| 
Genre: Flight Sim / Shooter
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft
Release Date: March 23, 2006
 Snoopy’s
done it. You’ve done it. I’ve done it.
We all have, at one time or another, pretended
to be a daring pilot in the World War II conflicts, or some facsimile
thereof. We’d make crazy little airplane and machine gun noises,
and hoped no one heard us too loudly.
Well, make-believe no more, air-heads. Ubisoft’s
giving us Blazing Angels: Squadrons of World War II,
and it’s something that would make Snoopy proud. In this game, you’re
the central star of your own squadron. This squadron starts out as rookies,
but as the story rolls on, you and your wingmen’s skills improve
through battle.
These battles consist of ones that have taken place in World War II, with
some liberties taken for theatrics. You’ll also get to fly up to
38 planes, modeled after the real-life types used in the day; the P-51
Mustang and the British Spitfire, for example. Squads can also consist
of pilots of different nationalities in battle, which sometimes makes
for interesting pre- and post-battle conversations.
The whole thing is pretty much Medal of
Honor in the sky, which gives you a sense of being part of something
much bigger than yourself. At the same time, you’re definitely the
one making most of the difference. You’ll see your partners sometimes
act on their own, and maybe take down a few folks by themselves. On top
of this, you can issue commands to certain wingmen, or your entire squadron
at once—such commands include ones that call for protection, for
assistance on a target, or for indiscriminate carnage on every enemy in
the vicinity. Still, even through all of this, it’s clear that you
are the hero.
Dogfights aren’t the only aspect of the game,
however. There are also bombing sequences, which can be tough to get the
hang of at first. In these you have a gunner already in your plane shooting
at air targets, but you still have to protect him. At the same time, you’ll
have to let bombs go so that they’ll hit ground targets, such as
battleships.
One of the more novel approaches to the game’s
play mechanics is the enemy tracking system. By using the left trigger,
the view will shift from in front of you to towards wherever the most
enemies are, and zoom out a bit as well. Your controls will remain as
if your view will never shifted at all, and as a real cinematic feeling
can be had when you swivel your plane around to meet the oncoming enemy
horde. Not only does this all look really cool, but it makes sure that
the controls are as intuitive as possible. This is an arcade shooter at
heart that’s easy to pick up, and tough to master. As this is World
War II, there really isn’t any technology to make sure that shots
are perfect, and that rockets lock on properly. You’ll have to pick
your spots with explosives, and lead your shots with your own skill.
The game pumps a heck of a lot of atmosphere out
of the Xbox. In a smart move, the best visual effects have to do with
the sky itself. The varying types, densities and hues of the clouds are
a beautiful sight, and the smoke effects that take place when the fiery
debris of planes crash into the landscape are incredible. Visibility will
be impaired depending on how thick the smoke is. The whole thing takes
place over expansive models of cities residing in countries such as France,
Germany, and England, and both the cities and the planes are given almost
as much detail as the skies.
The game also keeps your ears busy at all times,
blasting you with the sounds of gunfire, rockets, bombs, your squadrons,
and the explosions. Oh, there are so many explosions. The Doppler sound
effects that take place when planes whiz by one another are also another
significant thing to take note of. Background music consists of patriotic,
epic tunes that are often drowned out b the sounds of battle, but are
still nice to have.
For those looking to take the action outside of
their home (somewhat), the game will feature up to 16 players on Xbox
Live. You can either duke it out amongst yourselves in dogfights, or form
squadrons for cooperative and tactical play.
If you’ve been looking for a way to do some
dogfighting, but you never could get into technical flight simulators,
yet still wanted something above the simplicity of Crimson Skies,
then Blazing Angels has got your number. Look for it
at the end of this month, and carve your own legacy as a World War II
Flying Ace.
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
