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| | Difficulty: 2 | | Learning Curve: 2 | Published by:  GamersReports | | Date: 2006-09-27 |
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Written by DM
There are not many propeller-driven aerial combat games that come along these days. Only three or four spring to mind, and half of those were not very good. Crimson Skies is one of my favorite games of all time, does Blazing Angels measure up? Let’s find out.
Blazing Angels is a case where, once again, the demo available on Xbox Live does not do the game justice. When will developers learn that they cannot just take the first three levels or so of a game and plop it into a demo. The point is to make people buy the game, not scare them off with a boring tutorial. Hopefully the demos will get better soon.
Graphically, Blazing Angels can be great looking at times. It can also look like Xbox at times as well. The maps really can vary from stunning to ho-hum. The plane models are about as good as you would expect, there is not much you can do with propeller plane models. The game does have a certain Vaseline-on-the-lens quality about it, almost as if you are playing a dream sequence. It really adds to the feel of the game, since WWII was something a lot of us have never experienced except in movies and images.
The game itself is pretty straightforward. You and your 3 squad-mates will take on the hordes of German and Japanese fliers and ships. As you progress through the levels you will realize that even though the mission objectives vary greatly from level to level, the gameplay remains mainly the same. You have the targeting reticule, you can speed up and slow down, drop bombs, and fire a hail of bullets at the enemy. Beyond that there is not much you can do. Not to say that this is a bad thing, but if you are looking for a game that has a wide variety of gameplay, this is not for you. You can also command your squadmates in a limited capacity, instructing them to defend you or break off and attack. Not much, but it helps.
The sound in the game is adequate. The explosions and plane engine sound effects are pretty much dead on, although from time to time you will think you have just flown past your wingmate in a flying lawnmower. Could have used a bit more bass on the engine noise I think. The voice-overs are another matter entirely. They are pure cheese. The voice-over work should certainly not have passed the cheeseball test, but somehow it did. Your main companion, Joe, is the biggest redneck on the face of the Earth, and he talks like it. You just want to stick him with a pitchfork and cover him with hay.
The maps themselves are huge. Well, sort of anyway. The maps are built as far as you can see but when you get to a certain point the game will spin you around automatically and point you back in the direction of the objectives. This is a bit annoying at times when the enemy planes are allowed to fly out of the combat zone but you are not. Fortunately this does not happen that often.
Beyond that the game is exactly what you would expect it to be, a WWII aerial combat game. You can unlock different planes as you progress thorough the single player mode and use them in the online and multiplayer modes. Speaking of modes, let’s get to the mode by mode.
Campaign mode is the single player story mode. You will do all your offline playing here, as your progress through the story you will be able to unlock more maps and planes. Exactly what you would expect it to be.
Standalone Modes is where you can play a mini-campaign, play arcade mode, or have an Ace Duel. The mini-campaign is only available if you have already beaten the single player mode. Once you do you can play a mission again. The arcade mode is exactly what it says it is, you blow up as much as you can. The Ace Duel is where you can select the type of plane you want to battle another pilot in, one-on-one. They are supposed to be Aces that you fight, but we had no trouble beating any of them.
The multiplayer section has the standard Xbox Live, system link, and split screen modes. All of which include the same game types. You can pick solo, co-op. or squad game modes. Solo is every man for himself, squad is team based, and co-op is where you can play with others versus the AI. The three head to head modes are dogfight, aces high, and seek and destroy. Dogfight is the standard fight mode, seek and destroy has a bit more strategy to it, and aces high is even more strategic than seek and destroy. There are enough modes to keep players busy in multiplayer mode for a while, but Ubisoft better be preparing some downloads if they want this game to have a lasting appeal. There was no lag in the online modes that we could detect, and the matches progressed well even with 16 players on at the same time.
Player statistics is where gamers can see all their kills, deaths, and the like. They can also view all the medals they have earned so far, and they can visit the hangar to see all the planes they have collected in the campaign mode so far.
Normally we would not mention the options mode in the mode by mode but this one deserves special note. Not because it is done well but because it is, in fact, so lacking. There is only one control configuration. Yes, I said one. You can invert the Y-Axis and toggle vibration but that is the only settings available. This just screams lazy programming. Besides that you can adjust the volume of the music and sound effects and that is it. That is the extent of the options. In a game where control is one of the main points it is almost shameless to see such a lack of controller options.
The fact that Blazing Angels is a game in a genre with very little competition certainly makes it more attractive than it normally would be. The game is certainly not without its merits, it is worth checking out if you have the means. If you have the means to rent the game, that is, we cannot recommend this title as a buy unless you are a diehard fan of the WWII aerial combat genre.
Review Source: GamersReports.com
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| | There are 7 achievements with a total of 1000 points available |  | The Ace of Aces
You are the best pilot! You have achieved the highest score in all campaign missions to prove it! | 175 |  |  | Survivor
Survivor means "the one who outlives another". You have outlived your enemies in Arcade Mode. | 150 | |  | Ace Killer
You have been recognized as The Ace Killer! All the other Aces have accepted defeat. | 150 | |  | Veteran
You are one of the pilots who outlived the WWII and had the chance to tell the others about it. | 150 | |  | Hero
Few pilots in history achieved combat excellence and earned all medals. You are one of them! | 150 | | | View All Achievements (7) |
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