IL2: Forgotten Battles Gold Pack

by UBI Soft

Product Features

• Sequel to WWII flight simulation game: IL2 Forgotten Battles
• 30 new flyable aircraft
• 3 new map areas of Finland, Hungary, and Ukraine Poland
• 20 new single-player missions and 10 new multiplayer missions
• For 1 player, or multiplayer over Internet

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00018RR6G
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: March 2, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,862 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

The award-winning action of IL-2 Sturmovik returns with this double-value Gold Pack, featuring the standalone sequel Forgotten Battles and the Ace Expansion Pack for one historic price. Take to the skies in more than 50 authentic aircraft and plunge yourself deeper than ever into the perilous world of a WWII fighter pilot. Robust dynamic campaign system, including more than 7 campaigns. Scalable difficulty for players of all levels. Realistic flight dynamics and spectacular special effects Works with Windows 98/ME/XP/2000 (only) PC

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly Awesome, February 21, 2005

By 

W. B. Smith (Auckland New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: IL2: Forgotten Battles Gold Pack (CD-ROM)

Forgotten Battles (FB) is truly awesome with its amazingly realistic graphics. The detail to aircraft (including cockpit interior)will delight the WWII buff and the sunlight effects are stunning and realistic. You can zoom in and out, and have internal and external views. You will however, need to ensure your computer and graphics card can handle the requirements of the game. The flight model can be adjusted to suit ones own individual skill or pleasure levels. Pilot career campaigns can be created from a whole range aircraft including Stuka, Heinkel 111, ME109, IL2, I16, MIGs etc, although these aircraft could be upgraded during the pilots career. Once you start to amass a tally, the game has you going back for more to increase your tally. Many variety of aircraft can be encountered, including Gladiators, P40 Kittyhawks, P39 Airacobras, JU88s etc. In the midst of combat on bomber aircraft you can take up the postion of gunners and attempt to shoot down marauding fighters. My only gripe is that there is no strategic element to the game and there is no way you can influence the outcome of the war, but then again the air war on the Eastern Front was almost entirely a tactical affair. Perhaps the creators of the game will have a strategic element in the proposed Battle of Britain game. The FB game includes a Quick Mission builder and a Full Mission Builder. The game will certainly provide many hours of enjoyment.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Many years of aviation-based enjoyment..., October 21, 2004

By 

chinpokemon - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: IL2: Forgotten Battles Gold Pack (CD-ROM)

IL2 and it follow IL2: Forgotten Battles have given me years of pleasure. Oleg Maddox has produced a product of great quality and continued to support it, producing both free updates which include both new planes and other feature and the Aces Expansion Pack. The game was superb to begin with and Oleg's teams hard work, and the many players who have created new planes, cockpits, skins, and utilities have improved it over time.

Graphically, the game is unequalled. The models are very detailed, and look good coming apart at close range. The cockpits also are extremely realistic.

More importantly, the game plays well. The level of realsim is scalable so you don't have to be an expert to begin with, flight sim newbies like myself can ease themself into the daunting task of flying their plane of choice.

The game is a great investment as there are so many planes, campaigns, and various stuff to mess around with it is hard to get tired of this game. Over the years I have played other games but have always come back to IL2.

40 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars COMMENT BY AERONAUTICAL ENGINEER FROM BRAZIL., June 28, 2004

By 

"amarsigliajr" (Rio de Janeiro RJ Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: IL2: Forgotten Battles Gold Pack (CD-ROM)

AFTER OBTAINING MY MASTERS DEGREE AS FLIGHT TEST ENGINEER, I WORKED IN THE BRAZILIAN AIR FORCE FROM 1989 TILL 1993 IN FLIGHT TESTING. FROM THAT TIME, I HAD EXPERIENCE FLYING 26 TYPES OF BOTH CIVILIAN AND MILITARY AIRCRAFT, RANGING FROM HUGE CARGO JET AND PROPELLER PLANES TO SMALL PISTON ENGINED AND SUPERSONIC FIGHTERS, INCLUDING USAAF AIRCRAFT. IN THE FLIGHT TEST BUSINNESS WE DID A LOT OF EVALUATION WORK ON AIRCRAFT, PERFORMANCE, HANDLING QUALITIES, WEAPONS SYSTEMS AND THEIR CORRESPONDING FLIGHT SIMULATORS. WE DID FLY AND EVALUATE THE "TUCANO" MILITARY TRAINER AIRCRAFT (www.embraer.com), WHICH IS A 750HP TURBOPROP THAT EQUIPED MANY AIR FORCES (BRAZIL, RAF AND EGYPT, TO SAY A FEW).

