IL-2 Sturmovik™: 1946

After playing some of it back in a day, I've bought 1946 at a fantastic discount, paying only 2.49 for it. Now, this certainly isn't a bad game at all - it's in a way a history book meets simulator and if you have a knack for this stuff, you're gonna love it. Hell, I am loving it! Unfortunately, it's steep learning curve and usually pretty long missions (30-60 minutes) where you can't save midsession and quit don't work for me for various reasons. If you're a WW2 and plane enthusiast looking for hardcore flight'n'combat experience ready to invest your time, look no further. Game is rich with content and it's missions and modding community are nothing but astonishing. But if you're looking for short bursts of fun or something else, Sturmovik will prove to be frustrating, difficuly and unsatisfactory. It all boils down to what you prefer in the end.

When this title came out, it was like that kind of game that was praised for the quality of it. I always wanted to, but didnt even try, for whatever reason, "i dont have a joystick", "too much keystrokes" .. im not afraid of keystrokes, i worked as a live sound engineer for years and played lot of "keystrokes hungry" games, but perhaps thats why, you get lazy over time ... So i buyed this game, with the expansions, finally, thousands of years after i was aware of his existence, with that question in my mind: "is this the masterpiece it was claim to be?". Short answer: yes. This is the first time that before even tempting to play a game, i watched all the "train" missions (which actually are sort of passive training, like a movie made with the game engine and some simplistic and big subtitles) .. yes, foget about the blabbering with the "honor" and such, no disrespect but no thanks .. putting aside that, is not only that you feel like you are having a sort of brief private lesson about aeronautics and history, a glimpse of the reality of what means to put a bunch of metal in the air with success, all the problems and solutions or workarounds ... with so many details, you find yourself just enjoying watching the (in another game or situation) "boring" passive tutorials, with pleasure ... you can feel how much love and atention to detail is in the game. The level of atention that is more for the "art" than the "profit" if you know what i mean. Of course profit is needed, and deserved, etc etc. Is not the point. This game has put a spell on me, and now i have to buy a HOTAS or it will not let me go. And is not that i never played a 3D ship or speceship before. You know, the ones you are happy and ok with mouse and keyboard. But even if you can, with this game it doesnt feel rigth ... is the Hotas evil knocking on you door to shake your economy, alongside the "you will never abandon this room" gnome behind your back. Beware.

As of 2017: 11 years had passed since the release of the final "IL 2 1946" version in 2006 and 16 years since the first IL 2 game was released in 2001. After all these years this game is not dead yet - it's getting NEW updates from time to time. You read it right - as of August 2017 this 11 year old game is getting updated with new flyable aircraft, new maps, updated plane interiors etc. This is the most complete WWII era flight simulator of all time. The flight model with updated mechanics didn't age at all. ps. Imagine my shock when GOG Galaxy gave me a message that "IL 2 1946 was updated". I thought there was some sort of mistake, but nope - it got a completely new patch with new gameplay options. Pure insanity. Never saw a game that old getting new content for free.

Even today after all these darn years it's still regularly rated in the top 3 of WW2 flight sims and often still best overall/all-time on some site's lists in 2020. And this edition is the whole collection of it. The graphics hold up pretty darn well too and aren't demanding so you can max them out today. Go and watch some youtube reviews. Oh, and buy yourself a joystick.

Simply: Kids, this is not a GAME. This is a true flight simulator. I've been flying computer aircraft for the last 27 years and I have to tell you this is the finest pieces of simulation you are going to find. If what you are looking for is this... don't look further. If you are looking for an "aircraft shoot'em all" don't keep reading and look elsewhere for whatever you may like. This is not. If you are decided to learn, inside this game you'll find a whole lot of finely reproduced aircraft from almost every country involved in WWII. You'll have to deal with stalls, spinst, torque forces, overheated engines, overstressed aircraft... everything is taken into account and will affect you in a more or less deadly form depending of where you are at that given moment. Every aircraft has its charasteristic performances and you will hace to fly it accordingly so here you have an almost endless source of aeronautical experiences. Take off and land both fromland and aircraft carriers... even from the sea if you fly a floatplane. Launch iron bombs, incendiary bombs, rockets, torpedoes... If you are a simulation fanatic, this is your simulator. If you are not, this is not a game so... hands off!. Or you might end up enjoying it.