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It has been about a year since IL-2 Sturmovik was released here in New Zealand to a simulation community already in hype mode from the excellent demo and news and pictures coming in from overseas. This was a hardcore simulation. The kind where you crashed more often than not on takeoff, and you took your own plate to make it easier for the AI to hand you your arse. This was going to separate the simmers from the Sunday flyers. But something unexpected happened. Gamers all over were dusting off their Sidewinder joysticks and taking to the virtual skies to do battle in the setting of a little known World War Two conflict known as the Eastern Front. The star of the show was an ugly, slow, bulky plane that rarely features in western history books called the IL-2 Sturmovik. This little game from a Russian development house turned heads and bucked all the trends on the way to being regarded as arguably the best WWII flight simulation ever. What's more, is that it was well supported and when an official add-on was announced, things started to look very bright for the often battered simulation market.

"Sequel" is a funny word to use for Forgotten Battles as over the course of the development, what was originally planned to be an add-on has turned into a fully fledged, stand-alone product. But there has been no hiding of the fact that FB has everything IL-2 had except for the single missions and static campaign, replaced instead with the new dynamic mission generator. So the question has to be asked, is it a worthwhile investment for those who already own IL-2? That question might be best answered by looking at some of the key areas FB has tried to improve on. More planes, better AI, improved graphics and a dynamic campaign, and new theatres of operation.

New Theatres of Operation:

FB adds to the Eastern Front conflict of IL-2 by throwing us into Hungary and Finland maps (both summer and winter) and a fifth map which covers parts of the Ukraine, Poland and Slovakia. That makes 15 maps in total, so while it's only half of what was previously offered, these maps are huge. They also have loosely accurate layouts of some of the big cities like Leningrad, with some historical buildings thrown in. This is both a good and a bad thing. It's great to be able to fight a campaign over such a large land mass, but loading times can make watching a kettle boil fun, and those of us with less than top-speced computers may have a hard time frame-wise when things get a bit busy. The other issue some may find off-putting is the distance you have to fly at times to get to the action. Thankfully there's autopilot and time compression functions to speed up the transit parts of the single-player game. Don't however trust your life to the autopilot - planes don't French-Kiss even if the autopilot tries to do it at times.

The multiplayer aspect has gained a few new places for virtual pilots to kill each other too, the most impressive being the High Altitude map with towering mountains peaked with summit airfields and tight valleys down below. It really is a great place to fly. We only wish it was available offline. In fact the quick mission builder which allows you to easily build a mission hasn't changed from IL-2 and still only has the three original maps available. We really were hoping one or two more might have snuck in, along with a couple more ground target options.

New Planes:

FB ups the ante in the aircraft department. There are 30 new variations of flyable aircraft and 23 new AI-only planes. The new flyable aircraft include the JU-87 Stuka dive bombers, one of the first combat jet aircraft the Me-262, Finland's Brewster Buffalo as well as various examples of aircraft already known to the IL-2 faithful such as the Me-109 and Fokker Wulf 190. Also included are a number of American and British aircraft, like the Hawker Hurricane, P-40 Kitty Hawk and tough as boots P-47, that were used by the Soviets, Finland, Hungary and of course the USA which makes an appearance. It was actually a surprise to hear an English accent speaking in FB while flying a mission. It was something we weren't accustomed to in IL-2 and it's nice to see that the extra mile has been taken with all in-game voices.

For the first time too, and after a fair amount of pressure from the IL-2 community, flyable heavy bombers have been included in the form of the well recognized He-111 from Germany, and Russia's ark like TB-3 which looks like a mis-creation from WWI. Not only are these bombers flyable, but you can also man any of the positions in them, such as the Bombardier where you have control of the bomb sights and are responsible for weapons delivery, or any of the gunners positions. And because we know you will try it, you can shoot your own plane and crew if you can see them. In the multiplayer arena, players can take up positions inside these bombers so it's possible to have a totally human crew. There are even training missions which help you learn the art of bombing in these brutes, which is good as the pretty decent manual doesnt really cover all you can do. The inclusion of these bombers we think is a very good move, and hopefully a sign of more to come.

