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IL2 Sturmovik : Forgotten Battles Review - PC

Once again I found myself miles from anywhere staring into the blank whiteness of the Russian landscape. These days it just seems to get colder and what little there is of the sun has no affect. Often I find myself glancing out to my wings fearing that dreaded gleam of ice. Looking at my temperature gauge, I flick it and still reads minus 40 degrees Centigrade, I just hope it hasn't frozen stuck. The afternoon sun seemed to be dipping too early when my radio crackled with the calm methodical voice of my wingman, against the bleak whiteness my wingman had made out the Russians. We both knew what we had to do our actions where in silent unison, we just hoped that we to had not been spotted. Breaking into the setting sun we watch the Russians sweep below us to our 10 o'clock position. It was working out as it had always done, why should this one be any different to my 50 other kills. Moments later after shooting down the lead Russian in flames I find myself blinded by the flash of my cannons and in that second of hesitation I would soon find myself joining the Russian.

IL2 Sturmovik Forgotten Battles once again allows the player to delve into the realities of being a fighter pilot in the Second World War on the eastern front. Maddox Games, the developers of the IL-2 Sturmovik series originally intended Forgotten Battles to be just an expansion pack how ever true to the original game the features grew beyond just an expansion pack to become a title in itself. So how much more does the new title offer?

GamePlay

Although the original title was ground breaking in it's realism and graphics one of the major problems I found with IL2 Sturmovik was the playability of the mission campaigns. It is obvious that Maddox games have realized this from the feedback that they have received and as a consequence they have implemented a new campaign system.

Each campaign has a dynamic mission generator which will mean that each time you fly the same campaign you will be greeted with different missions. Although this is a great leap forward from the previous title unfortunately there are a few small issues such as the repetitive feeling the mission creator has as well as the down played mission briefings which tends to take some of the "Awwwh" factor away. The mission briefing is the key opportunity to build up atmosphere and suspense for the coming danger and when this is not utilized to it's maximum it becomes noticeable. Because of the automated nature of the mission creator it seems to lack this element which would make it into a nail biting title. Overall these issues are small and I found that by selecting different aircraft and career paths your interest is sustained and as such these issues become (continued next page)