IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey

At the other end of the difficulty scale, this is a game that's as eager to help out as a paedophile at a playgroup. Want targeting aids, assistance with plane handling, extra resilient airframes, everlasting ammo and fuel? They're yours. Gaijin doesn't want to scare anyone off. Given the inherent trickiness of forties-era dogfighting, it's a sensible stance. My brief inglorious taste of multiplayer reminded me why I wouldn't dream of playing an equivalent PC sim without a proper flightstick. Gamepads might be just about adequate for the cut and thrust of contemporary jet duels - Ace Combat, HAWX and the like - but in a title where everything depends on adept aerobatics and precise crosshairs-placement, a proper joystick is going to be a massively beneficial.

Birds of Prey isn't just about dogfighting, of course. During the demo we saw a German ammo dump eating the rockets of a hedge-hopping IL-2, Stukas diving on ships in Dover harbour, and B-17s braving flak to dump high explosive on Axis factories. There was talk that the 60 hours of campaign play would also include train-busting, recon photography, and supply drops. Remember that episode of Band of Brothers where Easy Company are huddled in the frozen forest near Bastogne? You're going to get to drop supplies to them. Slightly dishearteningly, there was no sign of take-offs anywhere. Apparently, optional landings will feature in a few sorties (nurse a damaged crate back to base to trigger an unlock or an Achievement) but it looks like missions will all start in the air. Given the size of the arenas and Gaijin's evident eagerness to please, the decision seems an odd one.

I'd love to be able to give you detailed analysis of aspects like AI, flight and damage modelling, but sadly there just wasn't time to assess such things properly. Computer-controlled pilots come with different experience levels, the more seasoned ones capable of pulling off fancy manoeuvres like the Immelman and Split-S. Whether this translates into challenging, credible, and above-all varied evasion and attack behaviours, only time and thorough testing will tell. The original IL-2 was pretty uncompromising when it came to battle damage. A single cannon shell zipping through a cockpit at head level could mean curtains. There was no sign of similar harshness in Birds of Prey, but planes certainly suffer severe hit-related handling penalties. In multiplay, slow, awkward smoke-trailing stragglers are going to be irresistible targets.

Thankfully, if you do end-up a singed lame duck, there should be friends around to watch your back a lot of the time. Three of the four multiplayer modes are team-based. Team deathmatch, ground strike (hit enemy ground forces while protecting your own) and capture the airfield (conquer a map by grabbing and holding all its airbases) lack originality but will no doubt provide some solid sky thrills. If Gaijin had made larger flyables like the IL-2 and B-17 fully crewable, I'd have pre-ordered months ago.

Other stuff I scribbled down during my visit to Churchill's not-quite-bomb-proof Blitz burrow:

• "150 planes in the sky at one time!"
• "Choose your own foes with the skirmish mode."
• "Control Wingmen with simple orders."
• "Luscious Joss Ackland narration."
• and "Not on PC! A cruel twist."

For years I've done the lion's share of my combat flight simming on computer. If Birds of Prey is as strong as I suspect it might be that could change. Go watch the videos, study the screenshots, and start preying nothing goes wrong.