The flight models have changed somewhat in FB. If you think you had take-offs sussed in IL-2, wake your brain up and get it to have a re-think. One of the most dramatic improvements has been to the way the planes climb. In Il-2 planes lumbered upwards as if they didn't really want to fly at all, but now they will ascend to the heavens like they're supposed to. Other changes include the introduction of a cockpit shake when the planes are under heavy stress - it's a nice warning to slow down, or suffer the consequences. The wing buffet is still there too, foretelling of the newbie-killing stalls. Another addition is the introduction of CEM or Complex Engine Management. With this option turned on, you will need to control many of the functions a real pilot had to, such as changing the fuel mixture, and the angle of the propeller for optimum efficiency at various speeds and heights. Supercharger gears are also included if installed as well as being able to start individual engines in multi engine planes. You also have to take care of your engines, and not overstress them. Engines will seize if run too hot for a period of time, and in the case of the jet powered Me-262, ramming the engines to full throttle from idle will either cause them to flame out, or totally explode and separate from the wing, sometimes taking the whole wing with them.

Better AI:

AI must be one of the hardest things to get right in a game. Without super computers it's surely nigh on impossible to recreate all the variables and calculations that go on inside the mind of a human being, but that's what game developers try to do. IL-2 wasn't too bad when it came to AI, although there was definite room for improvement, even with the refinements of subsequent patches. We wouldn't say FB is a vast improvement, more an interesting mix of improvements and back steps.

The improvements are things you notice in dog fighting such as enemy climbing more often than in IL-2 where most dogfights would result in you and the AI corkscrewing your way downwards. Now they seem less predictable and will use the advantages of their planes. They still have a number of unfair advantages over you, such as being able to see through clouds and they have suddenly become rather accurate at head to head engagements. We would sooner have an AI plane on our tail than be approaching one head on, as it usually results in the mission being over in short order. Other areas we think have been over-done are the enemy gunner positions in bombers. They could shoot the fly off a cow-dung at 200 meters and this makes attacking bomber formations nothing short of suicidal. It's something that was part of IL-2 but was rectified in a patch, so we are at a loss to explain why it is back in FB.

Improved Graphics

Well, what can we say? IL-2 was no slouch in the graphics department but FB has raised the bar, and added a spit-shine for good measure. It's not that there's a radical difference between the two, it's just that FB has polished what were already great graphics, and the result is a thing of beauty. You could fly around for a week just admiring the eye candy, and there are things you notice all the time that make you go WOW. Like the reflection of trees near rivers off the water. Or the fog that rolls in during early morning flights. The clouds looks crisper and the aircraft themselves have definitely benefited from textures twice as large as in IL-2. It's as if the developers have taken to the aircraft with a can of "Sellys No More Gaps", and fixed the unsightly tears in the plane models. The cockpits look as stunning as always.

The enhanced visual effects include new water textures, which look nice when you have time to view them, and search lights which come on in certain cities and airfields during raids. These help the AAA and flak find you in the dark sky, as if they needed any help. Damage modeling seems to have been given a spruce up, both visual and physical, with bullets from guns being calculated better, and being able to hit specific systems in planes. Visually, there is nothing that will prepare you for watching a plane being torn to sheds by an enemy fighter, literally coming apart while the still-spinning propeller flies past your view as it arcs towards the ground.

Dynamic Campaign

We could have gone into a lot of depth here, but there just isn't time at the moment. We will have a separate review dealing with the new dynamic campaign, Multiplayer and Mission Builder in the not too distant future.

Sound:

We really need to give a big thumbs up to the sounds of IL-2. They add a ton of immersion and are really one of FB's shining points, if somewhat intangible. It's easy not to notice all the effects that have gone into the aural side of FB because they just sound so right. Engines cough and splutter when damaged and grind when they finally die. Bullets zip and thunk into your plane (usually far too frequently) and wings creak and groan under the stress of combat flight. We think we could record the sound that precedes a stall, play it back at a LAN and be able to pick all the FB players as they cringe and instinctively react to save their plane.

There's no doubt as far as we are concerned. IL-2 was the standard by which all other WW2 combat flight sims have been judged and Forgotten Battles raises the bar even higher.