Wow...

[Pizzicato]

Just wanted to take a moment to say how impressed I am by the current state of Il-2.

I bought BoS, BoM and BoK while they were pre-orders, dabbled with each of them briefly, but never really stuck with them. I've always been a bit more a DCS, modern aircraft, clickable-cockpits kind of flight-simmer, and the Great Battles series never really clicked with me. I think I was particularly put off by the initial super-gamey implementation of the campaign, and the rigid "fakeness" of the "Action Zones" or whatever they were called.

Turns out I've been sleeping on an absolute gem, though. Il-2 has evolved massively over the past few years. There's just so much to love:
 

• The overall presentation feels really slick and coherent
• The aircraft are a joy to fly, and feel wonderfully believable
• The various maps are stunningly beautiful, and the lighting is particularly impressive
• The clouds are incredibly convincing, and the moisture effect when flying through them is a work of art
• The damage models and gun/impact/explosion/smoke/vapour effects are massively satisfying
• The difficulty level feels perfectly pitched (for me, at least)
• The AI works just fine. Not mindblowingly ground-breaking, but it does the job really well.
• The optimisation is amazing. Flying in VR is a smooth-as-silk joy.
• That hard-to-articulate sense of "being there" and losing yourself in the fantasy is really strong

 

I'm sure there are there are plenty of shortcomings if you dig deeper into the experience, but after two scripted campaigns and ~20 career missions, I'm absolutely loving what Il-2 has become.

 

Amazing work, guys. ?

 

[ShamrockOneFive]

It took some time but the devs have really delivered on a fantastic series with each major release strengthening the last. Glad to hear that IL-2 is going so well for you now! I remember the early days and it had tons of potential... thankfully it's had a chance to be realized!

[Tonester]

Yep...she is flawed...no doubt...but she is beautiful...i think the developers are doing a sterling job!