Korea. IL-2 Series

The main problem is the price being vastly disproportionate to both the level of content and the overall experience. I honestly don't think I would have an issue with it if there was just some more transparency and, shall we say, honesty from the devs. Instead of giving it an early access label with disclaimers about performance, optimization and skeletal content, we see community managers on Steam forums, discussions and reviews who actively falsify the state of the game and deny the price point- all of which only serves to mislead and deceive the public. The game was running so bad for me that I had to check the system requirements, which are well under my rig. So the requirements are either grossly misrepresented on the storefront or else the game is extremely unoptimized to the point that it is not truly a 1.0 release. It's one or the other. We have a product that is more expensive out of the box than almost anything else you'll see on Steam with astonishing gaslighting from 1C community reps. And I say all this as someone who has always adored the Il-2 series and supported every one of their games. I would caution anyone from supporting this game until they either (1) reconsider the pricing or (2) vastly improve optimization, with the additional caveat that 1C is not the most reputable company at the moment. Buyer beware.

As it currently stand I cannot recommend this game. But before I get to why, starting off with the things that immediately stuck out to me as good and an improvement over the previous Great Battles title. 1) Haptic Feedback with the HF8 and Simshaker for Wings works out of the box 2) My Moza AB9, rudder pedals and VKB throttle quadrant were all detected immediately and all the critical functions already properly bound to where you would expect them to be making initial setup and testing very easy 3) They have added a doppler effect for passing aircraft so I no longer have to imagine the sound of an enemy aircraft rushing past the cockpit after going head to head 4) VR frametimes overall are improved over the previous title, likely owing to the move to DX12 5) Terrain textures are improved, although I would not say transformatively so, they still bear the roots of the previous title but are an improvement overall particularly with tree density. 6) Cockpit pilot model is a nice and welcome addition for immersion. And now, the bad stuff. 1) AMD FSR either is not working or the game is so incredibly CPU bound that it makes absolutely zero difference to performance having it enabled. It is also only FSR 3.1.3 which means if you are on a 7000 series or 9000 series card AMD drivers will not automatically upgrade it to FSR 4.1 - this could be because FSR is for some reason not working at all though 2) The games graphical options are still tied to the same "preset" system as the old game was so there is very little granularity available to the user to tweak for optimal image quality and performance for VR pipelines. While I can achieve stable FPS at higher altitudes in a furball, as soon as I get up close and tight with an enemy aircraft and start to engage with them, the main renderer thread on the CPU stalls and causes hitching in flight and it worsens exponentially when smoke and debris starts to appear from the enemy airframe. This exact same engine behaviour was observable in the old title and after years of trying to tweak and adjust it out of graphics settings to no avail because the game simply does not let you control that beyod the baked in presets which worsen a whole array of image quality settings not just the specific ones causing the hitching, I finally fixed it with a mod made by Stonehouse which adjusted the smoke and fire effects, making the game look not only much better and more realistic but eliminated the hitching entirely. Having to play Korea now without that mod feels like a regression. And indeed, the smoke and contrail effects look, in my opinion, awful, just as they did in Great Battles, over exaggerated and needlessly wasteful on rendering performance and completely without the ability to adjust them. Hopefully, Stonehouse will create a similar mod for Korea but there is no guarantee. Speaking more on performance, although on the ground detail has seen a significant improvement over Great Battles, it comes at a great cost to performance. I have not tested night flying out yet but I am sure that will cost even greater performance still. The VR performance in general, for me, is not as bad as I was expecting as some early reports from users with 9800X3D and 5090 GPU's were claiming they could not achieve a stable baseline at any settings. My own rig has a far more modest 5800X3D CPU with a 7900XTX GPU and 32gb of 3600MHz DDR4 CL16 memory running through a Reverb G2 @60hz in Open XR mode (the game now has a native OpenXR implementation which is very useful, no more need to force Open Composite to bypass SteamVR - and OpenXR Toolkit also hooks correctly and is fully functional) With my setup I can achieve stable FPS in the air, but not on the ground. The engines charcteristics are basically identical to Great Battles in that the game appears to be simaltaneously CPU bound and GPU bound mostly at different times but sometimes at the same time which results in hitching from frametime spikes as one component waits for the other. This was something I had desperately hoped would be addressed by DX12 and engine improvements like multi threading - but I see no evidence of that being the case so far in my testing. This severely limits the scope and scale of the battles you can simulate effectively without running into major slow downs. Speaking of which, I have had multiple crashes to desktop when trying to fly the basic missions, and also experienced a crash to desktop every time I adjusted graphics settings without then restarting the game afterwards (which it no longer prompts you as being necessary to do) This machine is proven stable and reliable across DCS, MSFS 2020 and 2024 and IL2 Great Battles, so I am confident it is not a hardware or software or driver issue but teething trouble with the game itself for my specific hardware combo. But it is very much, not reliable at this point for me. The AI is a regression from Great Battles in every way. In Great Battles the Ai was half brain dead half red hot depending on mission scenario and complexity and what felt like sheer dumb luck. in Korea they truly do only one thing, if they do it at all. Turn in circles. As someone who is primarily interested in Single Player content and given that we live in an age of advanced AI - this is a huge letdown for immersion and an extreme disappointment for the future of the genre as seemingly nobody wants to make realistic and immersive combat flight simulation AI. I personally see it as a huge wasted opportunity to have blatantly put no development time into this. I do understand the game is still new and it will be improved upon. But a regression from Great Battles? a game that had 13 years of development where AI could have been improved and was still near universally complained about? This just seems like it's deliberate at this point, or alternatively, it is not technically feasible to improve the AI on top of the engine architecture limitations. I see no other reason to have delivered such a poor AI implementation in what is being billed as a next generation combat flight simulation experience. The FFB at the moment is supported in DirectInput mode only which is not the fault of the developers, however, their implementation of FFB in this game is very poor in my opinion but I am judging that against a fully configured telemetry supporting config from Great Battles. Hopefully this will improve with time. At the moment, there is no sense of wing loading or stick pressure differential from manuvering, weak gun effects and basically limited to stall buffet effects at the outer limit of the airframe, essentially exactly the same as Great Battles was in direct input mode. I bought this game by selling Counterstrike 2 Phoenix weapons cases so I feel like I got it for free essentially, so I am going to keep it and stick with the game as despite it's many shortcomings - most of which were shortcomings in Great Battles and still remain with this title, just like Great Battles, it will still offer many hours of entertainment and will no doubt improve with community mods and developer mods over time, but, had I paid "out of pocket" the $140 AUD for the premium edition that has the two collector planes included with it, I would be refunding it as a disappointment and simply returning to Great Battles because that game still offers everything Korea has to offer, just in a different theatre. That is the harsh truth. I see no great "generational leap" I had hoped for with a 13 year development gap between the simulations. Which is why despite the fact I am keeping the game, I cannot in good conscience recommend it in it's current state for the current asking price, especially if you already have Great Battles.

