Blazing Angels: Squadrons Of WWII Review

Arguably one of the lesser-known Ubisoft studios, Romania was in fact the first of the company's studios to be located outside of France back in 1992 when it took responsibility for porting over Ubi's console titles to PC. Since then the Eastern European arm of the Guillemot Empire has worked to develop itself, and was tasked with creating the World War II arcade aircraft fighter Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII for Xbox 360, Xbox, and PC. The second relatively high-profile WWII arcade fighter in as many years after Codemasters' Heroes of the Pacific in 2005 (which was coincidentally published in North America by Ubisoft), Blazing Angels' Campaign mode follows the keys events of the war from the perspective of a US airman, beginning with the Battle of Britain in 1940 through to the battles in the Pacific including Pearl Harbour, Midway, and beyond.

For the most part players will face waves of enemy (both German and Japanese) aircraft including classic Zeros and Messerschmidts as they find themselves at the stick of classic British and US machines such as the Spitfire and P-51 Mustang. Over thirty contemporary planes from the era are available through the course of the game, and on completion of a mission, more of these become unlocked to fly in some of the other gametypes away from the main Campaign. Each are broken down into a number of attributes including Speed, Acceleration, and Agility, and Ubisoft Romania has done a good job at ensuring that every one feels different from the next.

Being an arcade title, it's straightforward enough to get used to the control system, with the two thumbsticks controlling direction and speed leaving the right trigger as a fire button. Featuring a basic squad command system that's controlled via the d-pad, players can change their four-man team into attacking or defending formations, as well as receive repair advice from mechanic Joe (where players have to press a button combination to patch up the plane) or call for back-up. In fact the button combos that 'heal' the plane introduces a quick-reflex feature to the game, especially when embroiled in a dogfight over the Pacific. Trying to dodge further fire while tapping the four-button combo was probably added to increase the level of tension for the player and whilst it doesn't quite do that, it's a neat feature nonetheless.

Despite little gameplay touches such as rolling the thumbstick to kick-start the propeller and the occasional landing manoeuvre thrown in to add a little bit of variety into the experience, Blazing Angels is largely a linear and repetitive affair. It's an unobtrusive arcade title where missions are broken up into a number of objectives whether that's dog fighting with fighters, taking down enemy bombers, or sinking battleships with torpedoes (where players have to fire within a certain range and altitude). Arguably fun in short bursts, it nonetheless will only satisfy in the short term, and will probably end up gathering dust on your shelf soon enough. There's little to keep you coming back for more, and even some of the other gametypes such as Ace Fights are short bursts from the main campaign itself.

Despite some added visual techniques in the lighting and smoke effects, Blazing Angels is graphically an Xbox title in High-Def, in other words, yet another Xbox 1.5 game. It's a game that for Xbox 360 is far from looking like a next-gen title, especially considering recent highlight releases. That said, Blazing Angels is a decent enough looking game on Xbox and PC, with plenty of detail and the number of planes in the air particularly impressive at times. If anything, the current-gen version merely makes the mediocrity of the Xbox 360 stand out further.

The planes have been replicated to great effect, and the pockmarks from bullets really add to the lacklustre looks, but there's a definite scale issue in the game between the fighters and other elements within the world. Buildings, ships, and tanks, may seem in proportion from the air, but fly down to lower altitudes (a requirement in certain missions) and a player's single-seater plane appears gargantuan compared to multi-storey buildings or aircraft carriers. An arcade title it may be but that, coupled with the fact that Ubisoft Romania are entrenched with the idea that 1940s London resembled the same style of Shakespeare's London over 300 years earlier, and there's more than enough for players to be pulled out of any sense of realism.

If there's one aspect of the game that's particularly annoying throughout, it's the dialogue, which is full of ridiculous lines from all camps and compounded by the terrible acting. Yes there's chatter throughout the dogfights and the missions (which get repeated on a constant basis) no doubt in an attempt to build a tension filled atmosphere, but it's so full of stereotypical cringe worthy stuff "I blasted him to bits" and "Reminds me of Pearl Harbour" that it's worth turning the dialogue off all-together.

That said there's one redeeming feature in the whole game that manages to lift the level excitement above the point of no return, and that's the Follow Camera, which when used creates a strong cinematic experience as well as making sure that gamers won't lose sight of the enemy. Swooping camera movements followed by an almost majestic image as the plane banks around to focus on the target does make the manoeuvres look great no matter whether you're playing the game or watching the game being played. It's a technique that's been executed with exception by the team at Ubisoft Romania, and one that has a strong practical use in the game.

Three single-player gametypes are available away from the Campaign itself: a Mini Campaign (which becomes unlocked once the main Campaign has been completed), an Arcade mode (where players dogfight with a number of enemies within a strict time limit), and Ace Duel, where players dog fight against a top pilot. It's the Arcade mode that really stand out amongst the others just become it strips away the main gameplay into a more raw form of just shooting down enemies. Overly simplistic yes, but there's no denying that you'll be watching the timer count down whilst you're fighting. The other two don't really expand upon what's already been established - the main game is an arcade fighter so how many different ways of playing it can there be?

Blazing Angels can be taken online via Xbox Live, which may just offer the game further redemption on both of its console targets. A number of key gamemodes such as Solo, Co-Op and Squad are available (and are self-explanatory) and each break down further into the actual gametypes. Dogfight (deathmatch), Seek and Destroy (players have to destroy specific targets) and Aces High (a single Ace player battles against the game) are available in the Solo mode, with Dogfight making a reappearance in both Squad and Co-Op modes together with the Capture the Flag inspired "Capture the Base" where players have to land on a runway to claim the base, and the rather more original Kamikaze where teams of two are split with one side defending a base and the other trying to Kamikaze into it instead - a few eyebrows raised about that gametype perhaps...More fun in large groups, the multiplayer might keeps a player's attention for a short time but it's unlikely that any of the modes will offer enough in the weeks and months ahead.