IL-2 Sturmovik:Birds of Prey demo impressions

IL-2 Sturmovik demo - available now on X360

I was very curious to test the demo of Birds of Prey - which promised to be the first attempt to serious flight simulation on consoles in a while...so I downloaded it as soon as I got back home yesterday and played it for a while...

The demo consists of a brief tutorial and two missions: an air defence mission on a Spitfire over the Dover cliffs and a ground support mission on a P-51 in Germany.

The initial impression was of a huge disappointment: the demo starts in "arcade" mode and it is basically "Ace Combat WWII" (albeit more realistic in flight model and gunnery). Usual console flight-action and much disappointment.

Once you have completed the tutorials or a mission, the demo unlocks "realistic" and "simulation" modes: of course I immediately switched to "simulation" and it made huge difference. For example you cannot use external views, nor you have any kind of markers on targets or waypoints. Damage model is realistic, and its effect on maneuvering is reasonable. Much more important, the flight model is challenging: ham-fisted yoke handling will result in plenty of stall and spins - by the way, spin-recovery works in the proper way. Plane handling raises the biggest question mark on the simulation mode and it is control peripherals. Flight sticks are rare among X360 owners (and not widely available in shops) and controlling the plane with the pad does not feel right: the control scheme is weird with some good points (triggers to "zoom" the view and fire -ala Call of Duty) and some bad ones (right thumbstick controls both throttle and rudder...)

What I like:

• Finally a serious attempt to bring a flight simulation on XBox 360.
• Graphics: plane models, cockpit and landscapes are generally wonderful and the game is smooth.
• Unforgiving flight models in simulation mode.

What I do not like:

• Gamepad control is definitely not good enough for simulation mode
• Graphics: special effects (like water reflection, gunfire or smokes) are mediocre
• Some artistic licence in cockpits, liveries, historical accuracy and realism (e.g. no blackouts, redouts or g-loc)

All in all,being a PC-simmer I am not sold on this one. But it is a good attempt - so good that I was trying to hit the "ESC" key of the PC keyboard (sitting next to the 360 pad) to go back to the menu. Worth a second look.

Last, I understand producers wanted to underline the legacy to the "Sturmovik" series...but really does not make much sense to keep Sturmovik in the title. Aside, "Birds of Prey" reminded me of an old simulation game I used to play on Amiga. It was great...but definitely too ambitious for that time...

http://www.lemonamiga.com/?mainurl=http%3A//www.lemonamiga.com/games/details.php%3Fid%3D163

On the near future of flight simulation...

Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of IL-2 Sturmovik show some beautiful scenery and plane detail

Cockpit details are amazingly good

Ok, do not panic. It is hard to admit, but it is happening. Finally a console game that looks like it could be called a simulation... The Sturmovik series is heading towards several gaming devices including Nintendo DS and Sony PSP - but we don't really care about those handheld toys :-)...

The main thing for us (us meaning responsible adults who spend a considerable amount of time pretending flying airplanes) is that the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions look really good. And if the previews around the internet are to be considered a serious indicator, they are probably the closest thing to a PC-sim ever.

Sure some compromises have been done, like 100x100km "chunks" of scenery or like some deviations from historical accuracy done for the sake of balancing the difficulty (the latter point has already started some "flame wars" in several forums).

I am still skeptical - but I have to confess it is mainly because I don't like WWII warbirds too much... if we were talking about a Korean or Vietnam wars scenario I would be completely sold on this one.

How will the X360 pad work? What is the actual level of realism? How deep and dynamic will the campaign mode be? Well, as PC simmer I must be skeptical. But, we have to confess that the PC-simulation genre is becoming more an more a "niche" in the videogame world (and it wasn't like that in the good-old-times) and the only interesting things in a while have been Rise of Flight and DCS:Blackshark (both from Eastern Europe like Arma II btw).

Maybe the console user-base can give new momentum to flight simming...

Official IL-2 Sturmovik:Birds of Prey here:

http://www.il2game.com/

PS For those wondering about the F-35...Well, it is coming very nicely but I've got the main landing gear bay completely wrong. I will remake it and then make a wip update.

On the future of Flight Simulation...

There are several uncontrolled rumors about the future of flight simulation - and Flight Simulator specifically. Well, I have no direct contact with Microsoft - so I know what everybody knows...that is Microsoft is surely working on a sequel "of some sort"...
What follows is pure speculation... and some science-fiction.

Rumors are it will be a Live based experience, possibly (also) on Xbox 360. Honestly, I don't know - but it would surprise me. On the other hand, Xbox 360 is a popular platform, that is surely powerful and easy to code for and inexpensive. And, with the exception of IL-2 Sturmovik:Birds of Prey (that seems worth a look) it is surely lacking anything can could be called a "flight simulator" - as I wrote in this older post http://indiafoxtecho.blogspot.com/2009/06/short-round-up-of-xbox360-air-combat.html

But, the Live based experience could be the ground of some interesting implementations... for example:

