I first played IL-2 Sturmovik a few months after it first released in 2001. After cutting our teeth on Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator and buying elaborate new flight sticks, my friends and I set up our computers in my basement, installed the game, and launched into our first mission. We set everything to be as realistic as possible - take-offs, landings, even random engine failures. After a few botched launches after which we restarted, all three of us were off the ground, on a bombing run on what I remember to be a fleet of battle cruisers. After flying, in real-time, for more than 45 minutes to our target, we saw the ships down beneath the clouds. We dove towards them, and unleashed our payload. We didn't quite hit it right - a few of the ships survived - and that's when things got interesting. Not only were the surviving ships firing on us with anti-aircraft cannons, but they scrambled their fighters. We turned and flew for the horizon, hoping to make it out of their range. We flew hard and fast, and were running low on fuel, but there! In the distance! The airstrip! We had made it! Mission complete! And then my engine flamed out and I crashed just short of the runway. :( That was only the first of many, many nights lost in the game, though. Not only is the game incredibly fleshed out and deep, but it can be as realistic or arcade-y (almost) as you'd like. If you own a joystick, you owe it to yourself to give IL-2 Sturmovik a try.
