Best WWII Flight Sim

I recently acquired the ‘IL-2 Sturmovik 1946′ compilation pack for pc and I am largely impressed by its content.

This pack contains:

- The original Il-2 Sturmovik

- Forgotten Battles and Ace expansion pack

- Pacific Fighters

- Operation Barbarossa pack

And 3 new expansions : Pe-2, Manchuria and 1946.

All these merged together into a single installation containing a total of 347 aircrafts with 256 being flyable (including prototypes not deployed in during war).   You can choose from over 10 nations (Soviet, Germans, British, French, Polish, Japanese, etc..). It features about a dozen of campaigns with around 1000 missions. There is also the Full Mission Builder which extends the game replayability and with online multiplayer you will never get bored.

I played several flight simulators before and I consider this one to be the best due to its realism and nearly unlimited gameplay time. The learning curve is a bit steep, but Il-2 Sturmovik is a must for every fans of World War 2 flight sims. Besides dogfighting (which is really intense ) it also offers ground-attack missions such as blowing up bridges, moving trains, airfields. The graphics are still good even after all these years and the damage model is very accurate. However casual gamers may prefer eye candy visuals. This game is more aimed towards hardcore flight sim fans, but anyone with enough patience to learn the basics will surely love it.

Besides Il-2 Sturmovik, other nice flight sims that are worthwhile to try are : Red Baron 3D (WWI Classic), Falcon 4.0 Allied Force(modern jets) and Flight Simulator X ( civilian aircrafts).

Update – New Screens : Battle of Britain Phase 1