#4033511 - 11/08/14 03:19 PM
Battle of Stalingrad review
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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 3,743
HeinKill
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Senior Member
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Cloud based
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Hi all, as I have in the past reviewed a lot of WWII sims and their add ons for SimHQ, I've been asked if I will be reviewing Battle of Stalingrad. I have written a review for those who would like to read it. You can read it here: http://www.simhq.com/air-combat/il-2-sturmovik-battle-stalingrad-review.htmlEnjoy! Fred 'Heinkill' Williams. (PS, and I managed to write the entire review without once mentioning War Thunder! )
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#4033580 - 11/08/14 06:27 PM
Re: Battle of Stalingrad review
[Re: HeinKill]
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Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 473
Taxman
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Member
Joined: Oct 1999
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Portland, OR USA
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Thanks HeinKill,
Good and balanced review. As you I find myself not flying very often.
Taxes are my part time profession, flying is my passion.
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#4033659 - 11/08/14 11:27 PM
Re: Battle of Stalingrad review
[Re: HeinKill]
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Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,079
WalterNowi
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Member
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Arcadia, CA
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Excellent review, thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Intel Xeon E5-1650 v2 ASUS Sabertooth X79 4 x 4GB Crucial Ballistix VLP PC3-12800 ASUS Cerberus GTX 1070 Ti Seasonic Platinum 860W Thrustmaster Cougar Uber II Nxt CH Products PT/TQ/MFP Slaw Pedals TrackIR 5
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#4033763 - 11/09/14 08:29 AM
Re: Battle of Stalingrad review
[Re: HeinKill]
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Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 9
PinkCrow
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Junior Member
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#4033823 - 11/09/14 01:31 PM
Re: Battle of Stalingrad review
[Re: HeinKill]
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,806
Bearcat99
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Senior Member
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USA
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Nice work. A very well written, fair and honest review. Exactly what I expected from you. There was one thing though.. in your conclusion you said I found the early access process to be an absolute joy to participate in. The developers were very professional, very communicative and unlike many projects, very focused in meeting their milestones. I would open up the game about once a month, it would download and update, and there would be a new aircraft to check out, a new mode to try. I could see the game taking shape before my eyes and it really did progress in leaps and bounds as you watched, not in inches, but in yards - 3 years from announcement, to launch, is a very impressive feat for a largely bug free product. .. actually it was less than two years from announcement, 22 months to be exact. The announcement was in December of 2012.. the sim was released in October of this year.
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
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#4033837 - 11/09/14 02:49 PM
Re: Battle of Stalingrad review
[Re: Bearcat99]
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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 3,743
HeinKill
Senior Member
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Senior Member
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Posts: 3,743
Cloud based
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Nice work. A very well written, fair and honest review. Exactly what I expected from you. There was one thing though.. in your conclusion you said I found the early access process to be an absolute joy to participate in. The developers were very professional, very communicative and unlike many projects, very focused in meeting their milestones. I would open up the game about once a month, it would download and update, and there would be a new aircraft to check out, a new mode to try. I could see the game taking shape before my eyes and it really did progress in leaps and bounds as you watched, not in inches, but in yards - 3 years from announcement, to launch, is a very impressive feat for a largely bug free product. .. actually it was less than two years from announcement, 22 months to be exact. The announcement was in December of 2012.. the sim was released in October of this year. Will correct that, as this is an important achievement in my book. H
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#4033838 - 11/09/14 02:51 PM
Re: Battle of Stalingrad review
[Re: HeinKill]
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,806
Bearcat99
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Senior Member
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USA
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(PS, and I managed to write the entire review without once mentioning War Thunder! ) He said while posting review on a WT blog... Seriously though... so are you going to post that here? You should...
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
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#4033908 - 11/09/14 08:22 PM
Re: Battle of Stalingrad review
[Re: HeinKill]
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Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 1,398
KodiakJac
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USA
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A very well written and fair review...
"So what is left is a very very professionally executed piece of code without much emotional appeal. But, I felt the same way about the original IL2 when it was released. I found that game to be a very clinically nice piece of software, but lacking the immersion and emotion of other titles of the period. And look what that turned into. I have the same hopes for Battle of Stalingrad." - HeinKill
I have the same hopes, but with this philosophy:
"We worried that players might forget the genre in the wreckless rithm of modern entertainment industry, and that we might release a game too complicated and slow for players." - Albert Zhiltsov (aka =FB=Loft) from his announcement of the release of IL-2 Battle of Stalingrad
...I have serious doubts about 1CGS attempting to recreate the immersive single player campaign game style of the original IL-2 series. I hope I'm wrong.
Dogfighting is what you do "after" you drop your bombs and blow something up! Can you say "JABO!"
