Reviews// Blazing Angels: Squadrons of World War II (Xbox 360)

As you might suspect from the time period in which the game is set, the interface is pretty simple. There is a targeting reticle for your guns and rockets, a reminder of the squadron task controls and the radio chatter at the top of the screen. When you are in position for a bombing, torpedo or photo run, a separate and specific reticle appears so you can use the weapon effectively. Weapons are basically unlimited, guns just keep firing, the other weapons have a set number available to you at a time, but will replenish after a short while. For bombs and rockets, your targeting reticle will show you the number of weapons available to you while it is visible. There are only two camera modes, both third-person in point of view, one that faces the way your aircraft is going and one that locks on to your currently selected target. The latter mode is best for tracking your target and following him round the skies, the former is best for avoiding the ground, water, buildings and ships that will end your mission with a letter to your parents.

Crashing, dying, blowing up. These are things you will be doing a lot, because the game gets hard once you hit the Pacific. There are loads of enemies attacking installations or bombers that you have to defend and seemingly little time to do either. If you get into a dogfight, you can spend a lot of time tracking down your target and find that your friends have been destroyed. If you concentrate on ground targets, the fighters get through, concentrate on the aircraft and the anti-aircraft guns take down your bombers. And there is always some enemy plane on your tail, filling you with lead. One mission in particular, the raid on the Japanese naval base at Rabaul, is a nightmare, you have to destroy the Japanese fighters at the defending air base before they can scramble to attack your bomber force. However, no matter how many times you rake the planes on the ground with rockets and bullets, they keep taking off, so you destroy the hangars and the control tower and still they come. So you attack the planes in the air, because now they are attacking the bombers you have to protect and the AA guns take out the bombers instead. It can all get a little frustrating at times, especially since every so often there is an un-skippable cut scene with inane banter from your squad and the other elements of the allied forces. In the case of the Rabaul mission, the cut scene is about five seconds in, just as you clear the headland and sight the air base.

Generally speaking, the planes you are flying handle well, with you being able to perform all sorts of acrobatic maneuvers in order to get your target in your sights. However, the left stick does not allow you to roll, you can only bank in order to turn your plane around. To roll, you have to use the right stick, which also handles the throttle and secondary weapon firing. If this seems a little strange, it will get stranger when I mention that you have no rudder control at all. Now I know that Blazing Angels isn't designed to be a flight sim, but this can be a little off-putting when you are used to more accurate flight controls. In addition, the system that assigns your selected target is a little strange, one moment you are targeted on an anti-aircraft emplacement, you free your camera lock to perform a loop and get back on target and when you try to lock the camera again, you are suddenly seeing a fighter. You can re-assign the selected target to be the closest threat, but that usually just points you at the plane on your tail, ruining your bombing run.

Despite the gripes above, Blazing Angels is a thoroughly enjoyable game full of derring-do and fly-boy antics, it enables you to live out every boy's dream of flying a Spitfire against the deadly Hun. In an enjoyable break from the norm, the load times are quite short with almost no delay when you re-try a mission, what load times that exist are softened by the loading screens giving you refreshers on the controls and how to use your squad members and weapons. Also there are no cinematics between missions, you see the results of the one you've just flown and then you are taken straight into the mission selection screen, one button press away from launching into the next. This is very addictive and you can suddenly find yourself sitting in the dark at some ungodly hour of the night wondering if you should see what the next mission is like or get some sleep.


SPOnG Rating: A-

With Blazing Angels: Squadrons of World War II, Ubisoft has a solid foundation on which to build a series that can run and run. Kind of like a Medal of Honour of the Air. A few tweaks to the control method could result in a true masterpiece, the game already has the one more go factor and an exciting and enjoyable play mechanic.