This was one of my most anticipated games coming out this year and the game is absolutely fantastic. The flight mechanics can be difficult if you want them to be or assistive and forgiving if you are casual like me and can't handle DCS levels of simulation. I don't have a HOTAS so being built from the ground up around compatibility with game controllers is a Godsend compared to previous IL-2 games and other flight sims. Flying around in period jets and piston aircraft is incredibly fun and just feels smooth - that's the best way I can describe it. I've never had an experience with a flight game like this before, whether it was Microsoft Combat Flight Sim, Microsoft FSX, MFS2020 or IL-2 Great Battles. Because of this it pains me to mark this game negative, because I really like it and want to play it more and more. The reason? Half of the game is currently broken. The two halves of this game are the career mode (single player) and the multiplayer. I have little experience with the mp but as far as I can tell it works well. This review is going to be based on the other half of the game, the single player career mode. In the single player career, you take on the role of a squadron leader of either a Blue squadron (USA) or a Red squadron (NoKo, Chinese, Soviet). During the career you need to maintain your squad is fighting shape by not over working them, getting them killed, and managing your supplies like fuel, ammo and equipment. Every time you fly a successful sortie you are allowed to requisition more planes, pilots, or equipment. Your Commander's skills improve your wingmate's base skills and you can give them medals and awards to improve their combat survivalness. It is a very fun game mode stretching over the course of the war from 1951 to 1953. So why the negative review? The Squadron AI is atrocious. Ironically it's not their combat skills, or their courage and likely hood of breaking formation and going rogue, they are actually useful in battle and it makes me smile to see them grow as a team. The problem is the landing part of the missions. When you return to the airfield to finish the mission you need to land successfully to complete it and go back to the briefing room. I have tried every command to make the AI wingmates hold formation above the airfield and stay aloft but they tend to follow you in formation on approach to the airfield. When the aircraft are not in landing configuration (flaps/gear down, ect) the planes tend to fly like a brick when at low alt and airspeed and I have had numerous wingmates literally fall out of the sky and blow up on the airfield. It's not even them following you on final, I have had times where they just outright disapeared when a few miles from the airfield with a static radio noise over the comms indicating a wingmate was killed in action. I have lost entire squadrons because of this. Because of this glitch/AI failure whatever you want to call it, the career is almost unplayable when you lose a dozen pilots "crashing on landing" after they survived a furball with MiGs, especially when you need to replace those planes and pilots. I have lost really high skill pilots because of this. Until this is fixed I am leaving a negative review because it kills 50% of the game's charm. If this is ever patched and fixed I will immediately update the review, because as I said earlier I do love this game a lot. It's just broken.