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#4033910 - 11/09/14 08:31 PM
Re: Battle of Stalingrad review
[Re: HeinKill]
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,806
Bearcat99
Senior Member
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Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,806
USA
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Nice work. A very well written, fair and honest review. Exactly what I expected from you. There was one thing though.. in your conclusion you said I found the early access process to be an absolute joy to participate in. The developers were very professional, very communicative and unlike many projects, very focused in meeting their milestones. I would open up the game about once a month, it would download and update, and there would be a new aircraft to check out, a new mode to try. I could see the game taking shape before my eyes and it really did progress in leaps and bounds as you watched, not in inches, but in yards - 3 years from announcement, to launch, is a very impressive feat for a largely bug free product. .. actually it was less than two years from announcement, 22 months to be exact. The announcement was in December of 2012.. the sim was released in October of this year. Will correct that, as this is an important achievement in my book. H Cool.. I see you fixed that already ... Also in the conclusion there is this... Then, right at the finish line, the developers stumbled. They had announced long ago that the single player game would have a random mission format, with XP points to unlock mods. That was no surprise. The surprise was a) that they applied those unlocks to their premium 'founder' group who had been using the planes with mods unlocked for years, and, that they would force MP players to play the SP game to 'earn' the unlocks. Unlocks which are not really that special, and include bomb and ammunition loadouts that should just be standard for the aircraft types involved (like a rear gunner on the IL2 which was standard on aircraft delivered to the front from January 1942). and... These various decisions cost them a lot of the goodwill they had built up over several years of early access success. Given the time frame involved with this project if you substituted months for years it would make more sense... Simon pointed that out @ BoS... (TY E1!) Other than that it is a great review and it should be here at SHQ to go along with all the other great write ups you have done over the years..
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
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#4033960 - 11/09/14 11:33 PM
Re: Battle of Stalingrad review
[Re: HeinKill]
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 8,771
Para_Bellum
Oberkriegkaboomführer
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Oberkriegkaboomführer
Hotshot
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 8,771
Germany
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A good review, and I agree with the 7/10 rating.
"...late afternoon the Air Tasking Order came in [and] we found the A-10 part and we said, "We are going where!? We are doing what!?"
Capt. Todd Sheehy, Hog pilot, on receiving orders during Operation Desert Storm
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#4033987 - 11/10/14 12:58 AM
Re: Battle of Stalingrad review
[Re: HeinKill]
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,806
Bearcat99
Senior Member
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Senior Member
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Posts: 3,806
USA
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I thought it was good before... the only thing wrong with it was that it wasn't here first aside from some of the minor factual errors..
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
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#4033992 - 11/10/14 01:34 AM
Re: Battle of Stalingrad review
[Re: HeinKill]
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 2,271
Sluggish Controls
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Member
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Hong Kong
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Nicely put together, Some rartional thoughts finally injected into the discussion.
Cheers, SLug
"Major Burns isn't saying much of anything, Sir. I think he's formulating the answer..." - Radar - M*A*S*H
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#4034006 - 11/10/14 03:22 AM
Re: Battle of Stalingrad review
[Re: HeinKill]
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 126
heloguy
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Member
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Definitely a good review. I echo a lot of the same opinions. The one I tend to disagree with is the landscape. I think it's very well done taken for what it is.
As far as navigability, the snowy landscape coupled with the possible weather conditions, be it haze or a cloud deck, make the navigation piece a great challenge that I actually enjoy at the end of a furball. Trying to find my way home is actually pretty immersive, and I can imagine that pilots back then probably went through this on a day to day basis.
On the flip side, I feel like the detail of the navigation map (pressing "O") makes it pretty easy if you have clear weather. The map detail is probably a little unrealistic for the time period, but this is a decent compromise in my opinion, as I don't think I would have as much fun navigating home if I was lost 90% of the time. As it stands, I think that the terrain itself (and the navigation map) are perfect for what they represent.
The inclusion of more visible fighting on the ground would be a welcome addition, though. I agree that more destroyed equipment, as well as ongoing visible fighting would be a great thing to see.
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#4034010 - 11/10/14 03:50 AM
Re: Battle of Stalingrad review
[Re: HeinKill]
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Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 3,955
Sokol1
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Senior Member
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Internet
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"the VVS had only 200"Maybe more: A text "Air Battle over Volga" (in Russian, blame Google ) on BoS Russian Forum show these numbers for air forces at start of Uranus: Luftwaffe 330 serviceable aircraft 127 twin engine bombers 67 attack aircraft 64 fighters Recon 38 FW 189 12 Messerschmitt Bf 110 14 Ju 88 (operating in the south part of the front) VVS 1916 aircraft, of wich 1360 aircraft, including 519 fighters, in serviceable conditions. Russian local superiority: 4,5:1 Despite the bad weather, the Luftwaffe flight activity was intense and held air superiority over the pocket in November. Ruddel had 17 attack sorties in one day. The average of ressuply flights was 68 a day - 450 in two days. Sokol1
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