For 1946 & Oleg Fans

[daveblah]

Its nice to see that im not alone in my view of a slightly missed opportunity here.I have bought this game and i will play and enjoy it, however if i want a bit of "realism" i'll be returning to 1946, as there are just too many niggly issues with this game. Grief, i sound like a whining never happy ingrate.

[Raw Kryptonite]

I agree with much of what you said, but not in comparing this to 1946.
Compare it to the original release, not the one that came out SIX YEARS later, including expansions and longer development. I've got 1946, not the original, so I'm looking at the features for the first version here:

# Fly 31 types of Russian, German and American planes
# Fly pilot or rear gunner (IL-2 plane types only)

So the original game had fewer planes than Birds of Prey. Gunner view was on the IL-2 only. I would like to have a more useable gunner view or at least control, since shooting and aiming with the HAT while flying the plane at the same time is a little too much multi-tasking. LOL Glad we can shoot from a bomber though.

RE: mapping of buttons on the flightstick
I place that blame squarely on Saitek with this cheap flightstick. What a ridiculous layout of buttons! We need more flightstick options (being actively sold NEW that is), but that isn't Gaijin's fault.
On the padlock, I don't use that I use the HAT. If you use the padlock, again, it isn't Gaijin's fault Saitek was drunk the day they designed this stick.

I also agree about OGF being a brilliant and far underrated game. Too bad the presentation is so bad when the flight is so good (and controls are excellent too for a controller). I wish I could use this flightstick with OGF, but I can't really blame OGF for that. (problem being that the throttle isn't used and rudder is reversed)

The game isn't perfect, but I don't know any game that is. I love it just the same. I think Gaijin did a great job with a game that isn't like anything they've done before. They worked to give us what we wanted in a situation where the publisher didn't start out on our side. Looking forward to future content and a sequel.

Interestingly enough, Oleg and Maddox games are listed in the credits, first column.

[Houndstone Hawk]

Raw Kryptonite.

That's a very fair point re: the number of aircraft & to comparing it to the last IL-2 PC title.
the number of aircraft ingame is but a very small point I made, although I'll admit that a third person only view for bombingt in the Blenheim is ludicrous & contrary to what the manual & ingame encyclopea suggests, it is NOT a gunners viepoint but merely the third person camera.
Even the original IL-2 which I am more than happy to compare this to (& can be picked up for less than a fiver now), had not only the mission editor & the quick face-offs, both powerful but so easy to use but also the nuances that are second nature to a flight sim; feel & immersion without the need to rely on cheap & chavvy movie-like over dramatic effects (like a skillfully executed belly landing at next to no speed only to end in a huge explosion). I know this title lacks on alot of stuff but not even a flyby camera? Maybe the console generation don't feel the need to marvel at a great dogfight after a mission but having been a console gamer since the 8-bit NES days, I'm thinking that there's nothing different between someone who enjoys a flight game on PC, console, whatever. We all paid 4 times the current price of IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 & ppl are left with a game that can only be played with a pad, can't be viewed as any form of replay, can't enjoy any real gameplay as a bomber or from an axis point of view, hell, can't even take off at the start of a mission or even in training skirmishes. So much immersion & simple playability has been needlessly taken away from the player .... IN MY VIEW!!!

Thanks for putting me straight though on the 1st point as it was unfair of me to compare it to 1946. But for the guy who thinks I'm raising the bar a bit too high for console games... Hello??? You've just paid between 30 & 40 quid on a piece of software that has been released years after the original. All I wanted was something remotely close to that experience. Hardly setting the bar too high I think!

Soviet Ace, I fear, has hit the nail square on the head & a good point made!!!

[lazyboy_se]

Ok, I'm sure I agree with some things in your huge post, but really don't you think you set the bar a bit high? I haven't gotten my copy of the game yet, but as far as the demo shows I think the game is great. If the joystick issue is dealt with the game will be epic. I mean to compare the consol game with a PC version that is like the latest installment of a very popular series is absurd. For example compare the 250 planes in 1946 with the number of planes in the original. It was a long time since I played the original but I think the number of planes were similar to BOP.

Also, how easy is it do you think to present the idea to the producers that you will model 200+ planes for a game that has never been sold on consol? It would be a potential economical suicide. Much easier to do if you do a follow up on an allready popular pc game. But i agree that the german planes should have had a cockpit.

For the third you seem to think it as easy to create a whole plane now as it was several years ago. I don´t think so is the case and if you expect 200+ planes on the next PC version of the game my bet is you will be dissapoined again.

edit: well Raw Kryptonite beat me to the point.

[David603]

^^^Storm of War: Battle of Britain will only have 17 flyable planes when it launches, but each of them will be 100% complete and far more detailed than the ones in Birds of Prey.

[Dr. Laplace]

I like your review of the game. I have not purchased the full version yet but I will since I liked the demo enough to buy the retail. I also give you props for the over g fighters comment: it's is a good game and it IS highly underestimated.

I think that IL-2 for the consoles will have a sequel that fixes most of the issues you address. I think that the REAL challenge of this game was how to make a game so specialized (for flightsimmers) accessible on the mass-consumer world of the consoles.

Personally I think I will have a lot of fun playing this because that's the way these things should work out: have fun. I can always dust off the ol' 1946 sturmovik if I get bored.

As soon as I get the full version I will also post constructive comments for all to see.

[l88bastard]

Agreed BOP is a kiddie game. I am not bothered that I bought it, but I AM PISSED that I SPENT $130 for an ACE EDGE WHICH IS USELESS WITH THIS GAME. Your better off using the game pad and calling this game for what it is...childsplay....after I finish the campaign its getting traded in for Call of Duty MW2 and Im going back to 1946, bah

[BeaverCompany01]

You guys are a bunch of whiners...............Im glad you won't be playing this great game.

[Revvin]

As Kryptonite says the original had only a small selection of planes in it, I've played the series right the way through from the first release to the definitive 1946 version. Anyone buying Birds of Prey and expecting IL-2 1946 was always going to be setting themselves up for dissapointment. This was never meant as a substitute for 1946 - its a console game! Games like Birds of Prey and RACE Pro are breaking new ground for console games, simulations in the own right and not the usual heavily simplified offerings normally seen on the console. They are not perfect but I'm happy to support them in the hope that more will come.

[l88bastard]

Originally Posted by Revvin

Anyone buying Birds of Prey and expecting IL-2 1946 was always going to be setting themselves up for dissapointment. This was never meant as a substitute for 1946 - its a console game!

I never expected this to be a substitute for 1946.... HOWEVER, I did expect the joystick to work properly and provide an adequate level of control and immersion like 1946 does. You cannot make precise movements with the elevators and rudders when you are trying to line up precise shots because of the crappy deadzone that they did not remove for the flightsticks. That deadzone is not a problem when you are playing modern flying games and shooting missles, but when your flying a ww2 fighter plane and all you got are your guns it is very annoying to constantly bounce your sights above and below your target even when you are making the most minute of adjustments.

THIS IS MY CHIEF COMPLAINT!! I got burned payin $130 for an ace edge because ANTON SAID THAT IT IS THE BEST FOR THE SIMULATOR IMMERSION! Understand what I am sayin to you? The game is unplayable unless you use the gamepad and that is just an utter discrace.