Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII

"Blazing WW II Air Combat but Cold Graphics."

Blazing Angels puts you in the cockpit of several warplanes from WW II as an unknown pilot striving to become a true hero in the skies. You and the Allied forces will duke it out with the Axis of Evil and attempt to gain victory for the Free World in this fast paced fighter simulator.

Story: 5/10
Mediocre story at best considering that this game is set in WW II and we all know what went down there, but at least they pick fairly good battles to throw you into and keep some historical accuracy but not text book precision.

Sound: 10/10
While the music in the game is nothing to write home about the rest of the sounds in the game are top notch. You will hear your engine scream as you speed towards the ground, the roar of the mighty twin engine ME 110, and the ever nerve racking hiss of the ME 262's Twin Jets as it comes to splash your sorry behind. On top of that you will easily be able to hear rather you are shooting an Automatic BB Gun or a deadly metal chewing 50 Caliber Cannon. This game is fully voice acted as well which is another plus even if the lines spat out by your enemies do get a bit repetitive after awhile.

Graphics: 5/10
So…Yeah…We were doing fairly well but here comes a real downer. This game could have come out for the PS2 and not had to change its graphical format in the least. The environment looks fairly good and all the planes look correct but none of the special effects or even the models are anything stunning or even up to par for what the 360 can do. Mind you, I do not even really like the 360 but come ON it can definitely render better graphics than this, I have seen them already. However, this game does so good in other areas that you can probably ignore this one over sight unless you are one of those "Awesome Graphics +Absolutely Nothing Else = Great Game" type of people, and then you should be ashamed of yourself because graphics are meaningless without good game play. You will not spend much time smelling the roses in this game so the graphics are fine for what you are doing.

Gameplay: 10/10
I for one found the gameplay to be very good indeed. The planes handle correctly for their make and model. Shooting someone with a 22 Cal Machine Gun hardly hurts them while the devastating power of the 60 Cal on the ME 262 will knock nearly anything out of the sky in one hit. If you are a good pilot and can pull fancy maneuvers like Rolling Scissors, Split S, or the Yo Yo then you will be pleased that they work just like they should. Your enemies will not always be the brightest bulbs on the Christmas Tree though and most of them will not require that level of sophistication to smack down. Still, what they lack in brains they make up for in shear numbers and relentlessness.

The Campaign mode is fairly easy but it is rather fun as it puts you in the seat of everything from a Bi-Plane to a Mighty Super Fortress and the beloved Pony. You will smack down Fighters, Bombers, Tanks, Ships, Factories, and even Jets before your tour ends. In this mode you get 3 wingmen to help you get the job done as well as a wide range of other helpers that come along. Tom is your cool headed ace type who looks to get the job done and will pull enemy fighters off you with taunts to give you a nice shot at them while they try to take him down (Kind of like Peppy Hare from Starfox). Joe is your ever-friendly mechanic gone pilot who can help you fix up your plane in the middle of battle with a button combo (Slippy here). Frank is your "leave it to me. I'm the best thing since machine guns when it comes to air combat" type of reckless full force Ace who can be ordered to go on a berserk killing spree on your enemies with great effect (Kind of like Falco). These three are very useful and in my experience never need much saving as they can really handle themselves just fine. Moreover, you can give these guys 3 general formation orders. They can defend you, stay near you in formation but attack whatever they like, or just go off an assault any target they wish. IMO you may as well leave them in full out attack mode to help take care of troublesome fighters and other objectives you do not have time to take care of yourself.

The multi-player for this game is also rather good with a wide variety of vs. and Co-op modes to choose from including bombing raids, dog fights, duels, and historical battles just to name a few. Having real players on your wing can make things a lot more fun and interesting and lets you show off the Ace Paints and Upgrades you can win in Ace Duel and Arcade modes.

Last but by no means least is the number of planes in this game. Between bomber and fighters you will have a nice full hanger of wonderful planes like the deadly and dreaded Zero, the heroic P 51 Mustang, the hated FW 190, and even the untested British Meteor. The game will give you some historical information on each of the planes and they all feel very realistic and proper during play so if you have a favorite plane from WW II this game can likely give you the chance to scatter some enemies to the wind in it.

Replay: 6/10
There is decent reason to replay this game a bit to do better then before and accomplish everything there is to accomplish with stellar performance instead of so-so piloting. Multi-Player also adds a bit more replay value to this game as well as the upgrades and ace paints you can score in some of the Stand Alone modes but it is a little overall lacking in heavy replay value.

Rent or Buy: I am going to be a little harsh but unless you are a serious fan of this game I think you can get away with just renting it. It is most fun to play with others so rent it for game night but you can easily accomplish all the goals while renting it and if you buy it, then it will likely collect some dust.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/30/06