1. Microsoft could have server with worldwide (possibly photoreal) scenery (think of it as an integrated Tileproxy), so that fixes and additions to the scenery can be done on the fly. This appears to be the only way to manage an extremely large photoreal database (thousands of Gb).
2. In the same way, a server-based deployment of addons could be a great improvement. It could work like this: when you are compliling the flight plan, the simulator tells you that there are relevant sceneries (free and payware) that can be dowloaded if you wish (transactions for payware could be managed via Live) and it can dowload and install them automatically "on the fly".
3. Add-on planes could be managed in the same way - you could type the plane you would like to fly and, if it is not on your computer yet, the simulator can check if it is available for download, then download and install it on your command and manage the transaction if it is payware.
4. Note that all of the above can be managed for payware and freeware - developers should only upload to a server in the proper way. And it does not preclude third parties from managing other servers (think of the same way Vuze browses in different repositories)
5. In case the scenery gets too big to handle for a console, it may be possible to "redesign the game" in such a way that the "action" is concentrated in "chunks" of sceneries (see H.A.W.X. or Flight Unlimited II, say 100 x 100 nautical miles). Long travels could be impossible - still, a lot of common simming activities could be perfomed.
6. All the points above can be achieved on X360, too - the only problem I see being that the 360 has a total of 512Mb of Ram - it can be split at will between code an video ram. Not enough to handle the most complex add-ons.

Well, these were just a couple of ideas... I have really no clue on what Microsoft may be doing. But, I think there some potential in bringing realistic flight simulation to consoles. I just had a look at some previews of Sturmovik for the Xbox and it looks really interesting.

A short round-up of Xbox360 air combat games

Apart from being a FSX simmer and designer, I am also a (relatively avid) gamer. My gaming-addiction severity largely depends on weather and mood, but I think I've played many of the most significant games of the current-generation on PC and Xbox 360.

Now, with the growing rumor of a Microsoft Flight Simulator Live-based game, I just wanted to share my thoughts about the modern air combat games currently available on the Microsoft console. As far as I know, there are only three such games: Over-G Fighters from Namco; Ace Combat 6 from Taito and Tom Clancy H.A.W.X. from Ubisoft. Other WWII air combat games exist, like Blazing Angels 1 and 2 - but I've never played them (and, for some reason, I've never actually liked WWII warbirds).

Let's start saying that none of them can be considered a simulation, even in a loose sense of the word. They are arcade games, and should not be treated as Falcon 4 competitors.

OVER-G FIGHTERS

Over-G Fighters has been the first jet combat game available on the XBox360. It could have been a good game, but it isn't mainly because of the poor graphics and presentation. In terms of game mechanics it is the only one that could be considered vaguely a flight simulation, as it is somewhat similar to F/A-18 Interceptor or JetFighter series. Still, the graphics are really bland and the manga-like briefings are extremely cheesy, apart from being completely out-of-context. Even if dogfights are vaguely realistic, multiplayer tends to be boring as you have to fly a lot over the mediocre scenery before facing an opponent.

Over G Fighter graphics are generally poor - while the aircraft models show some love, the overall look is the one of an average PS2 game upscaled to HD.

In terms of cockpit fidelity, Over G is the best of the bunch. Also, this is the only game on the Xbox360 in which dogfight mechanics could be called realistic.

ACE COMBAT 6

Ace Combat games never tried to be realistic. Fictional countries. Spacecraft-like boss-vehicles. Unlockable sci-fi aiplanes. Unlimited weapons. This is a shoot'em-up dressed like a flight simulation. But it is a good shoot'em-up. Graphics are beautiful, partially due to extremely good filters, frame rate is superb and some of the sceneries are jaw-dropping. The game is fast and fun, provided you can stand the fictional environment and the extreme cheesiness of the useless cutscenes. Multiplayer is chaotic but relatively fun.
For my tastes, this game could have been a lot better with a non-fictional environment and a mission editor. It is a good 3d shooter with some brilliant in-game graphics and a Gundam-like flavour.

Ace Combat has intenal views...but they are not functional and serve no purpose in this game.

Ace Combat 6 visuals are good, and the graphics engine is extemely fast even if the sky is crowded by missiles, planes and explosions...and huge sci-fi boss vehicles.

TOM CLANCY H.A.W.X.

Tom Clancy games on the X360 have been generally good and realistic, like Ghost Recon or Rainbox Six. This is not. This is an Ace Combat clone with real-life photoreal scenery and a fictional (and not really believable) story set in a near future. The only addition to Ace Combat mechanics is the possibility to switch to a "close combat" mode which is disorienting and adds no value to the gameplay. Graphically the game is good, but Ace Combat is better.

What was really disappointing for me was the fact that the Tom Clancy brand was a trademark for quality and realism, so I had (limited) hopes that HAWX could have been a good compromise between realism and fun. It is not. It is just an AC6 clone with the Tom Clancy name attached.

H.A.W.X. cockpit look flat...and they are not much functional to the game mechanics.

H.A.W.X. graphics don't look bad on still pictures... But, in motion, Ace Combat 6 looks definitely better.

IN SUMMARY...

...for my tastes and at the moment I am writing,there is no air combat game worth buying on the Xbox 360. Ace Combat 6 is a competent shooter, spoiled by an extremely cheesy setting. HAWX is an AC6 clone that has nothing to do with the usual realism of the Tom Clancy brand. Over G could have been a good next-gen JetFighter but the execution is poor.

If you like (semi)realistic air combat games, there is nothing worth buying on the Xbox 360 at present. And I have some doubts there will be in future. Save your money for other things.