A new mod from the creator of IL2-Mat Manager, Aces High 2, takes immersion to a new level for fans of the Battle of Britain era.

Immersion: a state of being deeply engaged or involved. In the flight sim world, it means a game with the ability to suspend disbelief, and allow the player to see, think and feel as though they are behind the stick of Bf109 E4 over the Channel on June 1940.

The wind whistles over the airframe, the engine throbs, nearby flak bursts so loud you can feel it in your chest, the joystick jumps as a line of cannon shells stitches its way across your wing, your heart beats harder and your palms sweat as you twist and turn avoiding the fighter on your six. The landscape whizzing by looks photographic whether seen from altitude or treetop level. That's one kind of immersion.

The other kind of immersion comes from the feeling of being there 'in time'. Is there a feeling of period? Could you believe you were in a 1940s world? Is the language appropriate, the interface, the historical accuracy? It's the immersion that comes from wanting to be able to, say, sit in the cockpit of Squadron Leader James Leatheart's Spitfire on 6 June 1940 at Rochford, and know it is represented in the right skin, at the right airfield, and being able to look out your cockpit at the famous P9398 KL-B numbered Spitfire with the Kiwi emblem, being flown by Alan Deere. That is 'period immersion.'

For the first time, there is a flight sim which not only models the correct markings and skins of every single Bf109, Spitfire and Hurricane which flew in the Battle of Britain, but now also the many hundreds of Luftwaffe bombers with their colourful spinners and emblems...


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http://www.freewebs.com/heinkill/

Nice article and writeup. For me realism is also being able to 'feel' the aircraft - force feedback to be able to sense a stall approaching, or feel the kick of the guns, butt kicker to feel the flak explosions and know exactly when your wheels kiss the turf...

Thx, made a little vid. Immersion is a lot of things, what I like about Aces work is that the world he helps create becomes more believable because it makes things more like they were in 1940 - the right unit in the right part of the sky at the right time with the right skin...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9hBIgcU48A

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I am one of those hopeless nerds who learns one aircraft at a time inside out, switches and levers mapped to the keyboard, printed checklist on a kneeboard. I love flying missions from clearance for takeoff and back to the pen again and so this is right up my alley.

It will be a hoot to get an escort mission where I have to meet up with a bomber gruppe over France or the Channel, and then escort them in. Half the challenge would be meeting up with the right bomber group because in the BOB2 dynamic campaign world the game is generating sorties on the fly all the time and the horizon can often be full of fighter and bomber staffeln.

Nice idea Aces, I can see some long nights learning my Luftwaffe aircraft recognition tables - do you have any tips to the system the LW used. How do I visually identify the various units?

BoB2 is one of the best WW2 flight simulators that is authentic to the era and provides the feeling of being there. Great work gentlemen! You definitely still have me as a fan of your great work.

You can order the boxed CD delivered by post for 19.99 plus delivery. Drop them a line if you don't like using internet for credit card details, they may take a cheque or money order...

www.a2asimulations.com

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Would be great to have him working for the SoW:BoB team!

Such amazing longevity for Il-2...