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* [[Leningrad]] (summer and winter)
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* [[Hungary]] (summer and winter)
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* [[Normand]] (multiple versions)
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"Pacific Fighters" came with a plethora of maps for the Pacific Theater of Operations, such as:
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* [[Pearl Harbor]]
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Revision as of 01:05, 18 November 2009

This article is about the video game. For the Soviet airplane, see Ilyushin Il-2.
IL-2 Sturmovik
Developer(s)1C: Maddox Games
Publisher(s)1C, Ubisoft
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Genre(s)Combat flight simulator
Mode(s)Single player, Multiplayer

IL-2 Sturmovik (Ил-2 Штурмовик) is a highly acclaimed WWII combat flight simulator video game, focused on the air battles of the Eastern Front.[1][2] It is named after the Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack fighter, which played a prominent role in this theatre and is the single most produced military aircraft design to date.[3] Along with its sequels, IL-2 Sturmovik is considered one of the leading World War II flight simulators.

The original version of the game featured 31 flyable Soviet, German, American, British, French and Polish planes and an additional 40 non-flyable planes (available as opponents).

The game was developed by 1C: Maddox Games and published by 1C in Russia and Ubisoft in the rest of the world, for PCs on November 18, 2001. The latest edition that includes all sequels and patches is version 4.09. The game has been updated frequently, and is the flight simulator video game longest supported by its developer with the demo released in 2001 and the latest patch including new planes and maps released in 2009.

IL-2 Sturmovik and the sequels Forgotten Battles, Forgotten Battles Ace Expansion Pack, Pacific Fighters, Pe-2 add-on, Manchuria and 1946 now contain 347 aircraft, with 256 being flyable. The featured aircraft cover most major aircraft deployed during World War II as well as some which did not leave the prototype stage.

The game includes a multi-player feature which supports up to 100 players online over the free internet matching service Hyperlobby. The All-Seeing Eye also previously allowed members to host multiplayer games. On the 4th of September, 2009, the most recent installment, IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey, was released.

Sequels

File:Il-2 1.jpg
A screenshot of an I-16 attacking a Stuka, both with user-made skins

A sequel was released in March 2003, entitled IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles, which greatly expanded the number of simulated planes and battlefields. The game is based around the Russo-Finnish Continuation War of 1941–44. The Forgotten Battles Ace Expansion Pack followed in March 2004.

In October 2004 Pacific Fighters was released, which can be installed on top of the earlier releases or as a stand-alone game. It expands the action to the Pacific, adding many Japanese and United States planes as well as aircraft carriers and battleships.

Many users of the first three games in the IL-2 series took the option of merging them on their hardware. This was essential to be able to access the majority of IL-2 servers for online gaming. Later a Complete Edition was released, combining the three in one installation.

In May 2006, the PE-2 add-on was released in Europe and North America. This added 95 campaigns, five single missions and five multi-player cooperative missions. Two new flyable aircraft, the Petlyakov Pe-2 (four variants) and the Petlyakov Pe-3 (two variants), as well as a large number of new ground vehicles and artillery were also included. When installed, PE-2 is merged with previous games in the series.

Ubisoft released the IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 compilation pack in stores in December 2006 in Europe and Australia; North American release was on March 13, 2007. In addition to all of the above games, it includes two new games: Sturmoviks over Manchuria and 1946. This raised the total number of aircraft to over 300 with 32 new flyable aircraft, such as Soviet and Japanese aircraft that served during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in 1945, as well as some which never went beyond the design stage in reality. Among others, the package introduced the Yak-15, MiG-9, Focke-Wulf Ta-183, MiG-13, Arado Ar-234, Kawanishi N1K-J, Mitsubishi J2M, Mitsubishi Ki-21, Douglas A-20C, Ilyushin Il-10 and many others. It also features nearly 200 new missions and new maps featuring the Kiev region, new parts of the USSR, China, Korea and Burma. The package is now patched up to 4.08m.

In 2009, IL-2 was available for handheld gamers using the PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 under the title IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey. The theatres of war are the Battle of Britain, the Battle of Stalingrad, the Allied Invasion of Sicily, the Battle of Korsun Pocket and the Battle of Berlin.

Games in the Series

The following games have been released so far:

IL-2 Sturmovik series
Title ! Year ! System ! Publisher
IL-2 Sturmovik 2001 Windows 1C Company
IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles 2003 Windows Ubi Soft
The Last Days: Decisive Battles over Europe 2004 Windows Matrix Games
IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles: Ace Expansion Pack 2004 Windows Ubi Soft
Pacific Fighters 2004 Windows Ubi Soft
IL-2 Sturmovik Series (Complete Edition) 2006 Windows S.A.D. Software
IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 2006 Windows Ubi Soft
IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey 2009 360, PS3, PSP, NDS 1C Company

Reception

The Il-2 series have received overall good rankings from its first version in 2002 through to Il-2 Sturmovik: 1946 in 2007:

  • Gamespot - Original IL-2 rated at 9.1 out of 10 and the Il-2: 1946 got 8.5[4][5]
  • IGN rated as "impressive", original IL-2 got 8.3 out of 10 and IL-2: 1946 rated at 8.1 of 10[6][7]
  • Metacritic gave 91 out of 100 for the original IL-2 and 83 of 100 for the latest installment[8][9]

Aircraft

The lists includes only flyable aircraft. Due to intellectual property issues, several important US planes — such as the TBF Avenger — could not be included in the game as flyables. [11] This list is correct for version 4.09 IL-2 1946. Several model variants of the aircraft in the list are not included (such as all the flyable variants of the Supermarine Spitfire).

The latest patch (4.09) includes new flyable planes and new multiplayer maps. A version of this patch is also available which enables the user to access mods from allaircraftarcade such as different sounds, graphics, maps and extra planes. [12]

Allies

Axis

Combat areas ("maps")

File:Il-2 Sturmovik.jpg
An external view of a Bf-109K in the Crimea map

The original "IL-2 Sturmovik" came with several maps depicting the main battle areas of the Eastern Front, including

The first Add-On "Forgotten Battles" provided some further maps:

"Pacific Fighters" came with a plethora of maps for the Pacific Theater of Operations, such as:

The last Add-On "1946" brought two more maps,

Later, some patches came with maps created by voluntary players:

Also, a lot of imaginary or generic landscapes were designed, like "Pacific Island", "Mountains", several "Deserts" and "Italy", mostly on smaller maps.

Storm of War

The next game from Oleg Maddox, Storm of War: Battle of Britain is a sequel to the IL-2 series.

References

  1. ^ Gamespot review of IL-2 Sturmovik Forgotten Battles
  2. ^ Driver Heaven review of the whole series
  3. ^ Goebel, G. (2008): The Il-2 Shturmovik. Air Vectors, military aviation site
  4. ^ Il-2 at Gemespot
  5. ^ Il-2: 1946 at Gamespot
  6. ^ Review of Il-2 at IGN
  7. ^ Review of Il-2: 1946 at IGN
  8. ^ Il-2 Sturmovik at Metacritic
  9. ^ IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 at Metacritic
  10. ^ Il-2 Sturmovik: 1946 at GameRanking
  11. ^ [1]
  12. ^ [2]

Game sites

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