IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs Of Dover Announced

Anybody who's been feeling the recent drought of serious flight sims, anybody who's been eagerly anticipating the next project from Russian aviation engineer / game designer / genius Oleg Maddox, anybody who's been thinking fondly of the days when flight sims came with thick manuals, take a deep breath. Your troubles are over. IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover will be released on the 25th of March, and the press release has even got me excited, and I've never been into a flight sim in my life. Tell you what, though- I reckon I'll be playing this.

You like that screenshot up there? Here's another.

And another!

Click on that last one for bigger. Ooh, yes. Now, here's the press release in its entireity. Be sure not to miss the bits where it talks about 128 player multiplayer battles which can go on for weeks ("or even longer"), or where it talks about the collector's edition coming with a cloth pilot escape map, replica Spitfire I Aeroplane Pilot's Notes and a 150 page ring binder instruction manual.

London, UK – Tuesday January 18th, 2011 – Today Ubisoft announced that IL-2 STURMOVIK™: Cliffs of Dover, will take off on March 25th 2011 for PCs in the UK. IL-2 STURMOVIK™: Cliffs of Dover is the latest instalment in the acclaimed IL-2 Sturmovik™ series from award-winning developer 1C: Maddox Games.

In the UK, IL-2 STURMOVIK™: Cliffs of Dover will be available via download and boxed copy exclusively at Ubishop.
IL-2 STURMOVIK™: Cliffs of Dover takes place in 1940 during the pivotal aerial battle for the skies over Britain between the British, the German and the Italian air forces.

Key Features:

• New aircraft: Incredibly detailed true-to-life modeling of aircraft systems based on thousands of hours of dedicated research. Every single aircraft component can be damaged for realistic and immensely satisfying results.
• Flyable aircraft – Over a dozen famous and highly detailed English, German and Italian aircraft available, with all crew positions open to players. All flyable aircraft have been painstakingly researched, resulting in incredibly accurate cockpit interiors.
• Non-flyable aircraft –13 additional AI-controlled aircraft are also available, created with the same attention to historical accuracy, for an even more varied and immersive combat environment.

Immersive game modes:

• Exciting Single-Player Campaign – The campaign thrusts the player into the middle of the battle. The player will join the British Air Force to fight the German forces and renegade pilots on his own side.
• Massive multiplayer – Customizable modes range from simple deathmatch-style free-for-alls to epic, ongoing 128 player battles that can last hours, days, weeks, or even longer.
• Interactive training – Comprehensive interactive training for new players – fly a real WWII trainer plane with a computer controlled instructor through a series of training missions.
• Brand new setting – The battle will take place on a large area spanning London and southern England in the north, to Northern France and Belgium in the south. The huge map will contain thousands of historical cities, towns, roads, airfields, radar stations, ports, and industrial areas – all located exactly where they were in 1940.
• New 3D engine – Latest-gen graphics engine with DX10 and DX11 API support. Huge variety of photorealistic ground vehicles, buildings and other environmental elements recreate minute details of 1940s Europe.
• Customizable difficulty – Dozens of realism options allow newcomers to the franchise to reduce the difficulty and focus on the fun while learning the ropes of being a pilot.

Ubisoft also announced that IL-2 STURMOVIK™: Cliffs of Dover will be available in a special Collector’s Edition, along-side the standalone version exclusively at Ubishop in the UK.

This Collector’s Edition features the following collection of exclusive pilot material assets in a premium packaging:

• The Windows PC version of  IL-2 STURMOVIK™: Cliffs of Dover.
• A cloth pilot escape map showing The Battle of Britain strategic locations.
• A replica of the Pilot’s Notes on the Spitfire I Aeroplane, provided to RAF pilots during The Battle of Britain and reprinted from the RAF Museum original document.
• An in-depth 150-page ring binder pilot instructions.

For more information on IL-2 STURMOVIK™: Cliffs of Dover please visit http://www.il2sturmovik.com

And acting as the final shell in this info-barrage, we've got a trailer.

Is there anyone else out there who's never dabbled in flight sims but feels like this might be the one? Maybe we could start an RPS Cadet Club, or something.

Gentlemen, I do believe I am excited. I won't be pre-ordering the game just yet, but if you're so inclined you can do so here, or here for the collector's edition.