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.

Jeremy Soule (KOTOR, Oblivion) and Joss Ackland (Lethal Weapon 2) performing on 1C Publishing’s IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey. Soule will be applying his unique talents to composing an exclusive European soundtrack for the game, whilst Ackland’s momentous, timeless and distinctive tones will be the backbone of the UK and US version of the game’s narration.

London-born Ackland is a distinguished stage actor, and has appeared as a chameleonic cad in over 100 films. Though he has avoided type-casting, in recent years he’s managed to secure many roles as a person of distinction, including Archchancellor Ridcully in Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather, Ambassador Lysenko in The Hunt for Red October, and Winston Churchill in Above & Beyond. Older gamers may remember him as the South African heavy in Lethal Weapon II or even the voice of the black rabbit in Watership Down!

Multi-award winning composer Soule, on the other hand, is a native of the videogame stage, supplying music for the leading games of the last ten years; Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Company of Heroes, Harry Potter, Total Annihilation, SOCOM: The Navy Seals and the Elder Scrolls series all owe their distinctive aural environments to him, alongside many, many more. With a corpus stretching from the deceptively simple Rugrats and Lemony Snicket, to the asian stylings of Guild Wars: Factions, to the opening of the $744 million-earning The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Soule has demonstrated his versatility and professionalism.

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

IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey, developed by Gaijin Entertainment, is coming to X360, PS3, PSP (Beatshapers), NDS (DiP Interactive) in 2009.

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