I COULD NEVER IMAGINE A COMPUTER SOFTWARE DESIGNED FOR PC PURPOSES COULD BE AS REALISTIC AS "IL2 FB"!!!!!!! THE GRAPHICS, THE 3-D MODELING OF THE AIRCRAFT AND THE FLIGHT MODELS ARE OUTSTANDING......... I NEVER SAW NOTHING LIKE IT...!!!! THE FLIGHT MODELS GET AS REALISTIC AS IT COULD GET........ EVEN WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF TURNING ON (FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ADVANCED PILOTING KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS) AEROELASTIC EFFECTS ON AIRFRAME STRUCTURES SUCH AS FLUTTER.!!!!!!.... BUT DONT WORRY, IF YOU ARE A NOVICE PILOT YOU CAN TURN SUCH EFFECTS OFF WITH THE CLICK OF YOUR MOUSE!!!!!! THE SOFTWARE REPRODUCES REAL GUNNERY EFFECTS AND PISTON ENGINE MANAGEMENT FOR ASPECTS LIKE FUEL MIXTURE, PROPELLER PITCH ANGLE AND SO ON.......(OH YES, IF YOU PREFER DONT BOTHER AND JUST CLICK THEM OFF!!!!!) I HAVE HEARD FROM SOME COLLEAGUES AT EMBRAER THAT THE FLIGHT SIMULATION SOFTWARE TAKES INTO ACCOUNT SUCH THINGS AS MACH NUMBER AND HIGH ALTITUDE EFFECTS ONTO THE MATHEMATICAL FLIGHT EQUATIONS.....!!!!!! SO IT'S NO WONDER THE REALISTIC FEELING TO FLY IL2.......

REGARDING THE GRAPHICS, IT REPRODUCES AIRCRAFT WITH DETAILS WE ONLY FIND IN VERY WELL DOCUMENTED WWII BOOKS....... SINCE I NSTALLED IL2FB ON MY COMPUTER, I KEPT WONDERING HOW COULD SUCH A MASTERPIECE OF ENGINEERING WORK LIKE THIS BE AVAILABLE AND SOLD IN A BOX OF A SIMPLE "PC GAME"........ AND TODAY I FINALLY GOT THE ANSWER FROM SOME OTHER AERONAUTICAL ENGINEER FELLOWS AND TEST PILOTS OVER AT EMBRAER (THIS IS THE REASON I DECIDED TO WRITE DOWN THIS LONG REVIEW!!!!): WHAT I WAS TOLD, IS THAT WHEN GORBATCHOV STARTED TO BREAK UP THE USSR IN EARLY 90'S, THE TECH PERSONNEL THAT DEVELOPED THE SOFTWARE FOR THE RED MIILITARY..... WELL, THEY KIND OF....... STARTED TO "LOOSE THEIR JOBS"...... AND THEREFORE STARTED TO WORK ON THEIR OWN PRIVATE BUSINNESSES, WITH ALL THE OUTSTANDING KNOW-HOW THEY HAD ACUMULATED FOR YEARS........ THESE RUSSIANS ARE EXPERTS, TRULY BRILLIANT SCIENTISTS!! AND WELL, THE RESULT..... IS THAT THE ENGINEERING AND SOFTWARE KNOW-HOW USED IN MILITARY SIMULATION BY THE WORLD'S (FORMER!) SECOND MILITARY POWER........ GOT PACKED UP IN THE FORM OF A "PC GAME"! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??? AND FORTUNATELY, FOR US WWII AVIATON ENTHUSIASTS, THIS "PC GAME" IS AVAILABLE FOR ALL, FOR THE THE PRICE OF A FEW BUCKS! I HAVE ALSO READ IN A WEBSITE THAT MICROSOFT DID TRY TO TAKE THE FATHERS OF IL2 TO THE STATES, OFFERING THEM THE MS SIMULATION DIVISION, BUT THE ANSWER THEY GAVE WAS "NO"..... AND THAT'S WHY MICFROSOFT'S COMBAT SIMULATOR HAS NO COMPARISON WITH IL2/FB.....

THIS VIEW OF THE ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT AND KNOW-HOW OF THE "GAME" (TRULY, I THINK ITS A SHAME TO CALL THIS ENGINEERING BEAUTY MERELY A "GAME"!!!) MAKES SENSE TO ME NOW..... SPECIALLY WHEN YOU LOOK AT FEATURES SUCH AS THE EXTRAORDINARY FILM RECORDING CAPABILITIES (MUCH BETTER THAN COMPARABLE SOFTWARES), WHICH ALLOW YOU TO WATCH, AFTER THE MISSION, THE SCENES FROM DIFFERENT AIRCRAFT VIEWS (YOU DYNAMICALLY SELECT WHERE TO WATCH THE ACTION FROM: YOU PLACE THE CAMERA ON FRIENDLY OR ENEMY AIRCRAFT, INSIDE THE COCKPIT OR OUTSIDE, YOU CAN LINK THE CAMERA TO OTHER MOVING OBJECTS AND TARGETS, FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES AND DISTANCES ETC) - THIS IS TYPICAL FOR MILITARY PURPOSES: YOU USE SUCH VALUABLE TOOL FOR THE DEBRIEFING PHASE OF MISSIONS, WHEN YOU STOP TO ANALYSE, AFTER THE FLIGHT, WHAT YOU DID RIGHT AND WRONG DURING THE MISSION, AWAY FROM THE HEAT OF THE BATTLE.

THE ONLY CON I WOULD POINT OUT FOR THIS GAME IS THE HEAVY HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS, BUT ITS THE PRICE TO PAY FOR THE PROCESSING POWER REQUIRED TO RUN THE SIMULATION IN ITS TOP VIDEO QUALITY WITHOUT GETTING ANNOYED BY DISTURBING SLOW FRAME RATES. GAME MANUAL IS ALSO POOR, BUT THEY ARE UNEEDED ANYWAY, AS YOU GET GREAT ONLINE SUPPORT AND A DEDICATED SITE, WHERE YOU WILL FIND A TRUE COMUNITY OF FOLLOWERS FOR IL2.

BOTTOMLINE, YOU WILL NOT SEE ANYTHING LIKE IT, BELIEVE ME!!!!!!