Xboxist

IL-2 Sturmovik Demo Lands on Xbox Live this Wednesday

505 Games and 1C Company have today confirmed that a single player demo for their upcoming flight combat title IL-2 Sturmovik will be landing on Xbox Live this Wednesday. The game, which is being billed as a "WWII action simulator", will get the demo treatment on Xbox LIVE Marketplace starting 29th July, with the full release hitting shelves on 4th September for Xbox 360, PS3, PSP and DS. You can check out our preview of the pint-sized PSP version of IL-2 Sturmovik here.

The IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds Of Prey demo will give players a taste of two of the game's major conflict scenarios, The Battle of Britain and The Battle of the Bulge.

In Battle of Britain: Red Skies Over Dover, players are given the role of an RAF pilot commanding the legendary Mk. II Spitfire with B wing armament (two canons, four machine guns). What starts off as a routine 'mopping up' mission on a few stray He-111 German bombers soon develops into a fracas in which the RAF faced their finest hour. The mission demonstrates the skills required to intercept larger bombers as well as the more nimble Stuka bombers. The effective use of wingmen will become apparent as the mission unfolds and survivors will have the opportunity to land on a home airstrip.

In Battle of the Bulge: Tiger Hunt, the US Air Force P-51D Mustang is the weapon of choice as players are invited to pick off some German armour ploughing through the Ardennes. Defending FW-190 fighters will also have to be dispatched; although the Tigers are the primary target as US forces aim to stem the German advance and defend the front line. The mission will allow players to try rocket attacks on ground targets as well as sample the snow capped vistas of the December Belgian landscape.

Based around large-scale aerial combat over the ground-based military operations of World War II, variety is at the heart of the action in IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey. Players participate in the most famous confrontations of the era piloting fighters, battle planes or heavy bombers across a range of missions. There are 6 theatres of war in which to engage - The Battle of Britain, Stalingrad, Berlin, Sicily, the Battle of the Bulge and Korsun - representing the main airborne battles of World War II in Europe.

Keep it locked to Xboxist, as we will have our full impressions of the single-player demo up early on Wednesday.

IL-2 Sturmovik is one seriously gorgeous looking game.