By Chris ‘ spiros za’ Hartley
Overview
To fly or not to fly, that is the question that you will ask yourself when looking at the cover of this game…
The cover is easy on the eyes and makes it look like an awesome game to play ( sales gimmick I suppose ) and it will probably work too. I picked this game up thinking about when was the last time I played a flying game and why not give it a go since it looks so good on the cover. ( Jip, sales gimmick worked…) Before I actually played the game I got an AV8tor flight stick by Siatek ( Complete different story that but will elaborate a bit later on the product itself. ) to enjoy the game as it’s supposed to be, but I couldn’t wait so I played a couple of hours with a standard control.
Features and Game play
Right, first impressions. I started off by doing the tutorials and just getting to know the game and controls. Using the flight stick for this was fairly easy compared to the control pad. Graphics was ok. Obviously being a flying game, graphics was more concentrated on the details of the planes and clouds and the cock pit. The attention to detail in the cockpit is amazing, you really get the feel of an WW2 fighter plane. When you get hit by bullets you can see exterior damage and it will affect the control of your plane. The landscape from up high looks great, the English country side looks like and English country side with it’s little towns and patches of different greens, but when you get down to the deck it gets a bit grainy and looked to be rushed. I will admit that the water in the game ( ocean, lakes and rivers ) looked really good with the sun reflecting of it and depending on your angle and how low you are, the sun will actually reflect and blind you momentarily! Another great detail added was in dogfights. When you’re chasing an enemy down and you’ve clipped the engine or wing, smoke and oil will cover your view with black soot and oil from the enemy.
Moving on to gameplay. The tutorial will guide you into how to use your controls, different manoeuvres in combat ( loops, barrel rolls etc ) giving your squad orders ( will go into that topic just now ) and how to use your bomb reticule. There are 3 different types of flying. There is arcade mode, this is suited for everyone and really easy to use, you can fly like a bat out of hell and you wont stall or spin, just don’t point your nose down and go crashing into the ground, you will burn.
Then there is realistic mode, this is much more trickier and keeping control of your plane gets harder. You cannot roll 90 degrees and pull back on your stick to do a hard turn at 10G’s, nope, you WILL stall and spin. Getting out of a spin is also tricky in this mode. You have to turn into the spin, full throttle and eventually point your nose down and then pull back slowly, anything under 400ft and your done for. An interesting note here, when firing your guns and cannons you will notice your plane judder gently from side to side because of the recoil. Again, I point out to the graphic detail of the plane.
Then finally there is simulator mode. Now, if you don’t have a pilot license of sort or less than 500 hours on a flight simulator DO NOT EVEN TRY THIS!!! It is insanely difficult. Every move you make needs a gentle counter move to keep the plane balanced. I did the tutorial flight and it took me near an hour to complete! The recoil greatly affects your flight path, you can only fly in cockpit view and your hands are so busy on the controls that you forget to shoot at the enemy! If you go into a spin, forget what you learnt in the realistic tutorial, it wont work.
When you finally move onto missions you can use your squad members to help you. There are 3 different orders you can use, and you can select one member or the whole squad. You can order them to engage an enemy, cover you and to stay in formation ( for what I don’t know… ) Missions are disappointingly short, they range from 5 minutes to about 20 minutes. When you complete missions you will unlock new planes, manoeuvre tactics, pilots, new missions for single player campaign ( these missions are outside of the game story and just add to over all game length. ) and “encyclopedia” content. This is just basically historical events, plane facts etc. The game took me about 5 hours to complete and I felt a bit unsatisfied , even with doing all the unlocked missions, in short, it was boring.
Then I discovered the multiplayer. Now that is fun. There are 4 different game modes.
Dogfight- this is awesome. It’s all out man alone carnage and will test your skills and reflexes to the limits when facing off against other players.
Strike – This is a team based game and the object is to bomb the oppositions base. 1 or 2 of your team mates should take a bomber and the rest fighter planes. You will have to either protect your team bomber or hope your team can protect your slow moving lug. Your bomber is not completely vulnerable. It also has cannons for your use and a nifty view that you can go into and use your turrets to shoot behind you.
Capture – This mode is basically a “capture the flag” game. The catch is though is that you have to physically land your plane on the enemy base and wait for the flag to be captured, you are an easy target and a sitting duck and again, you hope your team mates are doing their job by protecting you while you’re down there. Not really a fun mode to play.
Team battle – Dogfight in team mode. This was actually quite fun. You can communicate with your team mates, form a group and obliterate some lone ranger that thinks he’s an ace.
The other really nice thing is that I experienced no lag when joining an online game in the States, my bullets hit when it was supposed to and my plane followed enemies like a hound without any issues. I asked the guys on the other team after a game if they had difficulty shooting or following me because of possible lag and everyone replied nope, no problems.
As you gain experience in online battles you will also unlock new weapons that you can fit to your plane in online play, you can even change the paint scheme for a fully customised plane!
Personally, I found the story mode part of the game really boring and repetitive. The multiplayer mode makes up for that and more. If you are looking for a good flying MP game, this is it. Dont expect much from the story mode. I think the developers really did a bang up job with the MP mode, it’s fun, exhilarating, fast and definitely not repetitive!
On a short note for the Game Score hoarders, this game is really stingy. Completing the game in arcade mode will give you no more than 200GS. MP will unlock a few achievements and should bring the total up to around 500 to 600.
This game is best played with the AV8-tor flight stick. It is a very comfortable joystick and is suitable for both lefties and right handed. The button layout is easy to remember and recognisable to other joysticks. What made it such a pleasure to play with was the throttle and the ability to use your rudder and yaw in one hand. On your normal control you’ll be using RT ( XBOX 360 ) and R2 ( PS ) for throttle and you’ll have to keep pushing it in and out to speed up and speed down. On the joystick you can push it to say 80% and it stays there. Controlling the rudder and yaw is just as easy, on the XBOX and PS control you’ll be using your 2 sticks and on the joystick it’s just a question of a twist of the wrist. The joystick can twist the rudder up to 15 degrees either way. In all, I’d recommend using the joystick not just because it’s fun but it’s makes it a lot easier as well. You can pick them up from Saitek SA for R626,00 excl delivery. Their website is www.cometcomputing.co.za.
Bits I Loved
- The multiplayer is awesome fun.
- Attention to detail on the planes are impeccable.
- Good all round graphics
- Dogfights over war torn Europe and Russia enough said….
- Selection of planes available for multiplayer and the customisation
Bits I Hated
- Story mode can be boring and feels more like a chore to play.
- It can get a bit repetitive
- Simulation mode is impossible to master let alone get it right.
- Difficult to play with normal control, it kind of forces you to buy a flight stick.
Conclusion
That’s it. If you are unsure about buying this game or hesitant there is a downloadable demo on XBOX LIVE and the PSN network for free. But be warned, this game is more realistic in its approach than Tom Clancy’s HAWX.
Link to site for more info, screen shots and videos: IL2 – Sturmovik
