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IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad
Released On: Aug 14, 2014
74
6.1
All Platforms
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
74
43% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
57% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
74
43% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
57% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Last chapter of the famous series IL-2 Sturmovik, Battle of Stalingrad is an hardcore flight simulator during WWII, visually stunning and able to push the genre to new levels of realism and fidelity.
It's a game suited for veterans (no tutorial whatsoever), and the realism is all it cares about. If you're into historic combat flight simulator, you should really consider buying.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 279 User Ratings
6.1
53% Positive
147 Ratings
147 Ratings
13% Mixed
35 Ratings
35 Ratings
35% Negative
97 Ratings
97 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 279 User Ratings
6.1
53% Positive
147 Ratings
147 Ratings
13% Mixed
35 Ratings
35 Ratings
35% Negative
97 Ratings
97 Ratings
Updated 2023:
Game has come a long way since my initial review. It's definitely worth playing now and feels like a true successor to the original IL2. Shame they can't implement 4 engine bombers, but maybe the next iteration will.
Multiplayer is where it's at.
Original Review:
I've played flight sims all my life, ranging all the way back to my parents Packard Bell with Microprose's Flying Fortress, Lucasart's WWII additions, all the way through all of the Jane's games, Falcon 4.0, and the IL2 series. You name it and I've probably played **** long as it was categorized as a "simulation".
When I first heard BoS being marketed as the true simulation replacement to IL2:1946s I got excited. 1946s was dying out as the game was so old and was no longer attracting any new blood...this was exactly what we needed, a new game! I was one of the early adopters and jumped right into the "alpha premium" just to be able to fly this "future of flight sims" game. While I was happy with what I saw at first I was quickly brought back in reality once the development continued.
I'm not going to get into any of the forum drama or anything of that sort, but my main problem was that the Devs didn't seem to listen to what their early adopters/playerbase were wanting and expecting out of the game. They had their own ideas and were sticking to them. Hardcore sim fan? Sorry, you're not our target audience.
Everything seems dumbed down and really does remind me of IL2:Birds of Prey (which I could not stand). While pretty it just didn't seem real at all and seemed to throw out all that made IL2:1946 so good and fun. I am in no way talking about the lack of maps/planes but more of a focus shift from individual plane components to what now seems like an overall "plane". I'll compare it to some car racing games that use green bars that have static performance levels for easy interpretation rather than relying on the skill of the driver. Don't even get me started on the FW190...
The game is gorgeous but unfortunately is still plagued by the DX9 "plateau" that some developers can't seem to get past. The flight models seem a little wonky and I can't understand why the pitch input in the axis planes seems to "wander" after input (regardless of speed) where as the russian planes do not have this issue. This makes gunnery/overall flight aggravating since I don't remember seeing this input in any other game series (DCS and Cliffs of Dover don't suffer from this)
All in all I was utterly disappointed by the game. I may check back in a year or two to see if things have improved, but for right now...there are MUCH better games out there if you are looking for a true flight sim experience. If you're looking for a step up/above from War Thunder then BoS may be for you.
I give this game a solid 4.0. It's pretty, the sounds are awesome, and it has **** the devs come off as hostile/apathetic and I just don't have any patience for that. I wish them good luck!
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PC
IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad is really good and provides lots of fun as long as you have the required dedication to exploit its potential.
Il-2: Battle of Stalingrad boldly seeks to renew the genre by adding modern game design elements to the admittedly often sterile genre of flight simulators. Unfortunately not only does the bold attempt fail spectacularly, the developers also seem to have completely forgotten what made the original Il-2 a legend. The Rise of Flight legacy shows in the rather impressive visuals and physics modeling, but strangely a lot of its nice features didn't make the cut either and the “sequel” falls short of its predecessor in many ways. [June 2015]
The excellent handling and the immense realism that Battle of Stalingrad offers, manages to balance out the poor single player campaign and some of its design flaws.
The lack of content and generous helping of bugs can be easily forgiven thanks to the developer's high reputation. [Feb 2015, p.16]
When a toothless campaign and the restrictive unlock policy are the only real problems a new Sturmovik has, sim fans know they're not making a mistake in picking this up.
The only thing stopping me giving this a 9 or 10 is the lack of planes. People should note that this game still has the coolest flight model, far above all other simulators for the feeling of flight. I have played them all
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PC
I've been an early access member of the IL2:BoS flight sim since the beginning. I wholeheartedly jumped in based upon my previous experience with 777 Studios' Rise of Flight game. It was a product I greatly enjoyed and despite some short falls they weren't anything that affected my enjoyment of the game. Eventually a decent campaign system was released and I was a relatively happy camper. So when 777 Studios was tasked with creating the next iteration of the venerable IL2 I was confident I'd get a quality product that would provide years of entertainment.
