Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Shooter
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 23 Mar 06

User Rating
7.5 (4 votes)

Score 10 (Best) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 (Worst)

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Overview

Who says that WWII is truly behind us? If you look at the video games industry, there are more games released in WWII setting than any other event or time period. Ubi Soft's hopes to add something unique to the setting with their latest flight based action game Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII for the Xbox 360. Can they do it? Read our full review to find out!

Gameplay

For those of you who don't know, there has always been a feud among gamers as to whether flight based games are better on the PC or on the consoles. Many say the PC because the extra customizability that it offers with a full standard keyboard or flight stick. Others say the consoles because they control much better then the PC, or that the console versions are more accessible. Either way you spin it, flight games are really a popular genre that continues to grow throughout the years. Does Blazing Angels continue on with trend?

I have to say going into this review, Blazing Angels was one of the titles I was looking forward to playing after the initial wave of launch titles. The game promised a very in-depth and "next generation" look at aerial combat. In Blazing Angels you play an American Soldier who has been sent overseas to fight for the British Army. The game does a great job of really placing you into some of the more intense and memorable battles of WWII, and makes you feel like a big part of them. However character development is something the game seriously lacks. The story starts off rather strong but fades extremely quick. It feels like the developers ran out of ideas right after the introduction, which does hurt the progression of the game.

The air combat itself is very much arcade-style, no doubt about that. You can see Ubi Soft wanted to make sure that this was a very accessible game for all gamers, whether you are used to these sort of games or not. The actual combat is simple but highly effective and entertaining. The combat can vary from having a few enemies, to going up against a swarm of them. The game handles pretty well through all of this, and it doesn't take all that long to get the hang of the game.

There are two issues I had with Blazing Angel's single player campaign, and that is that the game never manages to keep levels feeling different. Besides the locations being different, the game never manages to distinguish itself between levels. The game starts to feel a bit too familiar at times. While some may not mind just pure action in flight games, I prefer a bit more variety. Also the game although not short, is at the same time not very deep. It won't take you long to play through Blazing Angels, which to me felt like a shame because there is so much more they could have done with the experience.

On the plus side however Blazing Angels does come equipped with a neatly packaged online experience that I found quite enjoyable. The game allows for up to 16 players online (most are below that however) for a few different variations of gameplay. The online experience was well created, with not all that much lag and just a good fun experience. In the end, Blazing Angels is a good flight combat experience that manages to do enough right to make it a worthwhile experience.

Graphics

As much as the gameplay had its ups and downs, the visuals are much more on the down end then they are the up. I should say first off that the game does manage to look "next gen" in the plane models, but everything else just feels bland. Throughout the whole game I got the experience like this was an unfinished game. I say this because there are so many levels at which the game needed just a lot more detail. Not only that, but the animation just felt like it could have been so much better than it was. It is not that Blazing Angels is a terrible looking game, it is just a disappointing one.

Fun Factor

When I got done playing Blazing Angels, I really had to sit down and evaluate my feelings on the game. This was one of the few games that was really tough for me award the scores. On one hand, I did enjoy the experience, and found some really memorable moments. But on the other hand, the game had some frustrating tidbits that I didn't like (example of this is repetitive nature) so I was really torn. In the end though, I felt that Squadrons of WWII was a game that had enough plus sides for me to be able to say that the game did offer up a rather enjoyable experience.

Overall

Even though Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII is not a perfect WWII aerial combat game, it is good enough to make for a good solid experience. If you are a fan of aerial combat and want to see a glimpse at the possibilities of aerial combat on the Xbox 360, then I would recommend renting this game. The rental period should be more than enough for you to fully enjoy this game.

Gameplay
7.0

Graphics
6.0

Fun Factor
7.0

Overall
7.0

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