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Here’s an awesome video game/real world connection for you. Last week, Thai authorities seized a plane that was connected to smuggling arms in and out of awesome places like Russia and North Korea (both countries of which I have been drunk in. True story). The type of plane? An Il-76; a plane made by the very same manufacturer (Ilyushin), that made the Il-2, which just happens to be the subject of the most recent demo I’ve played: Il-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey.

Although it had just about the worst, and probably most racist voice acting ever in a game, I was big fan of Blazing Angels. It didn’t take itself too seriously by getting caught up in a bunch of details like flight instrumentation and an unnecessary variety of weapons, but it gave you just what you needed to have a good time: a machine gun, some rockets, and someone to shoot at. It was fairly shallow gameplay-wise, but it produced a lot of body-leaning good times.

Much of the same can be said from my demo experience wit Il-2. It’s not gaudy or flashy, and although it does have more depth Blazing Angels, it focus more on the ride than the small technicalities. There are a multitude of different viewpoints both in and out of the cockpit, and a target lock-on that ensures you don’t lose sight of what you’re going after. However, the tutorial mission puts you in the air with dozens of slow moving targets all around you, so I didn’t get a feel for anything as fast or intense as a dogfight. The controls are a tricky to wrap your mind around at first, especially since I feel I just mastered simple piloting techniques of the planes in Battlefield: 1942, but once I overcame that curve, it started becoming more natural.

Look, this game isn’t a Modern Warfare 2, or an Assassin’s Creed 2, or an Uncharted 2, but it can definitely be something a little less involved for you to get into after all those top-tier titles have run their course, and by then you’ll be able to pick it up on the cheap. If you liked Blazing Angels, or even really liked the flying in BF:1943, give the Il-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey demo a shot.