Ubisoft has been getting a lot of praise recently on the Xbox 360 because of its graphically impressive shooter, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. Ubi is taking another shot at the next-generation console by heading to the air with a World War II arcade flyer, Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII. Will Blazing Angels follow in the path of Ghost Recon or go into a tailspin? The answer is a mixed blessing.

The game puts players in the role of a captain in the elite group of pilots known as the Blazing Angels. In the single-player experience, you’ll battle through some of the most historic dogfights of World War II that spans across the globe. Over the course of the game you’ll have a group of wingmen that provide the necessary backup for you to get through each battle alive in Joe, Frank and Tom. 

Just like Ubisoft’s success in Ghost Recon, the graphics for Blazing Angels are simply amazing to say the least. Over the course of the game you’ll battle through Dunkirk, North Africa, Pearl Harbor, Midway, Paris, Berlin and more. Each area looks completely different from the next and areas like London and Paris feature lifelike recreations of the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben.

If that wasn’t enough the graphics, other parts of the game are just as good including stunning sky, water and smoke effects. The horizon really is impressive and the sun at times can literally blind you if you’re going at it. Meanwhile the water effects are wonderful and the smoke throughout all the levels will bellow from enemy planes that are shot down, buildings blown to pieces on the ground and more. It really is a sight to see and makes you feel almost like you’re back in the 1940’s.

The sound in the game is another huge success for Ubisoft. Blazing Angels features perhaps some of the best sound effects on the 360 to date with plane engines rumbling, machine gun fire bursting and huge explosions all over the place. Overall the effects really put you in the experience. Add to that the background music and it is a pretty solid presentation.

Thankfully the game isn’t just sound and graphics since the controls for Blazing Angels make the game very easy to pickup and play for anyone. Controls are utilized simply with the two analog sticks to fly your plane and shooting is as simple as the right trigger. Meanwhile, left trigger locks on to the nearest enemy which is very helpful particularly in dogfights.

Staying with the controls, the game features a pretty simple squad command system that allows you to utilize skills by your three teammates. The one you’ll use most in the game is Joe, the mechanic. If your plane lights up in a blaze of flames all you have to do is press left on the d-pad and Joe will give you a four button code to repair your plane. This is a nice way to utilize the option and works well, but isn’t the most realistic. Meanwhile, you can also call on your other squad mate Tom to taunt enemy fighters. This causes him to pull the enemies away from you. Finally, Frank has the ability to pull out a remarkable attack that allows him to take out three or four enemies at once. These other options are nice to have, but obviously again aren’t the most realistic.

One more aspect of the game that probably makes it worth your while is the multiplayer on Xbox Live. Xbox Live allows gamers to play in various 16-man deathmatches including dogfight, seek and destroy, and aces high. Dogfight is an every man for himself mode, while seek and destroy is a last-man-standing option in which whoever lives the longest wins. Aces high has everyone going after one enemy and when you shoot him down you become the hunted. The pilot that lasts the longest wins the match.

Meanwhile, there are three other team battles featured in the game too. Capture the base has players landing on the other team’s runway; bombing run has you bomb each other’s base; and kamikaze has players defending against Japanese Zeros or piloting one and diving into a carrier. Blazing Angels features cooperative play for the single-player experience as well.

Though much of the graphics are great, there are some small areas that are less desirable. One such thing is the fact that beyond the landmarks in the cities, the rest of the area is pretty much filled with generic buildings. Another issue that presented itself is when you bomb battleships - they don’t actually sink and instead just catch on fire. A few other slight drawbacks are the fact that all enemy planes are highlighted in red brackets and despite running into each other in mid-air, the game features no collisions.

Just like the graphics, the sound sees its problems too in regards to your wingmen. All of them feature pretty generic accents and most of the dialogue is very repetitive. You’ll hear the same quotes often and sometimes even back to back. What is more problematic than that is the fact that you’ll listen in on enemy dialogue and they all speak in English, including the Germans and Japanese. It’s just another part of the game that pulls you out of the World War II experience.

If that isn’t enough the game has problems in relation to repairs and damage to your plane. Throughout the campaign mode players are able to get as many repairs as they need. There is no repair limitation making you nearly invincible to the computer. That’s not the end of either - damage doesn’t come into play in the game at all. If your plane is on fire or smoking, you’ll be able to fly it just as well as you did when it was perfect. That is a little too unrealistic and it would have been nice to at least see players be challenged more by forcing them to steer the plane relative to damage control.

One other problem related to realism is the fact that Blazing Angels gives players unlimited weaponry including ammo, missiles, bombs and torpedoes. This along with the fact that your teammates never find themselves getting shot down by the enemy makes Blazing Angels very unrealistic.

