IL-2 Sturmovik (game)

IL-2 Sturmovik is the name of a combat flight simulation video game, focused on the air battles of the Eastern Front during World War II. It is named for the Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack fighter, which played a prominent role in the theater.

The game was developed by Maddox Games and published by Ubisoft for the PC on November 18, 2001. Along with its sequels, it is considered one of the leading WWII flight simulators.

Flyable aircraft

The game features 31 playable Russian, German, British, French and American planes and an additional 40 non-flyable planes, although many of these are different variants of several planes.

Allies

• Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1
• Ilyushin Il-2 (10 variants from 1941 to 1943)
• Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Goudkov LaGG-3 (two variants from 1941 and 1943)
• Lavochkin La-5FN
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 (six variants from 1941 to 1942)
• P-39 Airacobra (three variants from 1942)
• Polikarpov I-16 (two variants from 1939)
• PZL P.11
• Yakovlev Yak-1 (two variants from 1941)
• Yakovlev Yak-7
• Yakovlev Yak-9 (five variants from 1942 to 1943)
• Yakovlev Yak-3

Spitfire

Axis

• Messerschmitt Bf 109 (11 variants from 1940 to 1944)
• Focke-Wulf Fw 190 (3 variants from 1942 to 1944)
• Junkers Ju 87B-2

Sequels

A sequel was released in March 2003, titled Forgotten Battles, which greatly expanded the number of simulated planes and battlefields. The game is based around the "forgotten" Russo-Finnish Continuation War of 1941-1944. The Ace Expansion Pack followed in March 2004, which improved the game still further.

In October 2004 Pacific Fighters was released, which can be installed as an add-on to the earlier releases or as a stand-alone game. It expands the action to the Pacific, adding many Japanese and United States planes as well as carriers and battleships.

The next game in the series will be Battle of Britain, based on the major air battles between the Luftwaffe and RAF during 1940 and 1941.

External links

• IL-2 Sturmovik official site
• IL-2 Sturmovik for PC at GameSpot