I remember on release, people claimed it was bugged,seem lots of video of unplayable frame rate, have those issues been fixed ? is it safe to buy now ? thanks.

I bought it for 24.99 and its OK, I actually prefer the original IL2 to be honest

It's frustrating. so much potential, so many bugs.

it's now very playable, but the more you play the more you realise how broken it is.

still staggered a big company like ubisoft would put their name to such an unfinished product.

UBISOFT understands the sky isn't falling, its just a product that had to be released before it was finished, In the end the new IL-2 series will probably make more money for them than the original IL-2 series. The original series started slow as well, not because the initial release was unfinished, but because no one had ever heard of IL-2 Sturmovic. There were far more initial sales of the new series because of the good reputation built by the developers. When the bugs and features are working, and the next in the series is on its way all this angst will be forgotten.

Try again in a year. Its what I did. I am with the A-10C until this BOB sim is ready for prime time. The DCS A10 may not even have me look for another sim

Lots of potential, and a decent combat sim. Campaign etc needs work though. Alternatives are DCS A-10, Rise of Flight or IL2 with Ultrapak and Dark Blue World or HSFX mods. All of those are fantastic sims.

No, it's NOT safe!

Yes, but a lot depends on your PC. The actual minimum specs should be a 3+Ghz processor, 8GB Ram and a 1.5GB+ Video Card

If you have that, the game will run pretty good. If you have less than that, you will have tweak like mad and end with less than desirable results. The sim is running pretty nicely for me and is quite impressive.

Its not unplayable if you have a beefy rig, but there are a lot of issues left unfixed/unfinished at this time. It still has not had an official patch since the buggy unfinished release in NA (only beta patches). The next patch should be an indication where this is going. If it fixes some of the major issues there is hope for an excellent WWII sim in the future. If it breaks more than it fixes this sim IMO is doomed. Either way it appears it will take quite a while to get it finished.

I don't think it is doomed.. although it's bloody frustrating at times!
It has such a long way to go to reach the standard it claimed to be, but it still has a strong WWII aviation following that will stick by it.. and although I've seen lots of people cry ''thats it, I'm binning it'' (I've been there believe me), but they still show up a few weeks later, lol!
If there was a major competitor hot on its heels then maybe I'd agree it's on it's way out, but at the moment that isn't likely.

I don't think its doomed either. If the next patch is a big fail then it will be. But that is the reason for the beta patches to avoid the doomed scenario.

I still disagree mate.. I have been trying to get this thing to play with each successive patch and beta patch!
I have been so angry that I couldn't get the thing to work, and that was after upgrading to win7 64 bit pro, and purchasing a gtx570.
Yet my love for WWII aviation keeps bringing me back to try again.. eventualy after the last beta I have it working with no dramas.. now, there are many people out there just like me that will keep coming back regardless, unless that is there is another WWII aviation game that is better, and at this moment in time, there isn't much to choose from..

I actually agree with you. All the hardcore WWII fans will stay no matter how bad it is, but the the rest will give up if the next patch fubars. It all rides on the next patch. If the next patch breaks more than it fixes it is going to be a flop for all but the hardcores. However I don't expect this will happen because the beta patches are there to hopefully avoid this scenario. I think it will eventually get fixed and be a nice sim. Its just going to take a long time. Unless you are hardcore dedicated, its just too broken and unfinished at this point to bother with.

I'd love to buy it, but not until the Steam requirement is dropped. I'm a REAL hard-core WWII fan and long-time IL-2 fan, but this is just a no-go for me.

I can play it just fine, high settings and decent framerates and I don't have a huge machine so it's really subjective. There are many other titles that have major problems depending on what CPU/GPU you have so depending on who you ask it's either wonderful or garbage. Steam is here to stay and preferable to some other measures that are out there, sorry but it's unlikely that will be rescinded.

Dude, maybe you already know this but, you should really consider 64 bit W7. As it is right now you only have about 2.7 GB of usable Ram because your video card is stealing 1 Gb alone with the 32 bit Windows. Windows also takes about a gig, which leaves you with less than a gig for games etc. With 64 bit you will have the full 4 Gb available for CoD.

Hey there Vocatx, I don't know you but it's a shame you don't want to try this sim because of Steam, first of all because Steam is very unlikely to be dropped IMO, and second of all it is a huge amount of fun, especially online.
If there were to be any reason that I would recommend that somebody didn't buy this sim it would either be because you have a slower last gen rig, definitely if you have less than 1Gb Vram and less than 4Gb on a 64bit system, but definitely not because of Steam. I can understand people who feel strongly about DRM because I do too, as DRM goes though Steam is pretty much as good as it gets, plus its quite a good way of containing online cheating.
What is it that keeps you from trying something that you're clearly passionate about?

I was very uncertain about steam at first.. I'd heard all the stories and the negative vibes being bandied about by all and sundry.. but strangly enough, I started using it when Half Life went down that road..
I haven't looked back, I've had no drama with it whatsoever. Got many titles through steam now and I'll probably use it to get more.

I never had a problem with Steam either, and I really like using Steam to quickly verify and fix COD, if I screw up some files or pork a beta install.

Steam is fine. I was initially negative, but in the case of this game its not intrusive at all. Don't let it put you off.