Flight simulators don't crop up often on this 1001 list, and my flight stick is gathering a little bit of dust doing nothing over there, so the arrival of IL-2 Sturmovik is almost music to my ears. I say almost because its write up mentions how it is a hardcore military flight simulator, focused on the Second World War, and isn't for the faint of heart.
I hope it has some kind of easy mode...
Fun Times
The IL-2 series is so well loved by that very niche target audience that the game is jam-packed full of content, and is still patched and expanded upon some fifteen years after its initial release. I'm playing IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946, which is billed as an expansion but contains everything released for the series before it, including IL-2 itself. I've no idea what missions, planes, tweaks or whatever else come from the original game versus its expansions, but I get the impression that if it's in this 2006 release, then it's more or less just more of the same.
Once I set up some inputs, and learn of the easy mode options, I'm away and into a mission for the RAF.
As is always the case, I've skimmed over 95% of the buttons and have only remembered the important ones - go faster/slower, move, shoot, kinda thing - but I want to make it known that the depth of these inputs is bordering on insane. There are buttons for everything you can think of from a plane of this era, and then some. Most of them are outright turned off on the easy mode, such is their technical detail. Thank you, IL-2. I'm only here for the shooting, really.
The flight plan indicates that we are to fly around some ships for a bit, protecting them from anything else that may be out in the sky, before returning to the airfield. Alrighty then.
Frustrations
That's a bit dark, isn't it? I know night missions generally are dark, but still. The odd star twinkles in the sky, the clouds are illuminated, just, but something or other, and that's about it. I see absolutely nothing. It's silent out here. It's quieter than silent. It's dead.
No radio chatter, no ambient sounds other than the thrum of my engines, not a thing in the sky to point menacingly towards. Nothing. The map shows where you are in relation to the various waypoints that the initial mission briefing pointed out, but it's as featureless as the skies are.
After minutes of nothingness, I catch a glimpse of what I hope are friendly planes. Again, nothing on the radio, no pop-up mission alerts, nothing. I barely see them through the sights as I decide that they've got more of a clue what's going on than I have, I'm going home.
I land, somehow, on a runway. I don't think my landing gear was down, hence all the wobbles, but again, absolutely nothing is going on. I've not even triggered anything by landing here. Maybe because I technically crash landed here. I don't know. What's going on? Where's my military flight sim?
Quitting that mission, I hop into some American something-or-other, and I'm tasked with surveying a V-2 rocket launch, if I remember correctly, and then shooting it down before it hits its target.
I never found the bloody rocket. At this point, I'm almost convinced I'm doing something wrong, like not triggering part of a mission or, heck, not installing the game entirely. I've no idea. I wanted to be dogfighting and dive bombing and whatnot, not moseying around doing sweet F-all.
I give IL-2 a final chance, hopping into a mission as the Finnish air force, defending their land from Russian bombers.
My wingman and I fly for more literal minutes where nothing of note happens. As far as military simulators go, this is probably very accurate. As far as video games go, I'm bored beyond belief and desperately want to see this game do something - anything.
What the hell was that? All I've done is flown towards two waypoints, and now you're telling me I've completed a mission? Nah. This isn't right at all. What's going on?
Something compels me to fly even further towards the nothingness, and then it happens...
Woooooow. Action! Thrills! Spectacular!
I'd put this under 'Further Fun Times' if it weren't for the fact that it felt like I was flying slower than a bomber and that they were just sitting there waiting to be shot down. The odd plane would fire some pot shots at me, but on easy mode, I've got infinite ammo and don't get shot down at the merest hint of damage, so I was just left to wobble around the skies shooting in the vague direction of these bombers until they nosedived.
It sucked. I really wanted the game hailed as one of the greatest flight sims - full of hundreds of planes from the Second World War, with attention to detail that you just don't see in gaming - to wow me with its action. It didn't.
Further Fun Times
After picking off the rest, I ended up nudging the mouse, only to learn that it moved the camera around the cockpit, allowing me to look out of the window and spot my wingman. Hello. It'd be a damn useful feature if it allowed me to let go of the flight stick for a little while, but I think the calibration with the stick is off somewhere because I was continually having to correct everything, which is quite tricky when you're looking sideways out of the window.
Bombers down, I decided to return to base. I say decided because I sure don't remember anyone telling me to do so, be it my wingman or a popup or what. I was very much doing what I thought I had to do. I guess that's what hardcore military flight sims want you to do.
So, time to find the runway.
Nailed it.
One final mission to see if IL-2 can sway me into believing that it is a good game for novices, as well as experts. Flying some American planes over some French train tracks, destroying trains full of German supplies.
Five minutes to fly there, five seconds to die.
Final Word
There is a place for hardcore military flight simulators. I'm glad they exist because it really hammers home how stressful flying a plane is, both technically in terms of controlling it, and mentally in terms of not getting bored shitless on the way to your mission. Though I suppose in reality, without infinite ammo and in a plane where one hit could kill you, I guess you do actually have quite a few things to keep you occupied...
This is not an action-packed cinematic masterpiece of a game like I wanted, and it was never going to be. That's my fault. IL-2 Sturmovik is a dedicated simulator that models damn near everything for all those players who want to really challenge themselves.
There are, I'm told, some planes whose engines will crap out if you push them too hard because that's what happened with the real engines of those real planes. The manual (from what little I skimmed) mentions how new pilots would often return (if they made it back alive at all) with zero ammo and zero kills, such was the difficulty in lining up your shots on a target that moves 300km/h, in three dimensions, in the air, at the same time as you.
IL-2 Sturmovik gives you the sandbox and the toys to fill it, and says 'there you go, let's see how good you are', and I'm not good at all. I was going to try and whack every difficulty setting up to those realistic heights, but I was afraid that if I didn't spawn into a mission in the air that I'd never get off the ground. If I did spawn in the air, I was afraid I'd get shot out of the sky by a foe I'd never seen. Though, if I'm honest, I'd be fortunate to be able to fly in a straight enough line for the five minutes I'd need to fly to even get into the combat zone, so I'd probably just spiral out of control and crash on my own.
Do I recommend this game to players new to flight simulators? Hell no. It's dull. It requires patience and planning and dedication that the vast majority of gamers just don't have. Do I admire what it does? Most definitely. It doesn't look amazing, but it is continually updated by developers and fans alike and has something for everyone - and if it doesn't, the mission editor should solve that problem.
Will I find myself playing again? Potentially, yes, just to have a laugh at my ineptitude on the realistic settings. Will I play beyond that? Nah. I'm just not a flight sim kinda guy. For a little bit, sure, if it's interesting, but reality rarely is it seems.
Fun Facts
The original number of flyable planes has at least doubled with the addition of new content featuring different theatres of war.
IL-2 Sturmovik, developed by 1C:Maddox Games, first released in 2001.
Version played: IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946, PC, 2006
Version watched: IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946, PC, 2006 (TheDevildogGamer)