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67 of 70 found the following review helpful:
Did WW2 Enemies Really Taunt You Incessantly?Apr 07, 2006
By Lisa Shea
"medieval swordfighting enthusiast"
In Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII you're a Yank pilot flying a variety of planes all around the globe in World War II battles. Do you feel the wind flying through your hair? Not really.
First, the basic layout. There are 42 different airplanes that you can eventually fly. The detailing on each one is quite nice. You have to start the propeller, get up to speed, learn how to zoom around in the sky. Do a barrel roll! No, just kidding, this isn't StarFox. Still, you get sun glinting off your landing gear, movement off the flaps, you name it.
The world around you is rather well detailed too. It's important to remember that unlike most other games where they world you can see is limited, in this game, because you're high in the sky, your visible landscape is *huge*. The game has fully rendered towns, villages, forests, moving tank formations, sailing ships, you name it. There is drifting smoke, raging fires and pounding surf. The skies are gorgeous at times. Yes, we did see occasional "shift lines" as the game coped with high speed turns, but considering the number of objects being tracked simultaneously I didn't think it unreasonable.
It's funny, we played this first right after I watched Last of the Mohegans. The soundtrack is almost *exactly* the same in some parts. I didn't consider that bad. What I *did* consider really bad is the inane radio chatter. Your enemies taunt you - in English - with the same phrases over and over again? It is questionably cute the first time, but it drives you completely insane after a few minutes. I realize they want you to feel "in the fight". They can certainly do that with comments from your own side, without having to resort to German snide taunts.
On to gameplay. The game checkpoints automatically rather frequently, which is good. The game isn't flight-sim difficult - I *love* flight sims but realize that many people don't want to put that kind of effort into learning to fly a plane. The plane flying is very arcadey. I don't say that in a bad way. This is a "fun" combat game, not a learn-to-fly-warplanes-after-3-months-of-practice simulator. What this means is that there's a lot of circling around, shooting down fighters, strafing tanks, and perfecting your aim. This isn't a game of detailed flight mechanics. It's a game of understanding the basics of flight, aiming your plane and shooting.
Because of this, they give you time limits so there is *some* challenge. If you're too slow or not accurate enough, you'll have to replay the mission. I actually found this to be a nicer / fairer balance than giving you a paper tissue plane that exploded all the time. If you're going to be frustrated that you were too slow, that's something you can work on. If on the other hand they made you so flammable that you blew up all the time, that would be a sure recipe for frustration.
If you're good, then you can zip through the missions in the game in about a day or two. But that's only starting the fun. Now you get to go online and face the *real* challenges, for which the game was merely a preview. It's always far more challenging to face real live enemies than simple AI. Also, there is a ton of replayability because many of the planes won't unlock until you hit special goals in the missions. It gives you incentive to go back through the worlds, pushing yourself to go more quickly, to shoot with more precision.
I'm sure some people will complain about the lack of "modern technology" in World War II. You don't have radar on your screen, for example. That's the way things were! Heck, your enemies light up with red symbols making them super easy to spot even from a long way off. I'm sure WWII fighters didn't have that either :) That being said, surely WWII planes had air speed and level indicators! I'd like at least the option of turning on and off those basic visuals.
Still, I found it really immersive to fly over London, the widescreen graphics shoing me all the streets below, with the dark clouds above, and tons of planes circling around in the air attacking each other. You just sort of tune out the inane chatter part, listen to the air raid sirens and do your best to keep the civilians safe. There was plenty here to keep me having fun. If / when they come out with the next version, I'd just ask that they tone down the overly talkative characters.
Rating: 4/5
24 of 28 found the following review helpful:
Gun blazing fun, without any fanfareMar 25, 2006
By DarkDan
"DarkDan"
Technically, the game is well designed. The controls are unique and interesting (for example, you rotate the right stick to hand-start your airplane) and the graphics are beautiful. They're so good, in fact, that everyone who has an Xbox 360, owes it to themselves to fly over Paris, it's an amazing experience. The game also features a wealth of different game styles, including multiplayer (online or up to 4 players on the same Xbox 360 playing split-screen), mini-campaigns, arcade and ace duels.
But once you start playing the single-player campaign game, you'll be disappointed. The missions are too contrived and you don't receive enough information to successfully carry out a mission. For example, one desert objective is to "fly around and home in on a radio signal" but there's no real way to gauge where the signal is coming from and you'll end up just flying around in a sandstorm and happening upon the enemy camps by luck alone. Another example is when you're tasked to protect a fleet of bombers and your in-flight orders are contrary to what you need to actually do to complete the objective. As a result, the game becomes more frustrating than fun as you get deeper into it. What's worse, although you are not given a radar or any directional information (which, admittedly fits with the time period in which the game is set) the only on-screen information is a "health bar" for your fleet, ruining the effect of feeling like you're in WWII and making you focus on the only piece of information you have, which is dreadfully out of the element.
