IL-2 Sturmovik (game)
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IL-2 Sturmovik is a combat flight simulation video game, focused on the air battles of the Eastern Front during World War II. It is named for the Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack fighter, which played a prominent role in the theater.
The game was developed by 1C:Maddox Games and published by 1C in Russia and Ubisoft in the rest of the world, for the PC on November 18, 2001. The game has been frequently updated, the latest version with all sequels and patches being 4.05m. Along with its sequels, it is considered one of the leading WWII flight simulators.
The flight simulator IL-2: Sturmovik and the sequels Forgotten Battles, FB Ace Expansion Pack and Pacific Fighters now contains over a hundred flyable aircraft, covering most major aircraft of all fronts.
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[edit] Flyable aircraft
The original version of the game features 31 playable Russian, German, British, French and American planes and an additional 40 non-flyable planes, although many of these are different variants of several planes. Common names are in bold.
[edit] Allies
- Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1 (in 1.2 patch)
- Ilyushin Il-2 (10 variants from 1941 to 1943) Sturmovik
- Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Goudkov LaGG-3 (two variants from 1941 and 1943)
- Lavochkin La-5FN
- Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 (six variants from 1941 to 1942)
- P-39 Airacobra (three variants from 1942)
- Polikarpov I-16 (two variants from 1939) (in 1.2 patch)
- PZL P.11 (in 1.2 patch)
- Yakovlev Yak-1 (two variants from 1941)
- Yakovlev Yak-7
- Yakovlev Yak-9 (five variants from 1942 to 1943)
- Yakovlev Yak-3
[edit] Axis
- Messerschmitt Bf 109 (11 variants from 1940 to 1944) Messerschmitt
- Focke-Wulf Fw 190 (3 variants from 1942 to 1944) One Ninety
- Junkers Ju 87B-2 Stuka (in 1.2 patch)
[edit] Sequels
A sequel was released in March 2003, titled Forgotten Battles, which greatly expanded the number of simulated planes and battlefields. The game is based around the "forgotten" Russo-Finnish Continuation War of 1941-1944. The Ace Expansion Pack followed in March 2004, which improved the game still further.
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 carriers and battleships.
Most users of the IL-2 series choose to "merge" together Forgotten Battles, Ace Expansion Pack and Pacific Fighters into one installation. Having this merged version of the game is essential to be able to access the majority of IL-2 servers for online gaming.
The IL-2 Series "Complete edition" has been released, combining Forgotten Battles, The Ace expansion pack, and Pacific fighters into one easy installation.
Recently the PE-2 Add-on has been released in Europe and North America. The PE-2 add-on added 95 Campaign Missions, 5 Single Missions and 5 Multi-Player Cooperative Missions. Two new flyable aircraft, the Pe-2 in 4 versions, and the Pe-3 in two versions. The new PE-2 add-on also added a large number of new ground vehicles and other objects for missions, incluiding several types of Flak weapons and Soviet heavy weapons. As with the other add-ons the PE-2 is installed as a merged installation.
With a merged install the following additional planes are flyable:
[edit] Allies
- Brewster Buffalo (three variants) Buffalo
- Gloster J8 Gladiator Gladiator
- Hawker Hurricane Mk. II (three variants) Hurricane
- Tupolev TB-3 4M (three variants from 1933)
- Lavochkin La-7 (two variants)
- Polikarpov I-153 (two variants from 1939) Seagull
- Polikarpov I-185 (two variants from 1942)
- Petlyakov Pe-2 (four variants from 1940) Pawn
- Petlyakov Pe-3 (two variants from 1941)
- P-38 Lightning (four variants from 1943) Lightning
- P-47D Thunderbolt Jug (three variants from 1943) Thunderbolt
- Curtiss P-40 (seven variants from 1941) Warhawk
- P-80 Shooting Star
- P-63D Kingcobra
- P-51 Mustang (five variants from 1943)
- Supermarine Spitfire (16 variants from 1941 to 1944) Spitfire
- Hawker Tempest
- de Havilland Mosquito Mosquito
- SBD Dauntless (two variants) Dauntless
- F4U Corsair (six variants) Corsair
- B-25J Mitchell Mitchell
- A-20 Havoc Havoc
- F6F Hellcat (two variants) Hellcat
- F4F Wildcat (three variants) Wildcat
- Bristol Beaufighter Beaufighter
(Note that due to intellectual property issues, several important US planes - such as the TBF Avenger - could not be included in the game as flyables. [1])
[edit] Axis
- Heinkel He 111H (two variants) Heinkel
- Heinkel He 162 Salamander
- Junkers Ju-88 Junker
- Messerschmitt Bf-109
- Messerschmitt Bf 110G
- Messerschmitt Me 163B
- Messerschmitt Me 262 (three variants from 1943-44)
- Horten Ho 229 Gotha Go
- Dornier Do 335 Arrow
- Focke-Wulf Ta 152H
- Focke-Wulf FW 190
- Fiat G.50 Arrow
- Fiat CR.42 Falcon
- Nakajima Ki-43 (three variants)Peregrine Falcon
- Nakajima Ki-84 (three variants) Gale
- Mitsubishi G4M Betty
- Mitsubishi Zero Zero (10 variants from 1940 to 1945)
- Mitsubishi J2M
- Kawasaki Ki-61 (three variants)
- Macchi Mc.200 Lightning
- Macchi Mc.202Lightning
- Macchi Mc.205 Greyhound
- Kawasaki Ki-100 Type 5 Fighter
- Aichi D3A1 Val Val
- IAR 80 and 81 (three variants)
[edit] The future
The next game in the series, yet to be released, will be Storm of War: Battle of Britain, based on the major air battles between the Luftwaffe and RAF during 1940 and 1941. This game will utilize a new and improved engine, and so will not be compatible with the earlier ones. Version 4.06m is planned to be released shortly To the North American market, the pay add-on will be called Sturmoviks over Manchuria (IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946) and will feature new maps, missions and flyable aircraft.
Afterwards, the 4.07m pay add-on will be released which consists of prototype and completed aircraft from 1946. Including the Yak-15, MiG-9, Ta-183, MiG-13, Ar-234 and many others.
Ubisoft has recently announced "IL-2 Sturmovik 1946" for release in November 2006. It raises the total amount of aircraft to over 300 with 32 new flyable aircraft. It also features nearly 200 new missions and new maps featuring the Kiev region, new parts of the USSR, China, Korea and Burma.
[edit] External links
- IL-2 Community Created Manual
- IL-2 Sturmovik for PC at GameSpot
- IL-2 Flying Tutorials
- IL-2 Sturmovik at 1C: Maddox games
- Pacific Fighters at 1C: Maddox games
- Simmers Paintshop - Skinning Tutorials
- Full Mission Builder step-by-step visual tutorials for IL2 Sturmovik Forgotten Battles & Pacific Fighters
