➤ The great battle 🎮

From the so-called Operation Uranus (19-23 November 1942) until the total destruction of the infamous Sixth Army of the German Wermacht, at the beginning of 1943, took place what in the history books has passed as the "Battle of Stalingrad", one of the more bloody than the Second World War and considered by some to be the most important of the entire conflict, even the famous landing in Normandy, since it coincided with the first great defeat of the Axis, marking the beginning of its decline.

Just to give you an idea of the severity of the clash, among the more than three million soldiers who fought it, almost equally divided between Axis forces (Germany, Romania, Italy and Hungary, for the occasion) and the USSR, half lost life on the battlefield, and forty thousand were our compatriots. Beyond the fierce fighting, many of the deaths were caused by the absolutely prohibitive climatic conditions, so much so that of the more than one hundred thousand Germans of the Sixth Army taken prisoner by the Russians, only six thousand survived the harsh winter. Simply impressive numbers. This dramatic scenario has been repeatedly translated into novels, films and even video games, among which it is impossible not to mention the beautiful Call of Duty 2 and the recent Company of Heroes 2. Although they had an easier life - if you can say so. - soldiers on the ground and poor tankers, some of whom were even tied to the controls of their own vehicle to avoid desertions, the pilots played a fundamental role in the evolution of the confrontation, and the flight simulator object of our analysis, born within to the famous IL-2 Sturmovik series, puts the player in the shoes of the brave aviators - both German and Russian - who fought in those terrible months of European history. Rigorous and accurate as per tradition, IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad is a very pure simulator, able to redeem the half misstep made by the recent Cliffs of Dover chapter, released in 2011. If you want to know why, you just have to keep reading.

IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad manages to restore luster to the warplane simulator series

Molten lead

Officially announced by 1C Company in December 2012, the last chapter of the series dedicated to one of the most successful and famous Russian aircraft of the time - but not only - was immediately received with interest by enthusiasts, especially strong of the developers behind the project, that is the guys from 1C Game Studios in collaboration with 777 Studios, who had amply demonstrated their talent with the Digital Nature engine in Rise of Flight. After having "paused" for a few months in Early Access on Steam and on the dedicated platform, where we tested it, IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad has recently reached and exceeded version 1.0, which has further expanded the very aggressive and active community of players, despite being a niche product. The fundamental difference with the Early Access code that we covered a few weeks ago, lies in the introduction of the main dynamic campaign, which however left us a little perplexed by the lack of charisma shown. Divided into five distinct chapters, which explore from the first contacts with the Axis forces to the aforementioned defeat of the Sixth Army, it represents nothing more than a "generator" of single missions, where the player has a very wide possibility of intervention in the configuration of the single fight. The purpose, in each chapter, is to accumulate sufficient experience points to unlock the next one, being able to move freely both between the two warring factions and between the types of missions.

If desired, the entire campaign could be concluded using a single plane and always carrying out the same tasks, in turn divided into six main groups, namely Intercept, Escort, Ground Attack, Ground Support and Bombing. The aforementioned Ilyushin IL-2 Sturmovik, for example, can be used for ground attacks or troop support (a bit like the modern A-10), and the tasks often involve the destruction of artillery posts, columns of trucks and tanks or trains passing through a certain area of the endless map. By selecting the powerful Russian Pe-2 ser.87 bombers and the German He 111 H-6, however, more substantial targets such as railway stations or cities can be razed to the ground, perhaps juggling the various machine gun positions leaving the flight controls on autopilot. Light and fast aircraft such as the Messerschmitt BF 109 F-4 or the Lavochkin La-5 ser.8 are instead suitable for air escort and patrol missions, absolute protagonists of elegant and exciting dogfights. What the campaign lacks, beyond the videos that introduce each of the five aforementioned chapters, is a pinch of narrative that involves and encourages the player, launched in a succession of self-contained missions where the only sensitive variations are airports and airfields involved, as the encirclement of the Sixth Army towards the city of Stalingrad continues. Nor does the almost constantly snowy and monotonous setting help, which further flattens the feeling of "advancing" in the campaign (it is certainly not the fault of the developers if the battle took place between November and February in the rigid former USSR). Even the Single Missions have been further enriched with respect to the preliminary code, and now it is possible to range from ground attacks to patrol missions, passing through "strikes" during snow storms. (beautiful Ghost in the Snow, also available in a simplified version) or maybe at night. The variety is further expanded by the very effective Quick Mission editor, where the player can set - and share online - a whole series of parameters that involve the targets and allied aircraft, but also the climate, the time, the presence of wind, turbulence and so on. Although the global offer may still appear canonical and not particularly rich, IL-2 Sturmovik gives its best especially in the very successful online component, enhanced by the aforementioned community and incredibly solid and realistic flight dynamics.

