Review by: Dave VanDyk

We've got a double-bill special for you today at Gameshark! Not only are we giving Gaijin Entertainment's IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey a workout, but we decided it would be the perfect chance to take Saitek's new Aviator flightstick for a spin as well. After all, what better way is there to break in a joystick than enduring the struggle of trying to keep your antiquated plane airborne while ultra-realistic air dynamics, constant barrages of enemy fire, and your own ineptitude at air combat play constantly attempt to smash you into the ground?

First of all, I need to get my surprise at this game's existence out of the way. IL-2 Sturmovik is a fairly renowned PC flight sim which is widely known for being a bastard of a game to master, and is intimidating for new recruits to get into without setting the difficulty and realism levels to "Preschooler". The game (and its resident expansions) still have a fairly sizable cult following and are entertaining to get into, but the daunting amount of complexity and graphical detail which stand as the game's trademarks don't strike me as something that could easily translate into a console game.

And yet, here Birds of Prey stands as a testament to the utterly unexpected. While my instincts as a sim-oriented gamer were screaming at me to run for the hills (see: Mech Assault), I couldn't help but feel curious on how exactly the developers had crunched this thing down to work on the Xbox 360.

The game focuses on putting you in some of the major air battles of World War II across several theatres of war, including Stalingrad, Sicily, Berlin, and Britain. You're given the chance to fly numerous trademark combat aircraft including Spitfires, Hurricanes, Mustangs, and of course the beloved Sturmovik in a variety of fighting and bombing roles against German forces.

As you progress through the game, you're given additional points and unlockable items (ranging from aircraft and weapon packages to historical encyclopedia entries) based on your performance. While the storyline presented through the game's various campaign missions isn't exactly going to win any awards, it is fairly interesting and the game does a good job of throwing scripted events and unexpected twists your way. This is what I find most refreshing about this game versus its PC counterpart, which tends to focus more on realism and long-winded missions at the expense of an exciting, dramatic storyline. I've always felt that having absolute realism is overkill in any kind of game, and Birds of Prey seems to do a good job of showing how proper balance should be achieved.