An Amatures Review of IL2 and the Release Party

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

~S All,

 

Here are some of my observations from the release party last night. I was an invitee without any ties to the game other than Jason graciously extended an offer through the forum when he learned I lived in the area. A big thanks to him. I was just a lottery winner in this one.

 

Firstly there should be a few caveats. I have to admit I haven’t flown online in a few months since a job change. I’ve just been too busy. Secondly, the setup at the event was very different from what I have at home as there was no TrakiR or rudder pedals. The rudder was slaved to the joystick to assist all of the press, who may not have been avid flight simmers, and also to assist the lovely assistants you may have seen in some of the release photos.

 

I spoke to Jason at length before attempting any flying. He is very personable and answered a number of questions. Two of which were primary in my mind, because I fly almost exclusively online, I needed to know; how many aircraft can be in the air at one time online and how many ground objects could we expect. His answers were pretty straight forward.

 

In testing so far he expects to have at least as many aircraft in the air as in RoF and probably in excess of a hundred or so without negatively affecting frame rates. There are many factors but he said no less than RoF - even with the more complicated models. For you mud movers he is acutely aware of the need for massive amounts of ground objects and has faith you will be pleased with the outcome but did not commit to any numbers. He did say they have gotten better at the modeling without sacrificing frame rates and there would be significantly more objects than RoF. He also stressed a couple of times the sim is in an early alpha stage so he couldn’t give any hard numbers yet, just what they have been able to accomplish in testing.

 

As far as the trailer is concerned, it is the sim models CGI’d for film. It is 'wowed up' a bit to get the casual viewer excited. I’m more than a casual viewer and on the big(er) screen it takes your breath away. I think even the rear gunner was just a dolled up model from the sim but I could be wrong. The terrain detail was also bumped up a bit. What I saw in game was a little closer to RoF but still very good. I crashed into some trees on purpose to see how my ride broke up. into lots of pieces after hitting a single tree and spinning into the ground is the answer. I swear I did it on purpose.

 

One of the questions on the forum was, “Is the animation done by the people who did Red Tails?” I can tell you, one of the Dev’s explained it was done by a team in the Ukraine for 1C-777. I think this level of attention to a simple trailer bodes well for the overall development and attention to detail by this team.

 

As to the game:

 

I flew only the Bf 109F4 in a couple of scenarios. For those who lamented the cockpits aren’t as good as CloD let me put those to rest. The cockpits are spectacular. The level of detail is excellent and the sense of movement within the cockpit is excellent as well. Shadows, lighting, movement of the dials and even fine scratches on the glass are affected by movement and external lighting very well. The immersion is as good as that other title. It is the heir apparent to the original IL2 which I have played for over a decade. And make no mistake I liked CloD. I have a decent system and had no real problems running it even at the outset. I think graphically this one it stands it’s ground well.

 

I’m probably not the best one to talk about the physics but I’ll give it a shot. I am a private pilot transitioning to rotorcraft. The sense of flight is there even on a 16" monitor. The F4 felt nice on the controls. She accelerates well and handles well. Immelmanns, aileron rolls, split S, (dammit I forgot to do some snaprolls and I specifically meant to try them going into the event) and loops all felt very good.The lack of inputs was kind of a drag. I normally program my stick for all kinds of functions but there was no trim or rudder available. Remember this is early alpha and dumbed down for the event. So in a dive, as the speed built up, the nose came up (nicely?) and you had to hold her down a bit for straight and level.  In other combat sims you have to constantly fiddle with the trim. It is pretty obvious you will have to keep these beasts trimmed to maximize performace. Again, this seems to bode well for IL2 BoS.

 

Damage:

 

I saddled up behind a flight of Lagg’s and gave a short burst to the left wingman. I saw parts break off as he pulled out of the formation. That was to be expected. What caught me by surprise was I could see which parts were coming off the aircraft – specifically a trim tab separating from the aileron which went under my wing. Secondly, there was an obvious difference between the glycol stream and the smoke trail from the stricken aircraft. Each time I engaged an aircraft the result was satisfyingly different. The difference between types of smoke and fluid trails, however, is what really stood out to me.

 

I watched someone else attack ground objects. The level of detail at altitude was excellent. Even without the icons I could see he was shooting at several katyusha lorries. His ground strikes were obvious and so were his impacts. I’m not much of a mud mover so I’m sorry, I don’t recall the damage or effects as he hit them. Did I mention the rum drinks were free?

 

 

This is what stood out to me as a first impression. I’m sure I’m missing something but overall the game gave a very good account of itself. It is not finished yet but has certainly captured my fancy and it's potential is obvious.

 

 

Bonus:

 

On a side note, I brought the wife as well. She is a techie/engineer in silicon valley but not a simmer. She and Jason had an extended conversation on the technical aspects of online play and she didn’t get bored while my eyes, on the other hand, nearly glazed over. Most importantly the event, and probably that trailer got me over the hump, and I will be the proud new owner of a TM Warthog when this thing releases. Thanks honey

 

 

My pre-order of IL2 Battle of Stalingrad Premium was completed today without any hesitation for obvious reasons.

