The best flight simulator I have ever played. Graphics are wonderful, flying is life-like. When I whack the Japaneese I fly home, make landings and taxi to the hard-stand. Most games I have played with the P-51 Mustang limit the performance in order to give the other guy's a break, this one doesn't. In REAL Life,most enemy pilots were jealous of the Mustang, that's why they don't give it glowing appraisal. Great Program!

This has to be the best flight simulator ever invented. The core of the game is by now 8 years old with a few improvements along the way, but the Il-2 community stays quite large and that is the best testament of the success of the game.

First off with the facts: The graphics are rather good, but not spectacular measured with current standards. The attention to detail on the other hand is meticulous. By that I mean details such as truck drivers jumping out of the vehicle and running for cover if you strafe them, or aircraft being flipped over by an explosive round placed in the wingtip. The learning curve is both steep and not so. What I mean is that one can fire up an aircraft and figure out how to take off rather quickly, althogh even there one needs to compensate for the torque of the engine. Once up though, the difference between mastering the aircraft or not is synonimous with winning or losing. The flight models are so complex that only a really deep understanding of aerodynamics can offer maximum performance. The good news is that the game designers have added several difficulty settings that can introduce you to the daunting complexity of the game piecemeal.

One important aspect of this game is also the on-line community which has evolved around it. There are several on-line wars which are available through a portal called HyperLobby. Such wars pit enormous air armadas against each other. For example, just yesterday I flew a mission in Forgotten Skies, where 43 Axis pilots flew against 51 Allied pilots. And this is where the potential of the game really shines. There are hundreds of squadrons all over the world who recruit members. Such squadrons can be reached via the game distributor's forums (UbiSoft Il-2). The squadrons vary in their size and setup. Some are very historically oriented other are looser. The good thing is that there is a squadron that would suit almost any taste. These squadrons then organize themselves into larger units and some of the more successful wars contain dosens of squadrons on each size. I am for example a member of II./JG1 and we currently have 40 active members.

I have played this game almost weekly for 8 years now and I must recommend it as a real milestone in the field of WW2 simulators.

Incredible Flight Sim...land on carriers...Bombers,fighters,,,you name it...it's in here. Endless scenarios,,night flying,,bad weather
Fly any warbird..for any Country...in any campaign..you will love this Sim

Make sure you have a good joystick !!!!

goos Flight Sim, but for the same price get IL2 1946 the signature Collection, Pacific Fighter is in that collection.

This simulator allows the player a level of realism and a sense of actually flying the like of which I have not seen for a home computer system. Graphics are tantalizing, and the aircraft rendering is great.

Having said that, there is a definite bias in favor of all things Russian in the simulator. Not only in terms of numbers of available aircraft to be flown, but especially in terms of the performance of the respective aircraft. If this simulator is accurate, than the U.S. had more or less no aircraft that could hold a candle up to the Soviet Yak-3 (to name only one). In fact, according to the simulator, most of our aircraft were sub-par and we (allies) likely won the war based solely on sheer numbers. Given the fact that the vast majority of the developers are themselves Russian, I suppose the products bias is not particularly shocking. It is however a little hard to stomach at times in the face of, well, reality. Chock it up to airframe envy.
All in all a great sim, just needs more objectivity.