Finally, two other serious issues related to the game are the monotony and storyline. Simply put, the game throughout the campaign mode is pretty much the same thing over and over again. Either you’re shooting enemies with machine guns or utilizing missiles and bombs, but it is all pretty much the same thing - destroying the enemy.

The storyline on the other hand is relatively non-existent because between levels you’ll get approximately a paragraph telling you where you’re headed next. There are essentially no cutscenes showing what else is going on in the war or what your men have exactly accomplished.

For an original release on the Xbox 360, Blazing Angels is a solid title with some obvious faults. Besides slight drawbacks in the graphics and sound, Angels sees more of a problem in relation to the repetitiveness of the game and a non-existent storyline. Despite those major faults, the game features stunning lifelike graphics, impressive sound effects and wonderful multiplayer options that should keep players interested. Add to that the fact the controls make the game easy for anyone to pick up and play means Blazing Angels is enjoyable for a quick spin, but probably won’t provide gamers with the lasting appeal that you can find with other 360 games on the market.

It’s pretty simplistic since you are either bombing or shooting enemies from your plane.

Everything is stunning including the sky, planes, explosions, smoke and breath taking cities.

The sound effects are exceptional like plane noises, explosions and more, but the voice acting

Monotonous gameplay pulls the fun down resulting in the whole experience being much of the same

Single-player is solid, but won’t have you go back for more. Online provides enough fun.

]]> Tue, 18 Apr 2006 15:39:00 -0500 Brian Mohr http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_blazing_angels_squadrons_of_wwii_3601 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_blazing_angels_squadrons_of_wwii_3601 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_blazing_angels_squadrons_of_wwii_3601# This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

Crimson Skies was a hit flyer for Microsoft on the original Xbox and Ubisoft is looking to continue that success on the Xbox 360 when Blazing Angels: Squadrons of World War II releases in March. The game combines arcade action with flight simulation in a unique experience through many of the top battles of World War II.

First off, the game’s campaign mode features 20 missions where players battle through various parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. In the game you’ll fly over a burning London to save various parts of the city and then continue on your quest through some of the greatest battles of the war including Pearl Harbor, Paris and Midway.

Thankfully you won’t be fighting these battles alone as you’ll have rookie pilots as your wingmen who will improve as the war goes on. Players have a lot of control over their pilots as you can command them to defend you, attack and distract the enemies all with the simple control of the D-pad.

Important to any aerial game is obviously the airplanes. Ubisoft hasn’t actually confirmed all the planes that will be included, but they have said there will be over 40 types including the Mustang, Lighting, Flying Fortress, Spitfire, Messerschmitt and Japanese Zero to name a few. Each plane looks like its real life counterpart and when it is struck in midair your plane will take on bullet holes and eventually the wings bend off and your plane literally falls apart.

If that wasn’t enough the game’s visuals are stunning as well. The crashes are very realistic as planes will smoke, light on fire and explode. The cities and environments you fly over are just as impressive too as landmarks are included like The Eiffel Tower, Big Ben and more. Blazing Angels includes impressive particle and smoke effects both on your plane and on the ground. Meanwhile, Ubi has confirmed that throughout the cities, there will be civilians and vehicles on the ground too.

Of course one of the key selling points for any shooter, whether as a soldier or in the air, is online play. Blazing Angels features multiple modes of play including last man standing, cooperative play to help your team beat the computer, and squadron mode which allows you to battle it out in four on four teams. Each of these game modes will feature different types of play including dogfight, seek and destroy, kamikaze, bombing run, capture the base, and more to bring real variety to the whole experience.

Blazing Angels: Squadrons of World War II looks like it will provide Xbox 360 players plenty of enjoyment for months to come with stunning visuals, a wide variety of online gameplay and what appears to be a great storyline. The only foreseeable problem could be the controls and targeting which are expected to be a little complicated as they involve the two analog sticks. Overall it is hard to see anything wrong with Blazing Angels as it looks to be one of the few must buy titles so far for the Xbox 360 when it releases at the end of March.]]> Thu, 02 Mar 2006 16:30:53 -0600 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/wwii_tank_commander_now_out http://www.gamebump.com/go/wwii_tank_commander_now_out http://www.gamebump.com/go/wwii_tank_commander_now_out#

"'WWII Tank Commander' is pure pick-up-and-play addictive," said Got Game Entertainment founder Howard Horowitz. "If you’re ready to be the hero in command of a powerful Sherman tank, immersed in non-stop World War II action, engaging the enemy and fighting the good fight, then this is the game for you."

WWII Tank Commander is rated "T" for Teen by the ESRB for Violence. The game has a suggested retail price of $19.95 (USD).