il2 Sturmovik – Great battles – content envy

Ok … I’ll not lie … seeing all the new content for IL2 great battles makes me sick and green with Envy … it looks gorgeous … Normandy looks fantastic and its C47s can now drop paratroopers … man it just makes me sick with envy 😉

… my first major flight sim love was the original il2 Sturmovik , its graphics , feel , look , just the whole feel was the best combat flight sim at the time . i spent many a teenage year flying it , then i moved on to other sims , racing sims , shooters , civilian flight sims , cliffs of dover … IL2 games always seemed to deliver . The current one seems to be no exception … however ( there’s always a however isn’t there ) … there’s something … missing. I cant put my finger on it …. the maps are great , seasons are modelled , great weather effects , ai unit count that I’m so jealous of , c47s that actually drop parachutists ( nudge nudge ED 😉 on paper it just looks like a really fleshed out ww2 combat flight sim . I own it and granted , havent flown it for a while ( currently downloading for a refresher ) but the thing that seemed so lacking was flight dynamics , the fighters felt much too stable and not alive at all… granted I’ve been flying dcs for years and find its physics great , but jumping on to IL2 the planes feel … well …. dead . I’m not sure if its a setup thing , possibly the fact that all the controls need bound to a key ( I’m a huge fan of using the mouse in vr in dcs to adjust most in cockpit items and it works fantastically well ) .

IL2 is the gateway drug to DCS , good to get you started , great for content variety and a stepping stone to more serious sims … not worse , or better … just different …

Now the old excuse used to be “well , IL2 , you get the whole game and a tonne of planes for £30” or whatever the price was so you put up with a lower fidelity module … but looking at the current business model and prices for IL2 modules , they arent far off ED sales prices for modules. So are the two starting to cross over into each others territory / price bands ?

DCS , love it or loathe it ( I often swing from each emotion where DCS is concerned 😉 its a great sim … the areas in which it lacks are many … but there’s just something that feels right about it .

Part of me wishes ED and IL2 would get together and make the ultimate high fidelity ww2 combat flight sim with a low enough entry cost to attract lots of players ( IL2’s former biggest asset ) , DCS’s free trials and sales are levelling that slightly ( DCS still is not attractive at all for new sim pilots and as a dad , if my son asked for a cfs it would be il2 all the way for value reasons alone 😉 but therein lies the rub … DCS , high price , high fidelity modules requiring a very high power /price rig to run … its basically the grown up cfs on the market isn’t it ?

IL2 is the gateway drug to DCS , good to get you started , great for content variety and a stepping stone to more serious sims … not worse , or better … just different …

although I really do wish there was more ai content for DCS … progress is steady ( if a bit slow for my …. the best solution I can think of for now is to buy both , support our community and the games / genre we love and enjoy all for what they offer … as they really are chalk and cheese and each excel in different areas.

Cheers all , Walsh … Out.