IL-2 Sturmovik, the 2001 PC original, was for the hardcore. Not the Mario-loving hardcore. Not the GTA-loving hardcore. Not the people who memorise JRPG scripts. No, the hardcore of World War II combat flight-sim lovers. The people who want the planes in their Russian-developed games to handle as accurately as the cars in Gran Turismo.

I hadn’t played the PC original. And I’m not a WWII flight-sim guy. But I was worried for those hardcore IL-Sturmovik fans when I was invited to try a multiplayer session of of the 1C-developed, 505 Games-published upcoming console edition of the series. The 505 rep doing the demo started out by saying the game I was about to play would be like Call of Duty in the air.

What Is It?
IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey is a World War II flight combat game developed by the Russian studio behind the franchise, 1C. It’s published by 505 Games, the new-ish publisher doing upcoming games based on Grease and Michael Phelps. Yes, they’re diverse. Birds of Prey is coming to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, PSP and Nintendo DS.

What We Saw
I played parts of a couple of multiplayer skirmishes on a networked Xbox 360. The game includes more than 45 planes from the 1941-1945 war in Europe, but I foolishly chose one of the weakest, the original IL-2 Sturmovik — a Russian plane — that had poor guns and armour. I should have chosen a newer IL-2 if I didn’t want my wings to get perforated by enemy fire.

How Far Along Is It?
The game is set for a September release and a demo is scheduled for the Xbox 360 and PS3 in the first week of August, so I gather that what I played is close to completion.

What Needs Improvement?
My Patience (Or The Game’s Controls): Good news, hardcore IL-2 fans — I think. I have not played the original PC IL-2 Sturmovik, but I now have no reason to think that the simulation values of the original were abandoned in this game. Even the Arcade mode in the new game is less forgiving than Ubisoft’s HAWX, which felt like it was an auto-pilot compared tho this. A targeting reticule in arcade mode helps show how far ahead of an enemy plane your bullets need to lead. But even with that it’s hard to hit the enemies. This is no easy game to control — a sign that either it’s got either really good, complex sim controls or it’s got poor, stiff controls. The 505 people showing me the game would surely say it’s the former, but I can’t judge it during a half-hour appointment. Check the demo next month and feel for yourself. I flew into the ground twice. Into another plane once. But I did shoot another player’s plane up a bit before he lost me in the clouds.

The Graphics In Motion: The gallery below presents one of the loveliest batch of screenshots I’ve been sent by a publisher in a while. But the simple explosions and the detailed but lifeless terrain don’t make the game come much more alive when it’s put in motion. The planes are the stars. And the vistas are lovely. Anything that would animate doesn’t look as great.

What Should Stay The Same?
The History: Authenticity is a goal rarely pursued in home console games. But IL-Sturmovik is going for it, representing real planes in minute detail and replicating historical battles across its six campaigns of, combined, 50 missions. The Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Bulge, and campaigns over Berlin, Sicily and Stalingrad are here. The missions are based on diary entries written by real fighter pilots who fought in those battles.

The Range Of Realism: Play in Arcade mode and it will take a lot of gunfire will make your plane lose control. Play in Realistic or the even the more realistic Simulation mode (gotta love how difficulty settings are named) and you will have to worry about stalling, won’t have an aim-assist and will find your plane flying in realistically hampered ways determined by how bullets have poked holes in your wings, rudder or fuselage. At any level, expect your plane to move in realistic and less-player-assisted ways than you would find in more mainstream flight games. Controls in any of the game’s modes put pitch and roll on the left stick; throttle and yaw on the right. 505 reps say some flight sticks will be supported.

The Graphics In Frozen Moments: The planes and the skies look lovely.

Final Thoughts
The “Call of Duty in the air” reference made at the beginning of my demo was something I didn’t get to follow-up on. The game is by no means as fast-action as Activision’s first-person shooter series. But the feel of having an enemy ace on your tail, and the sight of bullet trails whizzing past, then — oh, no — through your wings, is plenty exciting.

I didn’t get to try a base-capture option that 505 wanted to promote as a key multiplayer component. In that mode, I was told, players will land at a base, and only when their wheels are still will they begin to capture it and shave points off their team’s total, Battlefield style.

What I did see and play looked good for World War II flight combat enthusiasts. If you’re looking for something with a more realistic feel, follow this one. And try the demo in August.

We all know (and possibly love) Ubisoft – the French game studio has been bringing us multiplatform hits for years. This month’s preview event hosted by the developer was a Nintendo-centric affair, though they were nice enough to include Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood in the swag haul.

Pictured:
Autographed pink Rayman Raving Rabbids Thong (?!)
Rayman Raving Rabbids T-Shirt
Red Steel 2 T-Shirt
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles classic cartoon logo sweatband
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood for the Xbox 360
Ubisoft logo laptop case

About a week earlier than that – in fact, the very day Fawcett and Jackson passed away – I attended 1C’s annual Another Night in Moscow event held at the Russian Consulate in San Francisco. Now, 1C is more obscure than Ubisoft, but I’m told it’s like the Microsoft of Russia. Judging from the lavish party and modest swag haul, I could see why somebody would say that.

