IL-2 Sturmovik: Flying Circus - Volume III

Q: How might a company maximize revenue from its dedicated customer base for a single game? A: One approach could involve dividing the game into four separate parts and pricing each at £66, resulting in a total cost approaching £300. Q: How could a company encourage customers to purchase all four parts of the game? A: By strategically withholding key features from earlier installments, such as excluding Career Mode from the first part, compelling players to buy the second part. Furthermore, after spending over £120 on the first two parts, players may find that essential career content, like specific planes required for progression, is locked behind additional purchases. For instance, such planes could be included only in the fourth installment, priced at £55. The game might allow players to begin the career, only to present a prominent alert mid-play indicating that required assets are inaccessible without purchasing the final installment. This business strategy, while potentially profitable, may be perceived as predatory and could alienate the customer base. Players seeking a more transparent and value-driven experience might consider avoiding this approach altogether. AVOID AT ALL COSTS

I must say I am disappointed because the room for playing with these planes is actually pretty limited. As much as I appreciate the devs for making a beautiful game, Flying Circus feels like buying Rise of Flight all over again, but with limited gameplay. Also, it is ridiculous that there are no early birds (like the Fokker E.III) in one of these volumes. Even on sale it is costly. Pretty mixed feelings about it after the initial rush. Only buy it when they will ask €20, which will probably be never.

all i can say, it is not worth $70 onsale and its 103, not worth it. its more like a $20 dlc. such a ripoff

For the AU$76 that it costs currently on sale, this feels about right. The earlier aircraft feel like much more of an add-on to the game than volume II did. I'm not sure what the deal with the map is ... I think you get the new big WWI map no matter which Flying Circus DLC you buy, so it's possible that if the late war stuff doesn't interest you then you could simply buy this pack and enjoy it? I'm not recommending this for the full AU$117 though. Also - be aware that WWI content doesn't show up online much, there are a couple of servers that show up now and then, but it's largely dead now (as of May 2024). I am very uncomfortable with the business model of the Flying Circus packs. With the Battles DLCs (e.g. Battle of Normandy, Battle of Bodenplatte, etc.), you get a whole map and relevant aircraft to fly over it. But volume II of Flying Circus (which I can't review because I bought it directly from the developer - I do not recommend the Flying Circus II pack) felt severely short on content and really felt more like it had a bunch of content that should have been in Volume I! And of course you need to buy IL2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad for another AU$73 to even buy any of the Flying Circus DLCs. I understand that the developers have to do a lot of work to get the WWI aircraft from Rise of Flight up to IL2:Battles standard, but it still feels bad to spend the same for this pack as some of the Battles DLCs. At some point it doesn't matter to us, as users, whether you adapted previously developed content or developed this content from scratch - the WWI Flying Circus DLCs feel like they have much less content in them than the WWII DLCs. Wait for a sale, and obviously only buy this if you want the WWI experience!

Flew 103 days. Completed 87 flight missions. Shot down over two dozen aircraft. Died when I crashed into a church. 10/10 accurate World War 1 flight simulator.

This flying Circus volume III is excellent and I highly recommend this flight sim to all. Thumbs up!!!