Been playing this out of the box (canned missions) and I must say its quite nice. It certainly won't replace AH though.
Since this has been the subject of microscopes in the OT forum for over a year now, I'll make my "Pro's and Con's" a short one:
Pros:
Graphics, finest available for WW2 air combat.
--Terrain, I find it one of the best, even up close.
--Clouds, "Did they steal a chapter from Hitech?"
--Light sourcing, Unbelieveable.
Interface, intuitive easy to use.
Cons:
Gunnery sucks. When firing, it appears (visually too, with the tracers) that your bullets are coming out of a box about 10 feet above your aircraft. Oh, you want to hit something with those bullets? Well, saddle up to the point where your about to saw off the tail of the enemy aircraft, thats the only way your gonna bring it down, your full load of ammunition, and in close.
FM: Questionable at best IMO. Don't even think of using rudder correction while strafing GV's, you'll be off course by 10 deg in a heart beat, no "fine rudder trim" while using pedals, its all or nothing with the pedals. Best to not use them at all. The planes seem to wallow in the air. Of course, FM's are a thing of personal choice...and personally, I do not like IL-2's FM's.
View system sucks. Nuff said.