IL-2 Sturmovik (video Game)

''IL-2 Sturmovik'' () is a 2001 World War II combat flight simulator video game and is the first installment in the ''IL-2 Sturmovik'' series. The release focused on the air battles of the Eastern Front. It was named after the Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack fighter, which played a prominent role in this theatre and is the single most produced military aircraft design to date. Along with its sequels, ''IL-2 Sturmovik'' is considered one of the leading World War II flight simulators.

Gameplay

The game features 31 flyable planes and additional 40 non-flyable planes (available as opponents). One can play as Australia, France, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the USSR.

The game includes a multi-player feature which supports up to 100 players online over the internet. Free internet services such as Xfire, Hyperlobby, and The All-Seeing Eye, are used for setting up online game sessions.

History

The game was developed by 1C:Maddox Games and published by 1C in Russia and Ubi Soft in the rest of the world, for Windows on November 18, 2001.

Sequels and subsequent development

The game saw the release of a number of add-ons and sequels since its initial release, with some of the sequels including the entirety of the original release's content.

The game is currently distributed as the '' IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946'' pack. The latest edition that includes all sequels and patches is version 4.14.1, which brings the number of available flyable aircraft up to 85* and the number of maps to 41*. ''IL-2 Sturmovik'' is the flight simulator video game longest supported by its developer with the demo released in 2001 and the latest patch including new planes, maps and other features released in December 2022. Recently patches 4.13, 4.13.1, 4.13.2, 4.13.3, 4.13.4, 4.14, 4.14.1, 4.15, and 4.15.1 were released.
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All the patches or versions, like '' IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles, Forgotten Battles'' (2003) or standalone games, like '' Pacific Fighters'' (2004), used and shared the same game engine from 2001 until the '' 1946'' pack (2006) and even until the console adaptation ('' IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey'', 2009). The first games in the series not using the original 2001 game engine were '' IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover'' (2011, which runs its own game engine) and '' IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad'' (2013, which runs on a game engine derived from another game, the 2009 simulator '' Rise of Flight'').

Reception

''IL-2 Sturmovik'' received a "Silver" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom. As of 2014, the game's overall sales had surpassed 2 million copies.

The review aggregator Metacritic gave ''IL-2 Sturmovik'' a score of 91 out of 100, while GameRankings, another review aggregator, gave it 90.65%.

Awards

''IL-2 Sturmovik'' was named the best computer simulation of 2001 by '' Computer Games Magazine'', '' Computer Gaming World'', ''The Electric Playground'', GameSpy and GameSpot, and was a runner-up for IGN's award in this category, losing to '' Independence War 2''. Similarly, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated ''IL-2 Sturmovik'' for its 2001 "Computer Simulation Game of the Year" award, but ultimately gave the prize to ''Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002''. It also "narrowly" lost ''PC Gamer US''s "Best Simulation" award to ''Flight Simulator 2002'', according to that magazine's editors.

While awarding the game, the editors of ''Computer Games'' called ''IL-2 Sturmovik'' "the best World War II flight sim—the best flight sim of any kind, for that matter—to come along in years." Similarly, those of ''Computer Gaming World'' wrote, "''IL-2 Sturmovik''s election to Sim of the Year was one of the biggest shoo-in votes in the history of this magazine. ..Know this: ''Sturmovik'' is not only the best simulation of 2001, it's the best WWII-themed sim ever, and one of the best flight sims of all time."

See also

*'' Combat Flight Simulator 3: Battle for Europe''
*''Jane's Attack Squadron''

References

External links

''IL-2 Sturmovik'' official website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Il-2 Sturmovik (Video Game)
2001 video games
1C Company games
Ubisoft games
Video games developed in Russia
Windows games
Windows-only games
World War II flight simulation video games
Video games set in the Soviet Union
Multiplayer and single-player video games