What's worse, the game gives only a basic list of mission objectives, and you're never specifically told how to earn all of the medals for each mission, or how to unlock the planes that are awarded for completing specific parts of a mission. Finally, the campaign portion of the game is short - it can be finished in a single day. And the "replayability" of the game is hindered by the fact that you have no idea how to go back and earn the medals and planes for each mission.
Although the scene that plays before you enter the mission is rendered, the in-game cut scenes are not rendered (meaning they don't use a higher level of graphics than you'll see while you're actually playing the game) and mostly consist of footage of groups of planes flying as the other characters in the game talk about the upcoming mission. It isn't exciting and you'll find yourself wishing it would end (but it cannot be skipped) when you have to replay levels with tough objectives or to earn the "ace rating."
And speaking of aces, Blazing Angels only offers seven achievements to earn the 1000 points of gamerscore available on the Xbox 360. These won't come easy either, as you don't earn anything for completing each level, but only once you've finished the game. Achievements are awarded for outliving your enemies in Arcade Mode, achieving the highest score in all campaign missions, earning all 18 medals from the single-player campaign, being branded the Ace Killer, reaching the rank of Colonel, and collecting all of the planes. Gaining gamerscore in this title is certainly not a walk in the park.
All said, Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII is the only air combat title available for the Xbox 360. In fact, there aren't even any flight simulators available for the console, so if you're craving any sort of "in flight" experience, this title is the only game in town. I'd recommend it to die-hard flying game fans and those who like to battle online, but users looking for an exemplary single-player experience should look elsewhere.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Fun but frustratingNov 07, 2006
By C. W. Smith Visually, this game is stunning. The graphics are beautifully rendered, and the gameplay is a lot of fun. The controls may not be that of a flight sim, but thats not what this game is trying to achieve. It's true that you have unlimited fuel and ammo, which detracts from some aspects of a great flight combat game, but the missions are generally fast enough that it isn't a glaring shortcoming. The German trash-talking gets annoying after a while, but you just tune them out.
My main problem is with the difficulty of the game. Not the difficulty of the missions, mind you. The missions themselves are relatively easy and you can progress through the game at a pretty good pace, but progressing with a decent score is a different matter altogether. You finish each mission with a ranking from Novice Pilot to Ace, determining the availability of new planes and medals. Achieving an Ace ranking is on par with hitting a hole in one in golf - it's incredibly difficult. You can also take on an "Ace" in a side game, and you have to be flawless to win. I say again, flawless. The game can be very frustrating to someone who wants to achieve a perfect score, or even close to a perfect score.
If you just want a fun, visually entertaining flight game, this fills the bill. I just wish that the scoring was a little more forgiving.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Boring AngelsMay 27, 2006
By J. Bianco I was very disappointed in this release for the X-360. I was looking forward to a top-notch air combat game with amazing graphics, precision flight controls (not Microsoft Flight Simulator, obviously, but something *close* to Ghost Recon but in the air) a fantasic plot line and wild levels with surprises and challenges to keep me on the edge of my seat.
I will have to wait. In the meantime I have Blazing Angels, and feel an honest review might help others in my shoes, perhaps saving you the better half on a hundred dollars, to boot.
The air-combat is a joke. I think this needs to be said, and the sooner the better. There is a training section at the start, which is actually pretty fun, you fly an old bi-plane with touchy controls, it is probably the most realistic plane in the game, and I was looking forward to having to focus on keeping my combat aircraft airborne as well as trying to fight in later levels. Sadly, after setting the standard with the training craft (which you actually have to *try* to keep in the air) the planes in the rest of the game throw realism out the window. I actually had better luck ignoring things like "which way is up?" and found I can do an upside down barrel roll while shooting my machine guns without pause, performing a double loop and cutting the throttle off completely. The game seems to reward this sort of flying. Forget about realism, just jerk the stick and hammer the gas, it makes no difference.
The graphics are nice, but not stunning. There is little time to look around and enjoy the view, as the pace of this game is of the "next level there will be twice as many bad guys which are faster and tougher so get ready to hold down the 'shoot' button" style. The levels follow this theme for the most part, and where they deviate it is to have something frustrating like the "take photos of the enemy" level, where the mechanics of taking the photo are not explained and you can spend a lot of time getting frustrated, I did, at least until I went to the X-box website and looked up how to do this level there. I am unimpressed with a game that requires outside research of fundamental directions required to move forward in the game.
Finally, for the money I feel this game is a waste, it is not very fun, not original, and a dull experience.
Jim
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Starts off easy, gets unplayableMar 25, 2006
By Dracos The game looks great, the gameplay progresses from easy at first to pretty much unplayable with barely realistic goals and time limits.
The movie cutscenes aren't skippable which really stinks when you've done the same mission a dozen times or so, and the same lame commentary comes on again.
The Multiplayer is good, though, and the planes really do look awesome.
Honestly the game single player campaign mode frustrated me so much to get it done, that I'm not even sure I'll play another Ubisoft game.
If that's what you go for, this game is a 10. It's more like a 6 for me.
based on 43 reviews
( 43 customer reviews )