Not just a game

As specified, IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad is not a title for everyone, both for its intrinsic complexity and for the patience it requires, and the only way to be appreciated is through a good joystick, as well as the painstaking study of numerous commands that can be imparted from the keyboard. Unfortunately, any semblance of tutorial is missing, an absence that further exacerbates the difficulty of approach for less accustomed players, perhaps eager to approach the genre for the first time. Even selecting the so-called "Normal" mode, which provides a whole series of facilitations to the pilot, especially as regards the HUD and engine management, the difficulty curve is quite high and already keeping a plane stably in flight is a fair success. Like any self-respecting simulator, the "dead times" spent simply flying to reach and return to the goal can be very long, and the aforementioned simplified mode also helps from this point of view, avoiding the player the problems of take-off and landing, as well as placing it a short distance from the so-called "Action Point", beautifully overcoming the Waypoints of the flight plan.

Played in Expert mode, however, the 1C Company title offers a very high hardcore challenge, where friendly fire is always around the corner - vehicles and targets on the ground must be recognized on sight - and any careless maneuver can cause disaster. The flight model is deep, realistic and coherent, with the ten available aircraft all significantly different from each other: try a take-off with a fighter and then with a bomber, and you will discover how hard the pilot's life must have been, especially with those climatic conditions. between snow on the flying field and strong wind that tried to throw you off the track. The starting sequences of the engine (or engines), flap control, fuel mixing based on altitude and a whole series of manual controls - more or less complex - must be assimilated and put into practice, if you do not want to finish on fire even before reaching the first waypoint. The airplanes were made according to the original manuals, and their behavior is extremely faithful to the stresses they could actually withstand: a swoop too fast can literally tear the wings, just as a sharp turn can cause a stall and cause us to enter a horizontal spin. with no possibility of recovery. Weight also plays a fundamental role in the physical model, where mounting bombs of a certain weight, as well as rockets or machine gun positions where possible, can make the difference in being able to perform certain maneuvers in complete safety. To further amplify the depth of the simulation there is a sublime damage and failure system, with an extremely precise hitbox that can lead to a whole series of problems in flight: from the oil that comes out of the engine completely sprinkling the glass (terrifying) to parts that they break, block or go up in flames, with all the consequences you can imagine. The pilot can also be injured or killed in flight by enemy bullets, which leave realistic holes in the cockpit. In this regard, forget games like Ace Combat but also the excellent War Thunder: the number of ammunition is very limited and must be dispensed with extreme reasoning, with small bursts addressed to the sensitive parts of enemy aircraft such as the fuselage or wings. Bringing the leather back home, even if punctured, after having shot down a couple of aircraft or perhaps destroyed some targets on the ground, gives great satisfaction, also because taking aim is anything but simple and the evasive maneuvers performed by the CPU complicate everything, although sometimes it lets itself be "preyed" easily. The charm and charisma of the fighting is enhanced in the online component, thanks to numerous servers where the most passionate players organize from simple fast dogfights to long and complex missions, perhaps based on historical documentation.

I light up white

From a technical point of view, the latest effort by 1C Game Studios is extremely solid, both for the modeling of the aircraft - truly splendid and full of details - and for the extension of the huge game map. Unfortunately, as pointed out, the scenarios, however suggestive, are all very similar to each other, with the blanket of snow that extends for thousands of square kilometers.

Urban areas, such as the city of Stalingrad (modern Volgograd), do not differ in detail from the average of other related products, nevertheless the construction of some famous monuments is appreciable, as well as the infrastructures most affected during the conflict. On the other hand, the lighting effects are wonderful, which in certain cases offer glimpses of rare beauty, especially at sunset. At night, on the other hand, the beams of light from the anti-aircraft reflectors enliven the scenery, sometimes embellished by the presence of the Volga or by particularly luxuriant forests. As mentioned, the absolute protagonists are the aircraft, characterized by extremely detailed cockpits - beautiful that of the He 111 H-6, absent in the Early Access code - with high definition textures and perfectly functional instrumentation, although it cannot be managed with the mouse as in other simulators. The Digital Nature engine is quite scalable and solid, and with our test setup, at maximum detail, we suffered some uncertainty especially when turning our heads inside the cockpit. Too bad that the advanced graphic options on which to intervene can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The audio samples are also very good, with sound effects with good incisiveness and three-dimensionality, while curiously there is no accompanying soundtrack even in the menus.

PC System Requirements

Test Setup

The editorial team uses the ASUS CG8250 Personal Computer
Intel Core i7 2600 processor
8 GB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 video card
Windows 7 operating system

Minimum requirements

Processore: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.6 GHz / Intel Core i5/i7 2.6 GHz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Video card: GeForce GTX 260 / Radeon HD5850
Disk space: 8 GB

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The last chapter of one of the most popular simulator sagas, IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad presents itself to fans with an extremely refined and deep flight model, capable of enhancing the uniqueness of the ten aircraft available. Although the contents are not very many and the dynamic campaign lacks bite, due to the absence of a story to follow and the extreme freedom granted to the player, the work 1C Game Studios gives the best of itself in the multiplayer sector, thanks to a very active and productive community. The double level of difficulty, Normal or Expert, makes the title more accessible at least for the most complex dynamics, however the absence of a tutorial provides a certain affinity with the genre from the beginning, where the use of a joystick is essential. Excellent from a technical point of view, especially for what concerns the aircraft models and the valuable lighting, the huge game map loses a pinch of charm due to the background repetitiveness of the settings, almost constantly covered with snow.