Birds of Steel trailer recreates WWII aerial battles

Birds of Steel is that rarity of console games, a historical flight sim, and for those with an interest in the genre it looks very appealing indeed.

Birds of Steel is that rarity of console games, a historical flight sim, and for those with an interest in the genre it looks very appealing indeed.

In fact, though both World of Planes and World of Warplanes will be engaging PC players soon enough, aside the original Xbox's Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, it's really only the IL-2 Sturmovik series that has mastered World War II skypunching on home console platforms.

The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3's Birds of Steel may not be officially related to the Sturmovik stable, but developers Gaijin Entertainment were on board for IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey and return here for another dose of 1940s dogfighting.

Rather than revisiting Prey's European battlegrounds, Birds of Steel expands its horizons to Pacific conflicts -- Pearl Harbor, Wake Island and Guadalcanal among them -- and still has room for a visit to Germany's Ruhr Valley and sun-kissed Mediterranean island Malta.

Listen closely to the trailer's audio and there's evidence that Gaijin haven't lost their touch, with deliciously diverse propeller sounds accompanying each fly-past shown therein.