Written by: Ian

 

 

 

IL-2 has long been regarded as the ultimate WW2 flight sim- but will this hardcore flight sim translate OK to a joypad on a console? The series has always been right at the very edge of hardcore simulation, and console controllers have never offered quite the level of precision that a joystick or mouse can.

 

If developers Gaijin can pull it off, then we’re in for a treat- but get it wrong and this could be an unholy mess!

 

 

Starting with the Battle of Britain, and working through to the Battle for Berlin, IL-2 puts you in the seat of several pilots as they tell their stories, and you fight their battles throughout the war. In theory, this could be excellent, but it never really gels fantastically.

 

There’s little to link the stories, and each new campaign simply opens with a video of historic footage describing that theatre of conflict. The game also flits back and forth between pilots without warning, leaving you unable to ever really care for them. Also, all of the story sequences are voiced by a single actor, putting on a variety of dodgy accents, which also takes a little away from the experience.

 

 

To be honest, the diary sequences and in-game cut scenes are pretty cheap by modern standards, and whilst the voice-overs can be interesting, it’s certainly nothing special.

 

 

IL-2 basically includes three entirely different games, such is the change between the poles apart difficulty levels. And, unusually for a game, it’s not AI or your own health that affect the difficulty. In fact, the enemy AI, and your own health remain as constants no matter what your difficulty is. In fact, on all three difficulties you get unlimited lives, fuel, and ammo, unless you choose not to. Instead, the difficulties affect your aids, your viewpoint and your HUD.

 

On arcade, you can fly as aggressively as you want. There’s no stalling, blackouts, landings or anything else to worry about. In addition, you get coloured information about your targets, and a reticule that compensates for wind and direction, so you can point your guns in exactly the right place every time. To compensate for this, you generally do face more enemies at this level, adding to the arcade experience. However, I wouldn’t recommend playing at this level really, as other games are just as good at providing this kind of experience, and they do it with a little more cinematic flare than BoP can manage.

 

Realistic is pretty much just that. You now have to guess where to aim, and your plane is governed by realistic physics. If you turn to hard, you stall, or go into a flat spin, from which recovery is really difficult. You need to time your attacks more, and close in. Your speed is also realistically limited too. However, you can still use the outside views and can distinguish between friend and foe. For most people, this difficulty will be enough of a simulation challenge, especially if you do plan on playing from the cockpit view.

 

Simulation, however, is a totally different kettle of fish, with a level of realism never seen on a console before. It’s also frighteningly difficult to play. You’re forced to take the cockpit view. You get no targeting reticule at all, no HUD information to show you where your targets are, and on top of that, you’re also expected to control the trim of your aircraft, as it now suffers from being buffeted by realistic wind factors. Even controlling your fighter becomes a challenge, let alone manoeuvring to take out an enemy, whilst bombing needs precise judgement to even have a chance of hitting the target.

Most missions will take 2-3 times longer than on realistic, and you’re also forced to rely on your wingmen far more. It’s a huge challenge, but when you do get it kill, even if it takes you 20 minutes, it does feel truly satisfying- but this mode will be for the hardest of the hardcore only. You’ll also probably want to invest in a joystick too, as the standard pad does struggle to give you all the feedback and precision you need at times.

 

 

From a gameplay perspective, the missions are pretty varied, with a nice amount of bombing, dogfighting, ground attack and mixed scenarios available over the different campaigns. You also get to fly a large variety of aircraft too, which is really good. The AI is generally pretty good, and the missions are a good length.