If you want to see how well a hardcore flight simulator can make the transition to a console game, check out the IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey demo available today on Xbox Live.

The IL-2 Sturmovik is a Russian plane from World War II. It was a sort of all-around workhorse used for fighting other aircraft as well as bombing ground targets. Since it didn't look particularly distinctive, and since it was restricted to the Eastern Front, it didn't come out of the war with the cachet of the P-51 Mustang, the FW-190 Focke-Wulfe, the B-17 Flying Fortress, or anything else you might have had as a plastic model when you were a kid. Even to people who actually know what it is, the IL-2 is about as sexy as vodka made from potatoes.

But the Birds of Prey console ports aren't only about the IL-2, which appears in the name as a shout-out to PC flight sim enthusiasts who've been playing the series since it began in 2001. In this latest version, you'll fly the sexier aircraft as well. From the press release:

Players participate in the most famous confrontations of the era piloting fighters, battle planes or heavy bombers across a range of thrilling missions. There are six theatres of war in which to engage - The Battle of Britain, Stalingrad, Berlin, Sicily, the Battle of the Bulge and Korsun - representing the main airborne battles of World War II in Europe.