"Portable World War II Aerial Action"

First off, a brief background on me. I'm a big aviation buff so I will take a look at just about any flying game that comes out to see what it's worth. I've played the Il-2 versions on PC for years, and I also own the new Xbox 360 version. I figured I'd give this version a try, fully realizing it would likely be very different from the other versions. I was right, although this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Read on...

Story: N/A - There is not really a story per say for this particular title. As with the console version, you simply take on the role of pilots from various nations (United States, United Kingdom, Russia, & Germany) taking part in missions set in the European Theater of World War II. There are three settings (locations), and they include the Battle of Britain (England & France), Battle of the Ardennes (France & Belgium), and the Battle of Stalingrad (Russia). Each setting offers the player the chance to play for either the Allies or the Germans. Thus, you essentially have six different campaigns, with each one having seven missions for a total of forty-two missions, not counting the five missions that make-up the tutorial.

Graphics: 6/10 - As expected, the graphics are probably one of the lower areas of the game. It should be noted, that the in-game menus and other pre-mission screens are all presented very well. Both screens of the DS are used, and there is very little difficulty in navigating your way into a level. The in-game graphics consist of some positives and some negatives. One of the positives in my opinion is the aircraft themselves, which look pretty good for a DS game. Most of them are fairly accurate although I did notice a few errors (the P-39 Airacobra you use in one level is actually a P-63 Kingcobra and the Ju-87D looks just like a Ju-87B just as the Bf-109G looks indentical to the Bf-109E....these are details only sticklers like myself would notice and they don't detract from the experience). As for some negative aspects, as one would expect for a flying game on the DS, the ground and water look okay from higher up, but down low stuff gets really blocky. It's quite difficult to ID an aircraft until you are virtually on top of it, while ground targets are virtually impossible to tell apart. The map screen is the best way to tell if a target is friendly or enemy. The most noticeable graphical glitch is that your propeller arc will disappear and reappear depending on the pitch of your nose (i.e. whether your nose is pointing up or down). It's really strange seeing it one second only to have it disappear a second or two later. The cloud layers are also funny looking in that they look just like a sheet of paper. You go through the clouds and pop out the other side almost instantly. There are some other positives besides the planes themselves though. The explosions can be pretty nifty and many times you can set an aircraft on fire where it will trail black smoke until it explodes or crashes. Your aircraft can itself be set on fire. You will also notice anti-aircraft artillery tracers as well as flak bursts, particularly when escorting friendly bombers. Although they could probably be better, the graphics are manageable, and they serve their purpose for the most part.

Sound: 6/10 - This is another category with some pros and cons. The pros are that the in-game menus have some good mood setting music that fits the theme of the game pretty well. The sound effects in the levels are also fairly good, with machine guns sounding distinctly different from larger weapons like cannons. Flak also sounds as it should, and when hit in certain spots, your plane can even have engine trouble, where you will hear the engine sound like it's about to seize. Generally speaking, if you hear this, you probably don't have much time before you're a goner. Explosions and bombs falling away also sound as they should. There is no music or voice while in flight (radio transmissions are relayed through on-screen text), and since you don't often have a wingman it can be a very isolating experience. I suppose the lack of music resonates from the Il-2 series PC simulator roots, where in-game music isn't used either. For a DS game though it's an odd choice.

Controls: 7/10 - The controls are pretty good for the most part, with throttle use coming from your shoulder buttons, your weapon controls from your A & B buttons and general aircraft control from your D-pad. The odd thing about this game is that it's setup so that you can't roll and do a loop at the same time. You can loop your airplane, but you must do so without any turn. If you try to turn during a loop, it will simply push you back so that your nose is directly up or down. It reminds me of Star Fox 64 in all-range mode. You can go anywhere you please, but practically speaking a loop is hard to make good use of. Overall though, everything feels natural. Interestingly enough, the touch screen is also used a small amount. While in-flight you can turn your in-game map on or off (you will use it extensively though and thus probably leave it on) or you can bail out (by tapping a red lever in the lower left). With the map off you can see some of the various instruments, which while not really useful for gameplay, do look pretty cool and are actually pretty unique among the various aircraft, with some degree of accuracy. The other use of the touch screen is during mission briefings, when the briefer will often have you mark things sectors on your map in various colors to help you know where to go and what to do during a level. It's not required, but depending on the mission it can be quite helpful to have stuff marked prior to starting a mission. It's an interesting use of the touch screen that I thought was pretty creative even if it's nothing ground-breaking.

Gameplay 7/10 - In short, I felt this game was pretty fun overall. The variety of mission objectives are pretty good with tasks ranging from interception of enemy aircraft to bombing missions to ground attack sorties (i.e. you strafe ground targets with guns instead of hitting them with bombs). The different locales and the opportunity to fly for either the Allies or Germany also helps to keep the experience fresh. The variety of different aircraft types is also a nice thing that aviation buffs like myself will appreciate. You will fly the standard well-known planes of the war such as the P-51 Mustang, Ju-87 Stuka, Hurricane, Spitfire, and Bf-109. In addition, there are some lesser-known aircraft such as the Il-2 Sturmovik itself, the MiG-3, the Bf-110, and a few others. There are various options you can turn on or off such as unlimited ammo (which doesn't apply to bombs), unlimited fuel, or an interesting feature that guarantees all your bullets hit what you are aiming at as long as you keep the target inside the targeting circle that sits around your gunsight crosshairs. This area will turn red when you are in-range of a target. When your aircraft is hit, you will often get messages about what parts are damaged and depending on what it is, it might affect your control of the aircraft. For example, I once lost an engine in the Bf-110. For most of the planes in the game you will likely crash when this occures, but in the case of the Bf-110, it has two engines, so I was able to squeak my way towards completion of the mission with the good engine. Other little details also come into play like being able to fire sets of your guns separately (i.e. firing all four machine guns plus the cannon while flying the P-38 Lightning). Another interesting note, is that while flying the Ju-87 Stuka or other planes with a rear-gunner, he will automatically start firing at an enemy aircraft that gets behind you. The A.I. itself is hit or miss. Sometimes fighters are very aggressive and come after you, while other times, they are fairly easy targets. The anti-aircraft guns are also the same way with some sites throwing everything they have at you, while others aren't nearly as trigger happy.

Overall 7/10 - For an aviation buff like me, the game was enjoyable, and I plan on keeping it around as a quick pick-up and play title in the future. Personally I don't regret paying the thirty dollars for it, but others probably wouldn't want to pay that much. If you like flying games, this is one of your only options on the DS, and though I've not really played most of the others, I'd wager it's one of the better choices out there. It has a large number of missions, a nice variety of locations and airplanes to choose from, and it even has a nifty feature where it tracks stats like how many missions you have flown, how many hours you've flown, and how many targets you've destroyed. Incidentally, the console version seems to lack this feature, which I find odd. All in all, I'd recommend it if you want a flying game for your DS, and after a short while, it will probably be available at a much cheaper price than it is now. For twenty bucks or less, this game is pretty good value for the money. Take note, there is no multiplayer so if you were hoping for that you're out of luck.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/12/09

Game Release: IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey (US, 09/10/09)