The following is from the Aces High 2 thread, which I hijacked with this. Read this first, and watch the videos, and then read after it.
Listen people!
If you like this game, and don't want to pay a subscription model, you should totally join me on IL-2 Sturmovik 1946.
It's only $20 retail right now, and it has full online multiplayer (with a HUGE community), with HUGE singleplayer campaigns, and dynamic singleplayer campaigns, where you pick your pilot's country and fly your own missions during the course of the war, with AI battles contributing to not just scenery but war progress.
It requires a joystick, though. And, some patience. This is the real deal, the most realistic simulator out there. But once you get the hang of it, it is great fun.
In multiplayer, you can do team "deathmatches", or you can do objective-based missions where their are targets placed around the map. You can also set up a co-op mode, which is basically like doing the campaigns from single-player with other people replacing your AI squadmates.
For those of you who want big crashes, you certainly got them. The planes damage models are very accurate, and you'll be surprised every time you crash.
This video is more of a silly things to do with physics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwPSCEZiNMwThese are more crashes while actually "playing" the game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z1CRAHgGUshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ9jM7txEzwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEaV8vZDU6Y (might want to turn off the music on this one)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnLsQRPdwQ4This one here is pretty famous, actually, and is one of the best examples of the realisticness of each crash. If you have a good eye, you can determine exactly how each plane blew up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gswTGWSuNq4The forums for this game can be found here:
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/cfrm/f/25910613Those forums also have a great "Nugget's Guide" and some other amazing tools.
And, you can download (even make your own) skins for any aircraft! There are a HUGE number of mods out there, that really add a lot to the game.
Try it out, even though I hijacked the thread!
Basically, the 1946 is a compilation of every single expansion of the original IL-2 Sturmovik flight sim released in 2001. That way, instead of individually getting each expansion, you can just get this ONE dvd and you've got all the campaigns and planes from each expansion.
It requires no CD to play, only to install, and there is no DRM so you can install on as many machines as you want!
There is a big concern in the community over mod use, as the game is not programmed to recognize mods, and all mods are client-sided. That means someone could make a mod making their plane a lot faster, and only they would have it, and they would be able to use it on any server, without anyone knowing. Most "historically accurate & game balancing" mods are put into the All Aircraft Arcade mod compilation, which is basically the standard for "getting mods". So, if you want to have mods, you just use the single AAA installer and that is really all the mods you should get, as they are "approved" by the community. I myself do not use any mods at all, except for custom aircraft skins and player-made campaigns.
Because it uses all of the expansions, the game covers all theaters of war, including ones you may not have heard of before (unless you are a history buff). The original IL2 covered just the German-Russo conflict, and the expansions (including the monumental Pacific Fighters, which added the United States, Japanese, and other western armies) cover the rest of the theaters, and add tons of planes.
I think the full 1946 game has about 350 FLYABLE planes, with about 100 AI-ONLY planes, with about 60 campaigns, including a dynamic campaign for each country. Dynamic campaigns are basically placing you in a sandbox, with the sandbox being the war. You go out on your own missions, with AI battles also contributing to the war.
As I said above, it has awesome online multiplayer using Hyperlobby, with both regular and CO-OP missions.
Try it out! There are no other demos other than the second demo made for the original to gain publicity for Pacific Fighters, which doesn't have as good graphics or AI as does the current version.
That demo is what got me hooked, and you can try it here:
http://www.fileplanet.com/63881/60000/fileinfo/IL-2-Sturmovik-Demo-v2.0
