My review w/ patch v1.07 !
If your're looking for "just a flight simulator", pick-up Microsoft's Flight Simulator. Now, if you are looking for a combat flight simulator, and one that brings forth the dynamics of a certain period (eg Battle of Britain / WW2), this is the game for you.
I'll be honest, when I first caught glimpse of this game. I thought of it more as a "Get into the air and score kills". I was shocked! This game stretches the way you participate.
BOBII today simulates the Battle of Britain in three distinctly different game modes:
Instant Action: allowing the pilot to climb into the cockpit of any of the main combatants of the Battle, and fly a quick mission. From training, to one on one dogfighting, dive bombing and intercepts, squadron v squadron dogfights or as participant in a range of beautifully scripted historical missions.
Single Player Campaign: allowing the pilot to take the part of a pilot in any of the Spitfire or Hurricane squadrons which fought in theBattle. The player fights the missions allocated them, but their success or failure contributes to the success or failure of the RAF as a whole.
Commander Level Campaign: allowing the player to take complete control of the campaign, scaleable from simple 'fly and fight' style, to complete targeting and resource management. The campaign interface allows the player to control his air forces from a 2D map and by clicking on any aircraft icon on the map, 'frag' into that squadron/aircraft and join the dogfight in typical flight simulator combat mode.
Bob2 offers extreme immersion, with nerve wracking instant missions and with a campaign that is so gripping that every single minute offers a new and random challenge or opportunity.
The game's padlocking/view system is one of the most intuitive in combat sims. Joysticks can be mapped to enable you to padlock the nearest enemy fighter, or switch between targets on the air and the ground. Reverse and external views are possible, as is the ability to quickly padlock the aircraft that is shooting at you. The game is also fully compatible with the TrackIR system.
Perhaps most importantly, BOB2 allows the player to experience battles with not dozens, but several hundred aircraft visible in the sky at one time, without slowing the PC's frame rate to a snail's pace. You haven't lived until you have put yourself in the cockpit of a Hurricane climbing up to meet a huge armada of Luftwaffe fighters and bombers in BOB2. Within minutes you are in a tangled maelstrom of contrails, tracer fire and clashing aircraft. If you live long enough, you suddenly find yourself alone again over the English countryside, nursing your wounded kite home, and wondering what the heck happened.