One of better WW II simulations

IL2 is one of better air combat simulations. It has highly realistic level of flying. Depends if you play on easy, medium and hard. On easy you turn off things as turbulence, or engine overheats, or limited ammo, but on hard level you experience everything.

The game consists two sides - the German (Third Reich) and the USSR. The battle is on the Eastern front. Every side has a supreme air force, and the battles in air are quite realistic. As air-to-air weapon you have only machine guns, while from air-to-ground weapons you have bombs, rockets and torpedoes.
Every plane has its minimum and maximum speed. On minimum speed your plane stalls and crashes. On maximum speed your plane falls apart.
You can fly both sides as a fighter pilot, but only in USSR you can fly as a bomber pilot. The best is the fighter.
You can learn Russian and German language while playing. Because the pilots talk to each other on Russian or German (depends what frequency you listen - yours or the enemies), but the subtitles are on English.

When you are in the air your task isn't easy. In the beginning you must do as the squadron leader tells you (or just engage autopilot). Later you tell your flight what to do.
Intense air combat really makes you feel right! Just as you are targeting someone, someone else is targeting you! When you have limited ammunition then every bullet must hit. Then you will have to "almost sit on a target"; I mean come so close that you can almost see pilot’s eyes. And when you blow up enemy bomber... That's nice! The plane can blow up immediately as an effect from many bullet holes, or it can loose a wing, tail or something else and then you crash. There is nothing worse than have no ammo while in a dogfight. Just like sitting ducks, your only chance of surviving is to eject (then someone can fill your parachute with holes and you fell down) or try to run away home!

For each mission you get instructions, but on each mission you will also have to improvise, 'cause it's easier that carrying your orders to the letter. For completing the missions you get medals and promotions. Every next mission is little more complex then the last one and it needs more skills and creativity.

You fly on the bad weather as on the good. The clouds are good for hiding, but in them you can also loose the heat. Watch for the lightening in a storm.

In the game you have about 30 planes at your choice. But in the campaigns you don't choose witch plane you want, only in mission editor. Every plane has specific weaponry. For example MIGs can't carry bombs, but they can carry different types of machine guns.

Your plane acts as it is damaged. Very small damage could cause your plane to crash. You can fly without flaps or gear, but when you can't then land. Not only the plane can be damaged; also the pilot can be wounded or killed. There is also one "anomaly" - your plane is loaded with fuel and bullets, but no bombs. If you crash on the land you will be OK - undamaged and still able to take off, fly and fight. Unrealistic. If you crash in the ocean you can't take off. When you crash your pilot can eject. On the land he runs for a couple of meters. In the water he also runs for a couple of meters and lies down. Under water, without and diving equipment ha can spend hours. Then the pilots must have gills as fish.
The tutorial missions are really boring, so I wouldn't recommend them. It's better if you skip them and go straight to the game. You will learn the basics easily, while having a few peeks in the options/controls.
On windows platform (the read me file says win 2000, but I experienced thin on win XP and ME and 98) your game starts to run very slowly. It could be very annoying. The thing is that your PC does not support OpenGL. Then you must go to the options/graphic and instead OpenGL select DirectX. The game need DirectX 8.x compatible sound card, so if you continue to experience this problem later, just install a new version of DirectX.
Each side has so many missions. That guarantees you fun for a few months, or a few weeks if you are a fan of this game.
In many mission you will have many different targets. Over a hundred, maybe more missions are in the game. I don't remember the exact number, 'cause I haven't played it for a while.

Ground strikes are my favourite, especially when you hit moving vehicles or, even better, a whole naval fleet. But you will have to watch out from the flak. A few flak shells can bring you down. You use 50 lbs bombs, as well as 100, 200, 250, 500 lbs. The bigger it is, the more damage it does. You can also be damaged from it if you fly too low. There is no precise ground targeting, just pitch down from above on the target and release the bomb.

Graphic quality is on a high level, as well as the sound.

This game can surely be very interesting for the fans of this genre, and you certainly won't regret for buying it.
Remember, in WW 2 they didn't have Sidewinder rockets and smart bombs. This is as good as it gets, and for this game that's great!