Where do I begin with this game? Well the obvious is the graphics. It's the first thing you notice and for the most part they look satisfactory to very good. I'm not fond of the **** but find that the atmosphere effects and ground details are pretty nice.
Flight models? They are very functional and remove my disbelief enough so that I CAN imagine I'm flying a LaGG 3 on the western front. Most of the sounds are excellent, but as has been noted on several posts, the hit sounds of bullets striking your craft are inconsistent. Plane engines all sound realistic. Subtle things like the sounds of brake pistons and canopy hatches add to the realism.
AI is a mixed bag. I don't consider my talent to be expert flyer/marksmen so I do get a challenge from the fighters, but not so much the bombers. Take it for what you will. AI is subjective and one man's hard may be another's easy.
Where I fault the game (and it is a big fault because I'm a single player) is the campaign. I feel the game is Head and Shoulders above others because the it feels like the campaign has me applying, lathering, rinsing, and repeating over and over again. The campaign generator is just that, but instead of in-depth, living, breathing missions I get quick missions with three access points and minimal enemy interaction. The runways are thread bare and lifeless. I lead a flight of four and intercept two 111s and maybe one or two 109. Go home, land, and do it all over again.
I can live with the unlocks, though I hope they don't continue this trend on further releases.
There have been numerous ideas on the IL2:BoS forum where improvements can be made and I hope 1C/777 look into them.
There is no mission editor yet and I hope that when it's released the community will get the plethora of user made campaigns we enjoyed in the original IL2. We'll see. Originally 777 wasn't going to release it at all but after community uproar they changed their mind. We'll see.
My personal and final grade would be a 6. The campaign really does affect my desire to play and as it is I only fire up IL2:BoS a few times a week. I longingly look at my Track IR and CH Products HOTAS and just say, "Naw. I'm not interested." So much is good to very good, and my SIX is a subjective grade, so I rate it based on my likes and how they affect my desire to play.
My NUMBERED Metacritic grade is 7. I'd like to see if 777 takes the opinions and desires of the community and improves on the good solid base of this game to the status of the original IL2.
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PC
hello, not sure i d buy this game again. bads and goods version 3.01
-there is good things that fan boys tell you so i ll talk about what they dont feel important you to know
-good graphics if you got powerful system, 3G vram or less wont, if you can even start the game
-lower graphic setting from high to medium can make game ugly very fast, specially clouds, and shimmering, without giving good performance boost.
-many new player complaint cause game crash, not start etc...
-need internet connected to play single player career,
-after a mission done you can have a message internet failed and your stats does nt count
-even with walk around, some user got in game stutters with card as 980 and stronger
-even if good fps, clouds often stutters (like 1 fps) immersion breaker
-planes in front of clouds are often barely visible, look like 800 x 600 resolution (z-buffer thing
problem) only sim i know with this problem, since long time they say it may stay like that, not realistic
-SP flight leader wont wait for you and you may have to fly combat power all the time
-saw some reports ai take some much time to take off, that flight leader doe s nt have enough fuel for all the mission because the waiting
-fighters flight don t use formation , for a sim, it is not realistic, 1946 and COD do better
-almost no communication between leader and wingman, or what it is said is useless, again 1946 and COD you have many option to communicate with AI,it is less realistic than older games, again
-
-track ir, open track problem in update 3.01, many got the problem just right after the update, the
tread on forum got around 2000 view and Dev keep saying they did nt do this
-critics on forum are welcome if you also say you like the game, dev works hard, you like them
etc.. go see by yourself if i m lying
-veterans on forum are fast to say to new guy s to stop talking about something already discuss by
them years ago, but new guys with problem thread are not very popular, again see your self on the
forum
-i just talked about few problems from many others i remember just now, i think a part of the problem is they listen too much a group a few people who play online and it s not representing the majority who play alone in peace at home after work or else, i really wish you go on their forum, you ll learn a lot about the game .
i do play the sim with a free 3rd party campaign generator , PWCG so i can make use of almost the 200$ spent in this game, i dont say i regret but i live in the hope they will fix things, last update is a big disappointment for that, i m lucky i can play it, i seen comments that people leave the game a time in hope the game will be fixed and they will be able to login ... well they have more patience than me.
I really hope they slow down with the rig with the new theaters, it s time to stop, adjust and fix everything that a consider the basics, AI behaviors , AI communication , missions correctly done graphic optimization etc.. only way to me to be the best and stay in business for always
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PC
Summary IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad is the continuation of the legendary IL-2 Sturmovik series that has set the standard for PC combat flight games for more than ten years. This new entry into the series offers virtual pilots an even more accurate simulation of the most famous air battles of World War II.
Rated T
for Teen
Platforms:
- PC
Initial Release Date: Aug 14, 2014
Developer:
- 1C Game Studios
Publisher: 1C Game Studios
Genres:
