IL2 Forgotten Battles Ace Expansion Pack (IL2FBA) is the latest release of Oleg Maddox's acclaimed IL Sturmovik WWII combat flight sims. Truly an expansion and not a stand alone game, IL2FBA delivers new flyable and non-flyable aircraft, maps, campaigns, missions, etc. that should satisfy enthusiasts of the genre. Here is some of what you will find in this new add on.

20 new flyable aircraft, including the American P-51 series, P-38, and YP-80; the German Me-163B, Ta-152H-1, Mistel, and Ho-229; the Italian Fiat G.50; and Japanese Ki-84 and A6 Zero. 7 non-flyable AI aircraft, including the Finnish Gloster Gladiators and Hawk 75, Italian Fiat CR.42, the American B-17, and the German V-1 rocket.

• 3 pristine environments - Ardennes, Normandy, and a special Pacific online map.

• Completely revamped AI, including original, 3D-modeled ground objects for each new map area.

• 7 immersive dynamic campaigns, using Forgotten Battles maps.

• Innovative ranking and award campaign system.

• 20 single-player missions, using new and existing maps.

• 10 cooperative multiplayer missions, using new and existing maps.

In my own admission, I never have played the original IL Sturmovik game. Nor did I have the opportunity to review IL2 Forgotten Battles. So I took sometime to read a few reviews and message broads and have determined that most felt that IL2FB is more of an expansion pack for the original, rather than a stand-alone game. So that brings me to say that this expansion was definitely marketed correctly because it is exactly that…an expansion, but only if you have IL2FB. My point is this; you must have also purchased IL2FB because just the original IL Sturmovik won't work with IL2FBA.

Having said that, IL2FBA brings even more realistic vintage WWII aircraft from both the allied and axis forces. Not only are they accurately looking, they fly and handle just like the real thing. Novice players will find the learning curve quite steep, but yet once they have basic flight principles under their belt, will have many hours of enjoyment ahead of them. IL2FBA and IL2FB alike have poor training flights to learn from. If it wasn’t bad enough you can't actually train during these tutorials, you have to read the text as it talks you through the simulation. I found this frustrating. First off it is hard to read the text at the top of the screen because as the background changes, it makes the text hard to read. Secondly as you try and watch the cinematic of what is going on, (which are beautifully done), it becomes a distraction. Personally I like watch as I hear an instructor tell me how to do rather then try and read it. More over I would like to try it and master it rather than having to go play a mission or a campaign and rack up a bunch of crashes. But hey, that’s just me. Then again this is an expansion, so I would imagine that training would not be the driving force here, but the new maps, plains, missions, etc would be. So no lost points there.

Like its predecessor the game is graphically beautiful, and the sounds are awesome. The realism of the game will have even the casual player immersed back to WWII. I highly recommend playing with a force feedback stick to really add to the realism. It was this coupled with beautiful graphics that made the game very enjoyable, despite my poor flying ability.

Rumor has it that there will be a patch coming out for IL2FBA later this year that will have 10+ new flyable air craft bringing the total of all three products to a total of 122 aircraft. That in itself should tell any WWII aircraft enthusiast that if you should have all 3 titles as part of your gaming library! 20 new aircraft, and new missions and campaigns alone warrant the cost of the expansion.

Gameplay: 8
Enemy AI was very effective even on the easiest settings, which can be frustrating at first. There are some long missions that require a lot of flying just to reach the objectives. Thankfully you can speed up the time compression to get into the action.

Graphics: 8
Stunning. Truly a leader in the genre, the graphics are top notch. Nothing could be sweeter than watching fragments of a plain falling back down to earth as your plane is riddled with bullets.

Sound: 8
Engines, machine gunfire crashes, etc. all sound realistic.

Steep learning curve for those newbies, but Ace pilots should find it a bit easier. Enemy pilots seem to be very accurate though despite the difficulty setting you chose.

Concept: 7
Being able to pilot vintage aircraft from both sides is great concept. With all the WWII flight sims out there, it's not exactly a "new" idea.

Multiplayer: 8
This is probably the most fun part of the game. You can really match your skills with other pilots to see who is really the best. Nothing like playing against a human when the AI is just to predictable. Unfortunately for me, AI is hard enough; real people had me crash and burning left and right. But when you do manage to get a kill under your belt, WOW it feels great! CO-OP play is one of my favorite multiplayer games.

Overall: 8
A must have if you absolutely love the genre. The casual player however, may not find this to be one to add to their game library, but is definitely worth the price.