 

 

Horrido!

 

HerrMurf

Edited July 27, 2013 by HerrMurf

[[JG54]Vyper]

Nice review, thanks. Gonna post this in the squad forums. 

[150GCT_Veltro]

Thank you very much!

[=BKHZ=Furbs]

Thanks very much for the write up.

 

Couple of questions...

 

Were tracers in the version you saw and what did you of them?

 

Any fire affects?

 

How did the UI look?

 

Cheers.

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

I knew I forgot something. The UI is VERY RoF on the face of it but was only a couple of screens deep - aircraft and mission I believe. I honestly don't recall tracers or effects much as I previously mentioned watching someone else on a straffing run.

 

A second omit was the level of detail in Stalingrad itself. The number of individual landmarks and structures looked very good in the press demo. The overall map is huge too. The level bomber boys have some extensive terrain to bore themselves to death with. Happy navigating

Edited July 27, 2013 by HerrMurf

[=BKHZ=Furbs]

Dam them free drinks!

 

Cheers for the reply!

[JtD]

Thanks for sharing.

[Uufflakke]

Thanx HerrMurf for taking the time to write down your experience with BoS for us.

 

As a picture says more than a thousand words I'm waiting impatiently for the video Hooves made during the event last Thursday.

 

[hiro]

thanks

[71st_AH_Hooves]

Very good review Murf, for what its worth I agree 100% with the things you checked out.    And now I am home, and against my better judgement, and the clock, I am uploading and starting to edit some of the footage!  A Flight simmers work is never done i tell you!

Thanx HerrMurf for taking the time to write down your experience with BoS for us.

 

As a picture says more than a thousand words I'm waiting impatiently for the video Hooves made during the event last Thursday.

 

Is it just me? Or does it look like Aborted just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar?  lol

Edited July 27, 2013 by Hooves

[71st_AH_Mastiff]

Thanks HerrMurf, So that was your wife. lol Why you so shy? Not to say who you were?

[Hunziker]

That is a great mini review.

Many  thanks for sharing your impressions.

 

A quick question if that's ok??

Could I just ask about level of detail air to air between you and an opponent

ie  can you spot other aircraft reasonably when dogfighting/on the hunt. Are they indistinct blobs or can you really see the distances mentioned by the devs?(40km I think-may be wrong)

 

I have terrible difficulty sometimes in CLOD for instance spotting the enemy.

 

 

Thanks,

Hunziker

[FlatSpinMan]

Nice natural impression, HerrMurf. Thanks a lot.

Did there seem to be a lot of ground objects in the attack on the katyushas?

 

I loved the line about the lever bomber pilots, BTW.

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

The level of detail is excellent and the aircraft don't suddenly snap in. The LOD develops very naturally. I only had fifteen minutes or so of flight and I didn't let anyone I was engaging get more than 6-7k away. 40k is a very long ways off. As a real world pilot I find it very difficult to locate light aircraft at more than 5-7 miles in real life if they are co-alt or lower against ground clutter. You can spot a heavy at greater distances but even a 737 at 15 miles on final would take a bit of skill as it's only a few "pixels" in a daytime sky. Without the landing lights it would be a challenge if you were anything other than straight and level. Most of the time when the tower calls one out on a 12 mile final I don't scan very hard for it anyway. I don't stay in the flight path long enough for it to be a concern.

 

As to the amount of ground objects I only watched someone else moving mud. There were six, or so, katyushas and I'd guess he started his attack run at about 2500'. It was very easy to see the mottled gray vehicles against the mottled white background. Not un-naturally mind you. If you weren't looking for them you could overfly them with ease. Requiem's post states he observed a number of vehicles including tanks and katyushas. Might want to ask him some of these Q's as well.

 

And I always had in the back of my mind, this is very early in the development. So, I wasn't concerned with numbers, just quality. Thus far I think it's in good shape.

[Bando]

Thx! Looks very promising  :-)

[Hunziker]

Thankyou for your insights and your thoughtful responses to my queries.

 

I really appreciate it - especially about your commercial pilot experiences.

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

Only a private pilot but thanks for the promotion

[J4SCrisZeri]

All your posts are very interesting sirs, thank you so much. They're useful to keep the monkey on my back calm until autumn.

I've been reading tons of impressions and comments, watching movies. I was hoping to see more ground attacks, mud and tracers (expecially tracers and their effects/physics), and more hit/damage stuff, but still, your vcontributions are great. Lucky you for partecipating to the event!

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

You must remember, and clearly some on FB do not, this was an early/pre-alpha demo. So many elements were not implemented, not fully implemented, or simply placeholders. That being said, however, I think the game is in excellent hands. I don't recall the tracers being particularly good or bad. One of the other reviews may mention it. I did pile some rounds into the snow to see the effects and it was pretty convincing. You could see the dirt come to the surface below the snow and the impacts seemed realistic. I understand there will be improvements to particles, mist, weather and such by the time it is released.