Overpriced for what you get. The "tutorial" (being generous with that word) tells you NOTHING about inputs and expects you to read through keybinds to figure it out yourself. Unless you are a hardcore flight sim fan who loves day 1 DLCs and a 79.99 base game with no tutorial skip this.

Что же. Кажется, это шаг в сторону расцвета жанра в старое доброе время. Когда-то симуляторы начинались с меню. Красивые стильные интерфейсы и меню, энциклопедии в игре... И здесь мы видим стильное оформление меню, ангар, выполненный в духе музея, подробную справку по каждому самолёту, со схемами и графиками (сколько люди ждали аналога компаря из "старичка" - и наконец дождались прямо в самой игре). Причём достаточно подробная справка есть не только по самолётам, а в принципе по всей технике в игре. Когда-то симуляторы были доступны широкой аудитории - так и здесь есть поддержка геймпадов, пресеты для разных джойстиков, мастер настройки джойстика, а в справке по самолётам даны указания по пилотированию. Разве что нет отдельных "учебников", рассказывающих основы для новичков в жанре - но надеюсь, что это только пока. Когда-то симуляторы были не только собственно симуляторами, а ещё и играми про планирование действий (как ровановская битва за Британию, например). И здесь такое есть - режим командира полка, с управлением ресурсами, планированием миссий, газетами... И в конце концов, с музыкой во время игры - когда такое видели в последний раз-то... А ещё добавились классные кинематографические камеры с интересными ракурсами - для роликов и повторов, и дополнительная настройка "крена" камеры - теперь скриншоты можно делать ещё более динамичными. Но вот когда-то сами симуляторы были достаточно простыми с точки зрения физики и графики. А теперь - эти аспекты шикарны. Красивое окружение, сам мир, техника, аэродромы, самолёты, кабины... И ощущения от полёта, в которые "веришь". И при всём при этом - уникальная эпоха и события, которым в авиасимуляторах не уделяли внимания почти три десятка лет. В общем, мы видим сплав старых идей со времён золотого века ранних симуляторов с новыми возможностями в графике и физической модели. И это замечательно. И надеюсь, что это только начало новой большой серии симуляторов. Также хочется отметить, что игра запустилась и работает на моей далеко не новой системе (старый i5 3.8ГГц, 3060.)

