PSX Extreme writes: "I've been saying this for quite some time now, but I genuinely feel that there aren't enough aerial combat games out there. We have Ace Combat, and then we have Ubisoft's upcoming Tom Clancy HAWX. There's Ubisoft's World War II air fighter, Blazing Angels, but we'll just pretend that series doesn't exist. On the other hand, fans of aerial combat should all pay close attention to the newest IL-2 Sturmovik game, Bird of Prey. The first IL-2 debuted on the PC seven years ago, and was reviewed exceptionally well.
So here is the newest entry in this World War II aerial franchise, and it's looking beautiful, so far. Birds of Prey is set to replicate the large-scale aerial assaults and ground military operations of WWII, where the player gets to replicate some of the most infamous battles during the war. This should make progression purely mission based, as opposed to open-ended."
VGChartz;s Adam Cartwright: "For a console that can only really be seen as a commercial failure, the PlayStation Vita did extremely well for itself in terms of software – more than 1500 games are available for it and that figure is surprisingly still growing each week, despite the hardware being discontinued earlier this year and despite the rhetoric suggesting it’s only a good machine for indie 2D platformers and niche Japanese RPGs.
Unfortunately certain genres didn't receive any representation at all and act as glaring holes in the Vita’s software library. Some of these just aren’t particularly popular on consoles in general, such as city builders, which have been niche for years. It’s these genres I’m aiming to look at in this article – what they are (including examples of some modern entries in the genres), why they weren't represented on the Vita, as well as some suggestions about what alternatives are available to scratch that itch."
The Publisher of GoozerNation recently had the opportunity to play IL-2 Sturmovik, not because he wanted to, but because his 5-year old son accidentally purchased the game for him through XBL. And because of Microsoft's draconian law of No Refunds, he settled in to play the combat flight simulator that released a little over two years ago. As a result, he was pleasantly surprised at how fun, yet frustrating, this value bin game could be.
GamingTrend writes: "Let's start this review with a big, fat, huge disclaimer right up front: I don't play flying games. In fact, I'm pretty sure the last time I stepped into a virtual cockpit was playing Afterburner in arcades 20 years ago. I know nothing about speed stalls, flaps, props, flat-spins, ailerons, Immelman turns (even after playing this for nearly 20 hours, I had to Google those last two), or any other kind of aerial maneuvering. So if you're looking to find out if IL-2 Sturmovik accurately recreated the altimeter on the interior cockpit of a WWII fighter, or if they correctly mapped the position of every ship during the Battle of Britain, you should probably check out some other reviews, 'cause this one ain't going to help you."
I don't understand why I'm the only person really excited about this game. Didn't anyone play IL-2? Didn't you guys play Microsoft Flight Simulator back in the 80's and early 90's and WISH you could do dogfighting under bridges and between buildings?
I feel so old sometimes.