Developed by Gaijin Entertainment for Xbox 360 and PS3, DiP Interactive for Nintendo DS and DYNAMICSYSTEMS for PSP, IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds Of Prey takes place during the greatest aerial battles of all time, boasting some of the most realistic landscapes and aircraft seen in a flight sim.
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (STRM) database pictures, renowned for their incredible precision, have been used to recreate the landscapes of war-torn Europe in IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds Of Prey 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 the layout of buildings, foliage and other features, many of which did not exist at the time of the game’s setting, as well as other landscape elements which are now long gone from the real word and need to be added to the game. To combat this, the development team of IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds Of Prey have collated and pored over hundreds of wartime photos, documents and maps, painstakingly removing unwanted additions and recreating missing landscape features.
Whenever possible, locations featured in IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds Of Prey 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 previously unseen on current generation consoles.
Based around large-scale aerial combat over the ground-based military operations of World War II, variety is at the heart of the game’s action. Players participate in the war’s most famous confrontations piloting fighters, battle planes and heavy bombers across a range of thrilling missions. There are six seats of war to engage in â€" The Battle of Britain, Stalingrad, Berlin, Sicily, The Battle of the Bulge and Korsun â€" representing the main airborne battles of World War II in Europe.
As well as advanced environmental visuals enriching the game play, IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey also boasts an all-new damage effects engine. Players can see real-time damage to the aircraft such as holes in the wings and trail lines during dogfights. IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds Of Prey will be published by 505 Games under license by 1C Company in Q3 2009 for Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo DS and PSP.
