IL-2 Sturmovik - Birds of Prey

Title: IL-2 Sturmovik - Birds of Prey
Platform Played On: Xbox 360
Release Date: September 8, 2009
Date Played: September 2009
Time Played: 15 hours
Completed (Y/N): Yes
Score: 5/5


Opinion:
IL-2 is a very well known franchise that has been around since the early 2000's and is still played by millions worldwide.

In general I am a fan of simulators, especially flight simulators. I never had a chance to try out IL2 until Birds of Prey, its first iteration on the consoles, and I really liked my experience with it.  It allows for various levels of simulation from arcady feel to full on realism with rudder and pitch controls. The developers did a really good job adapting the control scheme for the Xbox controller.

Of course the cockpit, and other control options are not as in depth as the PC IL-2 iterations, but there is nothing that can be done about that since console's controller is limited on buttons.

There are half a dozen areas to play through as you make your way through the campaign, and in between the missions the game shows real World War 2 footage to fill you in on why you are there and your mission. The campaign stays consistently interesting, featuring missions with bombers, fighters and ground targets, and constant change of scenery keeps things fresh. IL-2 looks great, with great looking scenery and ground targets, along with an impressive plane damage model.

Overall IL-2 Sturmovik - Birds of Prey is an excellent flight simulator on the consoles. I would definitely recommend this game to anyone that is even remotely interested in planes, world war 2, and/or simulators. In my book this is the best flight simulator (of any era) that I have played on the consoles.