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Il-2 Sturmovik

Though I had not reviewed Il-2 Sturmovik, I made it a point to play that game before reviewing Combat Flight Simulator 3. A brief familiarization with the game turned into a long-term love affair, despite the flaws that were clearly present and highlighted in nearly every review Il-2 had received. The excellent flight, weapons and damage models made for the best flight sim on the market, helping overcome an extremely weak series of static campaigns.

A Heinkelling we will go

So beautiful

Gah, damn AAA

Il-2: Forgotten Battles was originally scheduled as an expansion pack but as features and costs mounted, it was re-labeled as a sequel. This is where the difficulty of reviewing IL-2: FB comes in; for the traditional definition of a sequel, it simply doesn’t offer enough. A better approach to marketing Forgotten Battles would be to call it a stand-alone expansion, in the vein of Homeworld: Cataclysm. Perhaps an exercise in fancy wordplay, yet it would not be as misleading to fans as calling the game a true sequel.

What’s old

Two main points hamper FB’s status as a true sequel. The first is simple: little is new. There are a few more maps, a few more aircraft, a new engine management system, and a dynamic campaign. The second reason is implicit in the first – since this so-called sequel contains everything that Sturmovik had, there is no reason to buy the first. This is a semi-minor point with both good and bad consequences for Forgotten Battles. The bad is that anyone picking up Sturmovik and Forgotten Battles is going to feel conned, as he would not if he bought Baldur’s Gate I and II, or FreeSpace 1 and 2. The good, of course, is that someone who buys just Forgotten Battles gets pretty much the whole package and doesn’t need to invest in the earlier title.

0wn3d

Must... aim... torpedoes

Holy mother of

Naturally this leaves just one question remaining – is there enough in Forgotten Battles to make Sturmovik owners pony up full-game price for a title they already own half of? It’s a tricky question that we’ll explore for the rest of the review, while introducing Il-2 virgins to the wonderful world of Great Patriotic War air combat.