Just came across these so I thought I would share incase anyone hadn't seen them:

http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/1425...mbat_61509.html

http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/1425...ler_060608.html

Not on the Wii, si I'll have to steal the daughter's DS to play it....

Got Il-2 on PC and it's awesome but this, cor........

This looks pretty good.
I've also got IL-2(the original) on my PC,just shot down my 71st kill,a LaGG 3, tonight.

Mark

I've got the original on PC, but I've been following the progress of this, seeing as my XBox and PS3 are far more powerful than my laptop.

It looks awesome, but certainly in simulation mode I think it will be restricted by having to use a controller instead of a joystick/keyboard combo.

anybody got a complete list of 'unusual' paint jobs on the pc version? The only one I can remember off hand is an Il-2 in Canadian Snowbirds colour scheme (my default camo!)

Hi
I hope this is for PC as well as I can't get to grips with the game controllers, much prefer the joystick. Any idea when, think we've been waiting for this for a long time now
Regards
Paul

Has anyone downloaded and played the demo of this yet? I had a very quick go yesterday.

It looks stunning (though they've got the wrong colour scheme on the Spitfire).

Controls take a little getting used to, but it's really easy to fly in arcade mode. Realistic and Simulation are much more difficult. I've ordered myself a Flightstick for the XBox360.

EDIT: Release date is 4th September

And also coming soon to the PS3 I want it.

I very much doubt that as we already have 1946 for the PC. The next update for that should be impressive.


BOB from the same folk coming out next year is something to look forward too.

I have the original for the pc and I have 1946 expanded version as well. Both are cool games to play but that looks sweet. I just wish I could get my "European Air War" game to play on this computer I have now, for some reason it won't take.I know it's an older game,still can't get it to go.



Pete

Yes I have to and it is not bad, its obviously dumbed down control wise but the graphics and speed are superb, look around i'snt there, neither flaps etc and unless you reduce the control settings that are set at max its a bit twitchy and easily stallable, odd that, if your trying to sell a demo to your punters, why put the controls on their hardest settings..............

but yes thinking of getting it of the old xbox here too

Did IL2 to death and skinned for it as well, over 30,000 downloads before i gave up.

You can look around. You need to press down and hold one of the sticks (right one I think).

Flaps and trim are only there if you set the game to simulation mode.

I've played it a lot with the flightstick now and It's so much better than using the gamepad.

I'll have to download the demo from Xbox Live sometime today. I usually prefer the "serious" flightsims and not the stuff you get on consoles, but I have to admit I really enjoyed Ace Combat 6 on the 360, if nothing else for the amazing graphics and excellent cinematic replays at the end of each mission

Quick question for anyone who is using it with a joystick - do you have to buy an Xbox 360-specific joystick, or can you use a USB joystick from a PC? I ask because I have a Saitek X52 Pro, and I don't really want to shell out more money for an Xbox joystick.

You have to use an Xbox specific one. There's two you can choose from:

Saitek Aviator You'll get one of these for around £30. It's way better than using the control pad, but doesn't offer force-feedback or even vibration.

Hori flight stick You'll have to import one for about $300. It's a proper stick with seperate throttle and force-feedback (so I'm told).

Playstation 3 demo is out today, so I'll be downloading that and comparing it to the 360 version this evening.

I downloaded the demo from Xbox Live a couple of days ago and I'm not so sure...

From what I've read Birds of Prey is supposed to be the first "proper" flight sim on a console, so I had high hopes. The demo features two missions - one flying a Spitfire intercepting a large He 111 raid over Dover during the Battle of Britain, and the other flying a P-51D on ground attack mission during the Battle of the Bulge.

First of all you have to complete the missions in "arcade" mode first before you can unlock "Realistic" and "Simulation" modes. The arcade mode is ridiculuously easy - in the Spitfire mission I shot down 23 Heinkels in a matter of minutes. When you engage WEP (War Emergency Power) on the P-51D the thing accelerates like a Eurofighter! The other thing I noticed was the BoB Spitfire in the game is a MkV. Anyway, I persevered and immediately re-flew the missions in simulation mode, and it was still too easy - the Heinkels all fell too easily to machine gun fire, I could still hear overly dramatic German radio calls (maybe I had the electronic warfare version of the Spit?) and the whole experience was still too much "arcade" for my taste. The missions themselves are also too arcade - shoot down eight Heinkels, and then three Stukas.... blow up these eight artillery pieces, then these six Tigers, and finally two trains.

I've played the IL-2 series since it's original release all those years ago, and I've owned every incarnation - IL-2, Forgotten Battles, Ace Expansion, Pacific Fighters, and 1946 - and the new console version does not stay faithful to the PC version. It's kind of disappointing seeing as the IL-2 series was always well known for it's attention to historical details and accuracy.

I was probably expecting too much from this... it's been dumbed down and concessions made for gameplay when compared to the PC version. It's fun for a while, but ultimately left me (as an avid flight simulation fan for many years) disappointed. On the plus side though, the graphics are very nice, and the terrain is the best I have ever seen in a flight simulation, albeit at the cost of visual range, which is extremely limited to keep the framerate high.