Ил-2 Корея сейчас — это лучший в мире боевой авиасимулятор по общей совокупности качеств: - В VR и с качественными контроллерами игра даёт самое достоверное и разнообразное ощущение от полёта среди всех симуляторов; - Модели отличаются не только исторической достоверностью, но и художественной консистентностью, нет ни одной вещи сделанной лениво, везде чувствуется рука художника; - Превосходная графика при небывалом размахе игрового мира, природа и города Кореи действительно потрясающие, это погружение в новый, совершенно не раскрытый в играх уголок мира. Аэродромы и окружение по сравнению с BoX действительно на новом уровне. - Контент, позволяющий симулировать любые боевые операции, воюющие армии представлены впечатляющим парком боевой техники на земле, на море и разумеется, в воздухе; - Новый режим карьеры куда интереснее старого, управлять подразделением интересно даже когда не вылетаешь на боевые задания сам, своеобразный выживач; - Уникальный генератор заданий, полностью использующий весь потенциал контента для создания иммерсивной среды; - Выглядит и играется как настоящий AAA-продукт, несмотря на то, что игра разработана небольшой командой; - Потрясающий режим музея, в котором можно залипнуть надолго, даже не запуская вылет, просто рассматривая модельки и читая информацию о них, вплоть до описаний каждого прибора в кабине; - Разрушаемое окружение, деформируемый ландшафт и физичное разрушение техники (особенно кораблей) выводят отстрел наземки на новый уровень, громить врага с воздуха, наводить хаос и поливать всё вокруг напалмом действительно весело. Чувствуешь себя грозной силой на поле боя, действительно способной повернуть ход боёв: спускаешь с рельс поезда, рушишь мосты и дамбы, громишь военные лагеря и колонны с техникой. Самолёты разматывает на куски в воздухе, машины разлетаются в стороны обгорелыми остовами, солдаты в панике разбегаются, городские кварталы рушатся, а ночные огни гаснут; - Огромный потенциал для мультиплеерных миссий, с нетерпением жду, когда к делу приступят ветераны строительства миссий из Great Battles; - Атаки на огромные строи бомбардировщиков выглядят просто эпично, хочется, чтобы разработчики развивали игру в этом направлении; - Множество QoL-улучшений по сравнению с Great Battles, последняя теперь выглядит несколько скелетно по сравнению с размахом того, что игроку предоставляет Корея в плане UIX. Cons: - Искусственный интеллект хоть и справляется со своей работой но не предоставляет челленджа для опытных пилотов; - VR-опыт для новичков мог бы стать блистательным с введением кликабельности в кокпитах и поддержки VR-контроллеров; - Пока не раскрыта уникальная для Ил-2 система мультиэкипажа, хотелось бы полетать на B-29 в компании друзей — надеюсь, такую возможность нам со временем предоставят, а пока ждём бомбардировщики для Great Battles; - Не хватает возможности покататься по игровому миру, хотя бы в режиме прямого управления ИИ-техникой, как это сделано в DCS; - Редактору миссий не хватает лоска и удобства нового интерфейса, он всё ещё выглядит скорее как внутренний инструмент разработчиков, а в новых функциях ещё предстоит разобраться — надеюсь, разработчики обновят руководство к редактору. В целом - уникальный опыт и топовое развлечение для VR, даже при том, что цена кусается.

Well, First things first - it's a great Sim. A great product. Planes working great, feeling realistic. Graphics is fine. (even though, the ground -could- get some improvement) But - here comes the but: For the 80€ it's just too less of content. If there will be a greater edition in the future, at the same pricing, I'll be buying it. For now, I must refund this simulation. As sad as it really is. We are talking here about 8? Planes in total 2 Quick Missions 1 Campaign. I do understand, that the base-game was hard to create - but the user must also get something in return for higher pricing, which as of now, is not the case.

Graphically, very beautiful. Damage models are unmatched in sims right now. My biggest gripe is the lazy work on the AI pilots, and how bad the English AI generated voices are in the game. The dogfights consist of the usual IL2 lazy turns that you expect from these games (not in a good way), which is a massive let-down considering the price. Ground attack is fine, but any air to air combat just feels stale after the first few flights. The use of AI generative things in this game also bothers me. The portraits look terrible, and the voices sound so artificial and make no sense. The radar operator sounds drunk, and pilots stating their callsigns for radio calls are sometimes unintelligible. For example, the english voice saying "taareee" instead of "three" or even "tree" like common radio brevity. I'm summarizing a lot here to be fair, but these things just grind my gears and make it hard to play the game for any length of time. If you have money to burn, and just want to fly around/multiplayer battles etc., the game is just fine. But career mode feels super lazy in multiple ways, and the AI is inept, which leads to the big thumbs down.