Gaming IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey Hands-on Preview

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/xbox-360/2009/08/01/il-2-sturmovik-birds-of-prey-preview/1

We've been hands-on with the latest game in the long-running IL-2 Sturmovik series of World War 2 arcade flight sims to see how the series holds up after jumping to consoles. Is IL-2 Sturmovik set to be a console classic too, or is it all going to end in tears? We find out.

 

That looks pretty good really - it might have lost some of the previous complexity, but with such great graphics and a difficulty that isn't just point-and-shoot it could be a wonderful game for the non-obsessive flight sim fan.

 

...but taking the extreme realism / everything the PC version was is like taking the humor out of Monkey Island. If they wanted to make a new IL2 it should have been directly related to the previous. If they wanted to make a new WW2 flight sim they should have come up with a new name for it. Its like someone had a meeting on how to make it better and someone suggested to tag on the IL2 name.

 

To me any game should be about having fun. If you can't have a successful PC title (unlikely, given the death of the joystick market on PC) then why not simply have a console version? It'll be a little simpler, but I'd rather have an enjoyable, simpler game than none at all.

This comes, by the way, from a massive fan of the original.

 

Unless it is on PC, I am not interested, good day to you.

 

Looks very nice, and after only quickly skimming over the review, sounds pretty good too. If this was coming on PC, I think I'd definatly get it.

The extreme realism and huge missions where you spent about 20mins flying to target, then about 30 seconds bombing/shooting really put me off IL2 on the PC.

 

Oh, My God! A game, that's only for PC... The World will collappse...

There are so many games, that's console exclussive... Play them...

 

Bah not on PC... I do have a PS3 but I always played IL-2 games on a PC with a joystick and the added realism was one of the main reasons I picked up the titles in the first place (similarly Flight Simulator X).

 

Urgh! What a load.

I'm sorry for the following, but I've been bottling it up for too long, and this game has just burst my long-suffering restraint.

<console rant>

Consoles are going to be the death of good gaming. I'm serious about this.
Console gaming is made for the lowest common denominator, with everything dumbed down so Joe Idiot-Webbed Fingers can mash some buttons and kill him some "Nazzis", or aliens, or commies, or what ever the bent he gets his jollies from.
And with controls and games made for dim-witted morons, enthusiast players are going to get frustrated by the superficial arcade nonsense such as this.

I think that the publishers really do think that most gamers are as I describe above, and games have to be made down to that level. But I think that WE are in the majority, and by "WE" I mean players who know crap when they play it and won't buy it or recommend it.

Even casual gamers aren't stupid. Hands up (in a 'net manner, natch) who knows a casual gamer who will play crap because they don't know any better? I find that it is the casual gamers who won't put up with it, while we enthusiasts struggle along in the hope, faint and futile though it may be, that the turd can be polished into something better.

Class transcends platform. Crap doesn't.

</console rant>

I feel better now, thank you.
Now, as it is very late (or very early), I'm off to bed.

PS. Writing of class, it may interest you to know, that I just got around to playing Mass Effect and finished it about an hour ago (hence the late night, but then checked Bit-Tech before shutting down).

Opinions: What a great game! Worth every penny! Why can't more games be like this? Did I fail because before I knew what was happening Garrus had blown Wrex's head off (mid conversation! Cue turian bollocking)? And in retrospect, I wish I had killed off "him" and not "her", if you get my drift. God, "he" can be a pain. Also, am I alone in being intrigued by the (strictly hypothetical) potential of asari sexual behaviour? Have I been reading/watching too much sci-fi that such an interest in alien sexual behaviour isn't immediately classified internally as "sad"? Is it weird that I am discussing alien sexual behaviour in a forum thread on a flight simulator and not in the "Miscellaneous Quirks and Hang-Ups" thread? Can I suggest to the forum moderators to create a "Miscellaneous Quirks and Hang-Ups" thread? Dear Zombie Jesus, I must be tired. I promise not to come and edit this rambling load tomorrow (today!).

 

Xbox demo was OK but I' undecided on whether I actually want to buy it or not.

 

+1.

You will forgive us for mistaking this for a PC-centric website. Get a Borderlands hands on or CnC 4 n ill eat it up, less of this console crap!

 

+1

 

To be honest I have no issue with the odd console related topic especially where, like this, it relates to a previous PC game.

 

CNC4 stuff coming soon, don't you worry!

 

Unless of course it's just like CnC 3...

 

haha, with EA, im surprised they didn't make a few CnC3: Kane's Wrath N before 4.

so Ubisoft is going to put IL-2 on consoles and ignore its roots? another one joins Epic, Id soft, Crytek

 

Not Ubisoft - is 505 Games now.

 

Hope they release this on the PC too. It looks awesome. Better than the older IL2 iterations.

 

Is there no end of ways to SCREW STUFF UP?

Unbeliveable. I've been waiting for this forever, but do these idiots think a meaningful way to introduce 'adjustable difficulty' is to PREVENT PEOPLE FROM USING THEIR OUTSIDE VIEWS?

WTF?????

Yeah, that's what I want. A flight simulator to run on my 50" hi-def tv that CRIPPLES MY VIEWS.

Good God. This is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard.

This is how you do 'difficulty' in a flight-sim:

1) Arcade mode - really easy flight-mode, hard to crash, super-strong guns
2) Medium mode - feels more like a plane, you have to aim to hit something. 90% of players use this mode.
3) 'Authentic' mode - harder flight model, BUT DO NOT DISABLE FEATURES LIKE VIEWS!!!!

What a joke. Guess I can save my money.