your wits about you when finding enemies to shoot at too as there are no helpful red indicators around enemies in Simulation mode.

Even in arcade mode the game sticks to the basics of flight - climbing slows, diving speeds you up etc. The throttle control is carried out via the right stick and unlike many console flight games allows you to set the throttle percentage accurately rather than just speeding and slowing down.

Choice

Following the training missions there are two campaign missions to try. The first puts the player in the shoes of an RAF pilot repelling an air raid over Dover. The second is a ground attack mission in a US P51 Mustang over a frozen winter landscape during the Battle of the Bulge. How you tackle these two missions and what level of challenge you face is entirely up to you.

What impresses me is the choice given to the player in an age where developers and publishers give gamers very litte. Imagine a Codemasters game like Grid where you were offered the choice between arcade and sim handling? Wouldn't that attract more players? Here you can play the game how you want - either as an arcade flight game or as something much deeper and convincing.

Interestingly whatever option I chose in the demo I was still given infinite ammo. I don't know how that will be in the full game but I expect it may stay the same in single-player mode - due to the numerous targets given in missions being more than a single payload can handle.

Another interesting feature during the missions is that you can set how many retries you have - so even in simulation mode you don't have the pain of dying within seconds and having to restart the mission. Instead you are just respawned. This blend of simulation handling coupled with gamer-friendly options seems a sensible choice by the developer.

Presentation

The graphics are rather gorgeous. The ground detail is very similar to recent Microsoft Flight Simulator releases and the lighting effects are very pleasing. The detail on the aircraft, especially when damaged, is very impressive. The only negative thing I can find to say is the view distance isn't amazing - using fog to limit visibility to something like 30 miles. But here in the UK that's often the case anyway.

Even during battles with tens of aircraft I only saw a little slowdown once. Much of the action is very smooth indeed despite the complex air battle going on around the player.

Sound effects and radio chatter are very atmospheric. The voice-over during cutscenes by Joss Ackland adds a level of class that many games would be jealous of. His performance is wonderful.

It's obvious that I am very impressed with the IL-2 Sturmovik Birds of Prey demo. The finished code can't come soon enough. More impressive than just the game itself is the philosophy behind the game - in giving players choice and not treating them like idiots, as so many publishers do today.

http://xbox.boomtown.net/en_uk/artic...w.php?id=18334