Pictured:
1C logo Russian fuzzy hat
Another Night In Moscow t-shirt
1C logo swag bag
1C logo pen

Not Pictured:
1C logo notebook that I totally lost at Santa Cruz

But whether you love them or have even heard of them, both companies delivered a huge haul of previews and early looks at games we can expect this year. Just in case you missed them, here they are:

Another Night In Moscow
Get Some Russian In Your Independence Day
XIII Century: Blood of Europe – All The Brutality, None Of The Plague
Death To Spies 2: Moment of Truth Preview: SMERSH is a fun word to say
Trucking It In Rig ‘n’ Roll
Captain Blood Preview: Errol Flynn He Ain’t – But He’ll Do

UbiNintendo
Academy of Champions Preview: It’s Harry Potter But With Soccer And Sam Fisher
C.O.P. The Recruit Preview: If Only Becoming A Police Officer Were So Easy
Shaun White Snowboarding World Stage Preview: Snow In Summer
TMNT Smash-Up Preview: Will The Real April O’Neil Please Stand Up?
Rabbids Go Home Preview: Rabbids Go In Your Wiimote
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes Preview: The Might Of Mana… and Puzzles
Red Steel 2 Preview: Whack-tastic Fun

The diary is the product of all the designers and coders who are working on the title & is intended to illustrate the kind of decisions and creative choices that go in to making a game.

Or rather, it will be – at the moment there are only two entries. The first — “What shall we do?” — looks at how the sequel came into being, and how the team decided on the North African campaign as the focus of the game (spoiler: it involved palm trees).

Next is “Blood, Sand… & Map Editor” which looks at how the map designers took real-world locations and turned them into playable environments. Honestly, its more interesting than it sounds.

Theatre Of War 2 Developer Diary [Battlefront.com]

Their booth at the Leipzig show will include new builds of King’s Bounty: The Legend and Men of War, Cryostasis, NecroVisioN, 4×4 Hummer, Death Track: Resurrection, Theatre of War 2: Africa 1943 and two new console titles – Captain Blood and IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey.

Hit up the jump for the full press release and a bit more detail on the games. And remember we’ll be at this year’s Games Convention with bells on*, so check back for our coverage later this month.

*Fahey will not actually be wearing any bells.

1C ANNOUNCES GAMES CONVENTION 2008 LINEUP

MOSCOW, Russia- August 13, 2008 – Leading Eastern and Central European publisher
1C Company unveiled today its top titles to be shown at Games Convention 2008 in Leipzig. The current lineup includes first-person shooters, RPG/ turn-based strategy, real-time strategy and racing titles.

1C will bring to Leipzig brand new builds of King’s Bounty: The Legend and Men of War. King’s Bounty: The Legend is set in a fantasy world of fearless knights, evil mages, wise kings and beautiful princesses. Men of War takes place in Europe and North Africa during the height of World War II, the story unfolds in three different campaigns played out through the eyes of Soviet, Allied and German soldiers.

1C will also showcase new builds of Cryostasis,NecroVisioN, 4×4 Hummer, Death Track: Resurrection and two new console titles – Captain Blood and IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey. The first playable build of Theatre of War 2: Africa 1943 will also make its debut at Games Convention 2008. It is a sequel to Theatre of War, one of the most historically accurate RTS games dedicated to World War II ever published.

Along with the playable builds listed above 1C will have their latest demos available on site. Assets for these and all other games from 1C 2008-09 lineup will be on the digital press kit at the booth.

1C Company will be located at booth L40 in the Business Centre of the Leipziger Messe. Since space in the booth is limited we suggest making an appointment to see our titles. Please contact us at the above phone number or email address and we will be happy to hold a time slot for you.

Funcom just announced that they have signed an agreement with 1C to fully localize the voice and text for a Russian version of Age of Conana: Hyborian Adventures. 1C will also operate local customer service, which I believe requires a gun licence, deal with the community websites and in-game support for Age of Conan in Russian. Funcom still plans to take care of the back-end tech and server infrastructure as well as handling all future development for the game.

The companies plan to build a dedicated Russian realm to allow the Russian community the chance to stick together and communicate with each other in their native language. Didn’t Czar Nicholas II try to create a Russian realm once? I’m pretty sure it didn’t end well.

“1C Company is a clear leader in the Russian speaking regions, and we are confident we have found the perfect partner,” said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom. “We have already shipped a substantial amount of English boxes into Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, but we know that the real key to success is achieved through localised servers and services. Together with 1C Company we will do our uttermost to make Age of Conan a success for many years to come.”

“We are happy working together with Funcom on bringing Age of Conan to Russia. The game has already gained success here, reaching top places in many retail charts. With an already established fan base in Russia I’m sure it will become even bigger after the localised version appears on the market,” said Nikolay Baryshnikov, International Sales Director of 1C Company. “Age of Conan is a great mix of action, RPG elements and adventure. I believe that the game has potential to become a big hit in Russia.”

1C is using cutting-edge technology, including the amazing power of modern consoles, to bring superior games to every market… Our aim is to bring our games to even more players and expand our vision with cross platform development. We are embracing any new gaming technology that will improve our products including digital downloads, consoles, handheld gaming, Epic’s Unreal 3 Engine, NVIDIA PhysX and DirectX 10.

Both games will be out late 2009 and will be the first cross-platform titles “from 1C to be developed and published worldwide”. Seems like multiplatform is the new, big thing.

1C Announces First 360-PS3 Titles [MCVUK]