Customer Reviews

IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The IL-2 series of WWII flight combat simulators is one of the most respected and acclaimed games on the PC. Finally we console junkies get to have our own version and it delivers.

Birds of Prey puts the player at the controls of various WWII fighter and bomber aircraft on historically accurate missions from five theaters of war. The game tracks the air war in Europe from the Battle of Britain to the Battle of Berlin, by way of Sicily, Stalingrad, and Korsun. The locations are detailed and beautifully rendered, however the aircraft are the stars of the show. There are dozens of British, American, Soviet, and German examples that look great inside and out. Fans of WWII history will find plenty to love here.

Speaking of history, while the game is light on story, it includes videos that set the stage for the various battles using a combination of rendered footage and real historical film. Despite the fact that the various players in the game are basically nameless, the informative videos provide ample motivation for the struggle against Germany. I would even call the experience educational.

A cool new feature of the console games is the difficulty settings. The game can be as easy to fly as you wish, with the default Arcade setting providing an experience that everyone can pick up and enjoy immediately, and the Simulation setting that will challenge players to even keep the planes in the sky, let alone fighting.

Players attack various air and ground targets, while trying to protect their allies. Gameplay is engaging although not as exciting as 'after-burner' titles like Ace Combat. What you get instead is a very well crafted flight combat sim that feels more satisfying when you manage to send your enemies down in flames and come home in one piece.

By the way, the Ace-Edge flight stick that comes in the Ace Combat 6 bundle does work with this game. Works great.

Overall, this is the best game in its category. I'd recommend any fan of WWII or flying games to try this title immediately. Also, parents take notice: it's like the History Channel that you can play!

While I do agree with the people that say this game can be frustrating, it is in a good way. They did a great job with the different difficulty settings. Like another person pointed out, using a flight stick will help ALOT with the difficulty. This one is gonna be short and to the point... IL-2 Birds of Prey is THE BEST flight sim for console EVER released, and I am a jet snob saying that. The setting, the graphics, the history, the action, this game just oozes quality. The craftmanship involved in the making of this title is second to none. You can really tell this game is a labor of love for the people who made it. This game is a STEAL for its original $50 price tag, but $40!!! I think you can tell I really like this game. The only downside is that the console community is rather weak when it comes to multiplayer flight games. But, you can add me to your friends list if you need someone to join your flight. I am on Live and PSN as UrbanMerc.

I think you know what my recommendation is. If you like flight games, then you HAVE to pick this up. A great justification for buying a flight stick for your 360 as well. I also own this game on the PC.

I own this game, and bought it on Amazon.

Birds of Prey is by far the better game. Its an outstanding achievement for the flight simulator genre for consoles. The physics are gorgeous and are very appealing. Compaired to Heroes when every plane expldes into a fireball after you shoot it 1000X's then it starts to feel pretty bogus , but Birds of Prey is a masterpiece with every engagement something different happens depending where your shots land. Ive seen the planes do just about every thing that could happen on any episode from the History Channel show Dogfights. I Definetly hope that 505 developes another title next year. Birds of Prey scores A+ while the mediocre Herores over Europe scores C+
On another note an older game titled Heroes Of the Pacific is in many ways superior to its younger cousin and probably a lot cheaper to buy.

Keep in mind this game needed a patch to repair some problems. The PS3 version recieved the patch - HOWEVER - due to apparent problems with Microsoft about who pays for a patch - the 360 version did not get the patch and the developer bluntly announced they abandoned the effort.
In other words this game is no longer supported on the 360 and hasn't been for months. The DLC (only unlocks some extra planes already on the disk) is overpriced.
Buy only at bargain price...if you're a WWII flying buff.

The graphics in this game are stunning and the sense of immersion is fantastic. But to play the game in the Realistic or Simulation difficulty settings, you'll need a flight stick of some kind. Using the gamepad, it's far too easy to tilt the control stick all the way, causing the plane to spin due to turbulence on your wings.

