IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey is based around the large-scale aerial combat and ground military operations of World War II. Players can participate in some of the war’s most famous battles piloting fighters, battle planes and heavy bombers across a range of thrilling missions. There are five theatres of war to engage in – The Battle of Britain, Stalingrad, Berlin, Sicily and Korsun' representing the main airborne battles of World War II in Europe.

IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey also boasts an all new damage effects engine as well as advanced environmental visuals enriching the game play. Players can see real time damage to the aircraft such as holes in the wings and trail lines during dog fights. IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey features hundreds of airplanes taking part in air battles. The unique environmental engine also produces highly detailed, realistic landscapes that allow players to see breathtaking ground support actions.

IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds Of Prey's visuals are produced with the use of satellite photography. STRM database pictures, renowned for their uttermost precision, have been used to recreate the landscapes of war-torn Europe in remarkable detail.

Building accurate 1940’s environments using the latest in cutting edge satellite technology comes with a set of immediate problems, most obviously the 50 year time gap in buildings, foliage and other features, many of which did not exist at the time of the game’s setting and others which are now long gone from the real word and need to be added. To combat this, the development team have collated and pored over hundreds of wartime photos, documents and maps, painstakingly removing unwanted additions and recreating missing landscape features.

Whenever possible, locations have been remodelled according to genuine, historically accurate photos from archives around the world. These were laboriously compared with modern images to ensure all significant features were included or removed as appropriate. Where documented evidence was unavailable, the team took the time to create unique buildings in keeping with the style of the era, often imitating structures from other cites of the era and transposing them into the created landscapes. In total, over two million buildings and around 35 million trees were put in place using these processes to produce a level of realism hitherto unseen on current generation consoles.

“Collecting all the necessary data, both old and new, to create IL-2 had been a long battle all of its own,” commented Alex Price, Senior Global Brand Manager for 505 Games. “The game is now looking as good we had always anticipated it would and in light of that, the scouring of archives and satellite databases has all been worth it!”

Features

• Authentic World War II atmosphere
• Engage in more than 50 thrilling missions from famous historical battles over Eastern and Western Europe and fly historically accurate aircraft
• Flexible difficulty level system: from arcade to realistic simulation
• Thrilling multiplayer mode support customization - choose the color scheme of your plane and install your choice of weapons
• Cutting edge, highly-detailed visuals, realistic sound and original music from Jeremy Soule