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#4033511 - 11/08/14 03:19 PM Battle of Stalingrad review  
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HeinKill Offline
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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.html

Enjoy!

Fred 'Heinkill' Williams.

(PS, and I managed to write the entire review without once mentioning War Thunder! jawdrop )


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#4033540 - 11/08/14 04:48 PM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: HeinKill]  
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gx007 Offline
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Presented well HK.

Your opinions are similar to mine.

A semi-polished gem now with hopes of longevity and support from enthusiasts and modders.

#4033559 - 11/08/14 05:37 PM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: HeinKill]  
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Trooper117 Offline
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Excellent review and encapsulates literally my own views... very well done!

#4033580 - 11/08/14 06:27 PM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: HeinKill]  
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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.
#4033659 - 11/08/14 11:27 PM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: HeinKill]  
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WalterNowi Offline
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Excellent review, thank you for sharing your thoughts.


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#4033763 - 11/09/14 08:29 AM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: HeinKill]  
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Well done!

#4033792 - 11/09/14 11:38 AM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: HeinKill]  
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2005AD Offline
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Very good review. Highlights the positives and negatives without showing clear bias either way. One of the truly jaw droppingly bad moments for me in the SP campaign (lols), was the utter emptiness of the map. At one point I was meant to believe that the battle of Stalingrad consisted of 4 trucks, 4 artillery pieces, 3 IL2s a Lagg3 and 2 Bf109s.

#4033823 - 11/09/14 01:31 PM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: HeinKill]  
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Bearcat99 Offline
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Nice work. A very well written, fair and honest review.

Exactly what I expected from you. beercheersbeercheersbeercheers

There was one thing though.. in your conclusion you said
Quote:
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.
#4033829 - 11/09/14 02:06 PM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: Bearcat99]  
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SkyHigh Offline
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A very accurate and honest review and I would have expected nothing less from Heinkill, a man who has contributed so much of his time to our hobby and over such a broad spectrum.

I will wait and see how things develop, but there appears to be sufficient foundation for a very good game. I noticed criticism of the AI was very brief and take this as encouraging from the point of view of the single-player game.

Thanks, Heinkill.

#4033837 - 11/09/14 02:49 PM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: Bearcat99]  
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HeinKill Offline
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Originally Posted By: Bearcat99
Nice work. A very well written, fair and honest review.

Exactly what I expected from you. beercheersbeercheersbeercheers

There was one thing though.. in your conclusion you said
Quote:
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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Bearcat99 Offline
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Originally Posted By: HeinKill


(PS, and I managed to write the entire review without once mentioning War Thunder! jawdrop )


He said while posting review on a WT blog... exitstageleft wink

Seriously though... so are you going to post that here? You should...


Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
#4033908 - 11/09/14 08:22 PM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: HeinKill]  
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KodiakJac Offline
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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!" thumbsup
#4033910 - 11/09/14 08:31 PM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: HeinKill]  
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Bearcat99 Offline
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Originally Posted By: HeinKill
Originally Posted By: Bearcat99
Nice work. A very well written, fair and honest review.

Exactly what I expected from you. beercheersbeercheersbeercheers

There was one thing though.. in your conclusion you said
Quote:
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...
Quote:
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...
Quote:
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..
thumbsup


Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
#4033949 - 11/09/14 10:56 PM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: HeinKill]  
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HeinKill Offline
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Updated. Also reconsidered and took out all references to CoD and the controversies around launch. Kept focus fully on my opinion of the game.

Added an overall rating: 7/10, reflecting how well I think the game plays, right out of the gate.

H


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#4033960 - 11/09/14 11:33 PM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: HeinKill]  
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Para_Bellum Offline
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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

#4033987 - 11/10/14 12:58 AM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: HeinKill]  
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Bearcat99 Offline
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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.
#4033992 - 11/10/14 01:34 AM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: HeinKill]  
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Sluggish Controls Offline
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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
#4034006 - 11/10/14 03:22 AM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: HeinKill]  
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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.

#4034010 - 11/10/14 03:50 AM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: HeinKill]  
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Sokol1 Offline
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"the VVS had only 200"

Maybe more:

Click to reveal..

A text "Air Battle over Volga" (in Russian, blame Google smile ) 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

#4034012 - 11/10/14 03:55 AM Re: Battle of Stalingrad review [Re: HeinKill]  
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Airdrop01 Offline
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17 in a day. That is astonishing!

I mean...how close was the airfield?


"For I know the plans that I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Matthew 5:11

Indeed we call blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, because “the Lord is compassionate and merciful. James 5:11
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