And you really should play with "Realistic" difficulty! Part of the experience of a flight sim of this era is to feel how those old prop planes flew. Their limited speed and lack of computer assisted flight creates an interesting experience. Those planes could barely generate the thrust needed to push enough air over the wings to generate lift and it's amazing how much danger those pilots were in. Like Shadow of the Colossus on the PS2, most of the challenge, and the sense of achievement, of this game comes from overcoming the limited controls. For example, you will find yourself climbing altitude just so you have enough kinetic energy to do trickier maneuvers when attacking.

So I bought a Saitek AV8R joystick and that's when problems with the game became most apparent. There is no way to stop your plane when you land (one mission requires that you do so). And the dead zone on the stick is just a little too large, making precision aiming difficult. To make matters worse, there's no way to reconfigure the buttons, leaving you with a "missile" button that almost never does anything (missiles were rare and clumsy in that era). Considering this is pretty much the *only* flight stick still being made for the 360, this is quite annoying.

Saitek PS41 Aviator Joystick for use with PC or Xbox 360 Game Console

There was supposed to be a patch that fixed these control issues, but after a quick search, it looks like the publisher has axed plans for the 360 patch.

Ultimately, I have mixed feelings about this game. It is an excellent experience and you can tell the developers have a love of the genre, but the execution is slightly flawed. If you have a PS3 or a PC capable of playing this game, I would recommend getting buying it on either of those platforms. You'll be able to find much cheaper and better USB flight sticks and the bugs will have been patched.

But on the other hand, if you like Ace Combat 6 and just want something fresh, setting this game to "Arcade" will give you a very similar experience. It's obvious the makers of this game were influenced by AC6 when you see the virtual HUD, and everything from how the planes control to the amount of damage required to shoot down an enemy feel nearly identical. The only major difference gameplay-wise is that smart missiles didn't exist in WW2.

This is one of the better WW-II flying games available. The arcade mode is relatively easy to grasp, but once you get into the realistic flying mode, be prepared for frustration. Your flying life expectancy will drop.

I really enjoyed (and am still enjoying) this flight sim / combat game. I play on the arcade mode as I am not a huge flight simulator fan, rather a WWII buff. I would have liked to see more detail in the ground targets but I have yet to play a flight game where you can visually identify if what you are attacking is a Panzer or a Tiger or a Truck. I like seeing the damage as it occurs to my plane and holes would appear in my wings when I came into the Flak of an angry cruiser or gun emplacemnt. I wouldn't say this game is better than the "heroes over" game, but definitely a different experience. I would definitely recommend this game to the casual flight combat fan based on my playing preferences. Since I didn't and won't try the simulator modes I cant really comment on that aspect.

I have been through all the flying games out there to see whats funnest with my flight stick (av8er) and this one is one of the best if not the best. The cockpit view has limited visability but it is simualtion at it's best (as far as xbox 360 is concerned). The sound is good and the general feel seems like your flying instead of gliding (like other sim flyers). Flight stick aside it is still a good game. The levels can be challanging and don't hesitate to locate help via internet. The downsides are that the game has one plane you fly pretty much the whole time, if your an online gamer; this may not be the game for you, and some of the levels are slightly repeatative. Other than that, I play this game over than heroes and blazing angels any day of the week.

I have just got this game and played it for a little bit and must say that it is a lot of fun. It is the best airplane war game that I have ever played but then again I don't play games that much. I do recommend this one though.

I got this game a few months ago and it's a great WWII simulator. There are three difficulties for whatever peopple want to get out of this game. You can fly without any worrying on stalling, have a little target to help you lead the target and be practically indestructible, fly with some worry about stalling and if you do you havta find a way to recover but you can still see where the enemies are on your HUD, or for extreme realism, be entirely worried about stalling, not know where the enemy is on your HUD, and have very realistic plane behavior. The campaign isn't too long but not too short. After you beat the campaign, there is are single missions you can do, and there is a lot of them. The missions can get repetative or annoying. There is NO ONE on multiplayer so if your looking for some online gaming, don't buy this. Graphics are pretty good, it's hard to hear what your captain, or other pilots are saying, and the subtitles are no use for that matter. But ll in all, it's a good game, not great, but good.