1. #1
    Bo_Nidle's Avatar Senior Member
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    Dec 2001
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    For me it was the demo that came free with "PC Zone" magazine in the UK in 2001. All I had played to that point was CFS 1 & 2.

    When I saw the graphics and experienced the flight modeling I was unbelievably impressed but what "sold me" was when my wingman flew too close to me and took off my P-39's vertical stabiliser without the whole aircraft exploding as in other sims. I got it home but it was a struggle and that added tension brought the whole thing to life!

    Consequently I got IL2 from the Mrs for Xmas 2001.

    Since then the sim has remained on my subsequent PC's on a continual basis in its various incarnations and 8 years later I still play on it just about everyday. I can think of no other PC game that I can say that about.

    So how were you drawn into the virtual skies of WW2?
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  2. #2
    JtD's Avatar Senior Member
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    I, too, played the demo in 2001 after a friend of mine convinced me there was a good flight simulation game and I bought it because it was the first one to cover the eastern front - and it was good.
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  3. #3
    I was playing CFS 1 and had just completed basic flight school at Joint-ops and at that time several of them were trying out this new sim called Il2:Forgotten Battles, they started running an unofficial co-op night and I kept hearing how good it was, so I tried the demo and didn't care for it at first (it was so different) but after some time I tried it again and liked it so I bought the whole gettup (this was just after pacific fighters came out). Never played CFS1 again....
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  4. #4
    In early 2006 I picked up a copy of "The Ultimate Flight Collection", mainly for 'Pacific Fighters' after reading so many online post about this 'IL-2' combat flight sim and how it's the best ever. I have to say that 'PF' blew my mind (and eventally my wallet too): I then turned-on my online gaming buddies to 'Pacific Fighters' and there was no looking back to all the lame FPS games we left behind. Nowadays we all run well modded copies of 1946.
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  5. #5
    buglord's Avatar Senior Member
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    Very similar to you bo_nidle got the demo out of some mag in 2001 and my then girlfriend bought it me for xmas 2001 i had only played cfs1 and il2 just blew me away.
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  6. #6
    I played the demo back in 2001. What 'sold' me on it was that it was a good game. At that time the main WWII air combat game I was playing was European Air War, and IL-2 is a much better game in almost every respect. WWII flight sims have been my favorite genre going back to the TFH:BoB/ SWOTL days. IL-2 was the latest and greatest game to the WWII air combat scene, so of course I had to get it.
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  7. #7
    I remember trying the original demo, but I had some joystick problems back then that pretty much precluded me from playing anything with a stick. It wasn't until I bought Pacific Fighters with a Best Buy gift card I received for Christmas a few years ago that I really 'discovered' this game. Not one month after that purchase, I was hunting down copies of FB and the AEP to do a merged install!

    What sold me on it? Several things. The size of the planeset, FM and DM were contributing factors, but I'd have to say the community here (which I only found after looking for help for the ol' "CD not found" error) was the biggest draw.
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  8. #8
    I flew CFS 1+2, then after a couple of years of not playing, decided to get back into it when is saw and IL2 AEP for 3 quid at a bootsale.
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  9. #9
    what first sold the game for me was the first video clip, there was nothing that came near as far as the graphics were concerned. Then came the demo with the P39 and 109g6(or was it the AS model?) I was blown away and the wait for the full game seemed like eternity.
    I have recently watched a clip of a lengthy clip of Oleg talking about SoW BoB and i'm getting that giddy feeling all over again
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  10. #10
    ElAurens's Avatar Senior Member
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    I had tossed CFS2 in the dust bin after a couple of weeks in the fall of 2001. I figured if Microsoft could not make a good flight sim no one could, I told myself I was finished with virtual flying.

    Then the day after Christmas I was walking through the video game titles isle at Wal Mart of all places, when I saw an IL2 on the cover of a box. Now I knew I was the only person within 25 miles that had ever heard of an IL2 so out of curiosity I picked up the game. And the rest is history.
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