IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds Of Prey Preview

The accolades for 1C’s IL-2 Sturmovik flight sim franchise stretch far, offering some of the best gameplay the franchise has to offer. Now the series is gearing up to take flight on consoles, with IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey readying for launch across most major consoles. 1C had a preview build of the game on hand at their recent press event, and the results were pretty good. If all goes to plan, Birds of Prey should offer console gamers what PC flight sim fans have been enjoying for years.

Birds of Prey will offer robust control schemes that should allow gamers from all walks to plug in and enjoy the game. At the press event, 1C had the “Arcade Mode” controls on, which is the most accessible of the bunch. The game handled very well in this mode, and wasn’t too intimidating. However, if intimidation is your bag and you’re a hardcore flight-sim fan, Birds of Prey will offer more realistic controls and could even rival the PC games in complexity, according to the developers.

Graphically, Birds of Prey is a great looking game with a ton of detailed elements. The planes will take on realistic damage depending on where and how they’re shot, and will even handle differently (if you have that feature on in the difficulty). The ground will also be rife with realistic details, as everything in the game will be 3D, from the trees to the houses on the ground. The game also moved very smoothly even at this stage of its development.

Birds of Prey is shaping up very nicely, and will launch on a variety of different systems, representing a nice direction for the series and a solid debut on next-gen consoles.