Anyone here who still plays the PC version of IL-2 I would suggest you check out the new mods for this sim if you haven't already done so.... for many years the IL-2 series was not mod-friendly, the developers locking away the aircraft, scenery, etc in encrypted files. Someone managed to break the encryption a while back and there has been some awesome mods made for the sim. There are now loads of new flyable aircraft.... Spitfire MkI (FINALLY!), Spit VIII, Spit XII, Spit XIV, Typhoon I, Hurri IID to name just a few. There are also lots of new maps including a proper Channel map so we can now fly BoB missions in the proper setting at last. As I write this I am just downloading a new campaign where you fly a Mossie from Malta on night intruder missions over Sicily

Anyone played this on PS3 yet??

Paul

I followed the development of IL2 Birds of Prey all the way through from its first announcement, unfortunately what promised so much has really delivered so little that I expected or wanted in the transition to consoles. Whilst I accepted the lack of available control options that the Console version would overcome , the complete ommision of German cockpits in any of the flyable German aircraft is in my view completey unforgivable and 100 % confirmed I will be saving my hard earned cash, that aside I felt the demo was far more arcade than simulation (even on 'Simulation' difficulty). Cannon armed Spits in the Battle of Britain, P-51 with a P-47 cockpit, Hurricanes carrying 30 bombs, etc etc.

Basically I wanted 1946 on the Console, hell I'd have been happy with the original IL2 Sturmovik on the console , but I haven't seen enough to warrant a purchase yet. Personally I'm waiting to see what the devs do to address the issues I've mentioned before I re-consider. A great step in the right direction for consoles, but I fear it would just gather dust on my shelf right now.

J

nope but there's a demo on the playstation store that i'll d/l today

I've got it, and i think its great! So what if its not a simulator, thats what PC's are for! It also scored 9/10 in the Official Playstation Magazine.

Adam

Cheers Adam - might just have to invest in it

Yeh see what your saying about sims on PS3 -just imagine the amount of key combo's - am currently trying to master Falcon 4.0 on the PC and that takes some key combo's!!!


Paul

If you're serious about flight sims it's always worth investing in a decent flight stick and throttle. The Saitek X52 is pretty good, the X52 Pro is even better (more expensive too) and you can assign a mind-boggling number of commands or key-strokes to the plethora of buttons and switches on these sticks, so you don't have to take your hands off the controls when you're being shot at - just like the real thing! I remember reading a real F-16 pilot once saying guys who fly aircraft with HOTAS controls soon develop the manual dexterity of a piccolo player

I bought it for Xbox version after playing the PS3 demo version and noticing screen-tear that wasn't present on the Xbox demo.

I agree that it isn't as simulator as I would like and it has been dumbed-down for the consoles, but I don't have a decent PC and it's the closest thing to a console flight sim!

I've been frequenting the official forum for the game and the devs are hoping to patch-in the German cockpits.

Got the X52 pro and yes not only do you have a plethora of buttons on the keyboard you have more on the stick lol - my fav button at the moment is key 'p' for pause!!!!

Paul

Hehehehe yeah Falcon 4 is a bit of a beast. What version are you playing? I had a pretty good Korea 2005 campaign from Free Falcon 5 going on. I think I was at day 3 of the campaign, flying the F-16CJ mostly on SEAD and fighter sweep missions. Allied forces had just about managed to knock out most of the high altitude SAM sites around Pyongyang and clear the skies of DPRK fighters. I was just starting to see the heavy stuff like B-52s and B-1Bs (even a B-2 I think) starting to head north... then my laptop died and I never got the chance to save the campaigh files. Quite a shame really as I had 12 kills! I was having a lot of fun baiting SA-2 and SA-3 sites, and then dodging the flying telephone poles, before loosing off a HARM (or maybe tossing some CBUs at the site if I was feeling lucky) before flying a fighter sweep on the way home, taking out any DPRK aircraft I could find.

On one mission on the way home I came across a number of DPRK A-5s so I thought "Hmmm, easy meat!" and off I went.... The A-5s managed to fly low enough to avoid most of my AMRAAMS, so I was forced to get down low and fast, chasing them down with Sidewinders and guns On another mission I was flying BAI and the target was a mechanised column moving up to the front lines. My flight managed to drop a load of CBU-97s on them from medium altitude, but I made a bit of a cock up and got too low after my dive bombing... putting me right in the envelope of the MANPADs.... one of them exploded very near to me and I had to nurse my crippled F-16 back to friendly territory. The fly by wire was knackered and I didn't have a hope in hell of landing it in one piece, so I did the honourable thing and made a Martin Baker exit

Considering the original Falcon 4 came out way back in 1998 it just goes to show how good the basic platform was. The continued development by the community over the years has meant it is still the top dog if you want a proper modern jet fighter sim.


Back to IL-2 Birds of Prey - I had another go at the BoB mission in the demo last night and I'm still unimpressed. The "feel" of the flight model simply doesn't match that of the PC version, but maybe that's because I was flying with the Xbox gamepad. The damage modelling doesn't seem to be much cop either - I made all my attacks on the Heinkels from the 6 o'clock position, slightly above... in the PC version this would be tantamount to suicide, and you would find yourself with a faceful of bullets from the defensive gunners. A short burst of fire from the Spit resulted in all the Heinkels losing a wing and going down in the same way. This seems to be far more simplistic than the PC version where the part of the enemy aircraft you hit will determine what damage you do. I also noticed the radio calls mentioned "Heinkel Elevens!"

Bottom line is this is a typical console release - a GAME aimed at the mass market without the fidelity or attention to historical detail that the original PC version had.

It's a shame really as I had high hopes it would be the first proper flight sim on a console.