BLAZING ANGELS: SQUADRONS OF WWII (PC)
Take to the skies accompanied by your team and participate in some of the most famous air battles of World War II. You are part of the team known as Blazing Angels. In the skies of the game of Ubi so important is your aim and expertise at the controls as giving the right orders at the right times. The glory is in the air.
It seems that Xbox 360 is covering in its first months of life all kinds of genres with the aim of satisfying the greatest number of users. Now it's the turn of the aviation arcade. Although World War II is one of the most used topics in the world of video games, UbiSoft boys have dared to make an aviation arcade set in the most famous of conflicts to which they have added some interesting details that they make it a very option to consider.
Blazing Angels appeared a few months ago out of nowhere as a title for PC and Xbox that would allow us, once again, to relive some of the most important air battles of World War II. A few months later the release of this title was also announced for Xbox 360. As the development of the game progressed, some of the features that were announced, coupled with the screens that were gradually being released, made the community of gamers would be interested in this title, that although, it seemed that it was not going to be the summum of originality, at least it was going to have small touches of originality to take into account, and this has been the case.
The game puts us in the shoes of an English captain who along with his team, the Blazing Angels, will have to face different battles across the globe in different scenarios in order to decant the balance of the war on the side of the Allies The possibility of giving orders to our companions and an exquisite gameplay, make this game a title to be taken into account among all lovers of high flying, although, like many other titles of this style, it is a lack of originality when planning missions and new challenges. Let's dive into everything that this UbiSoft title can offer us.
The feeling produced by the technical section of Blazing Angels can be described as contradictory. On the one hand we find a game that does not stand out in terms of its explosion of the resources of the machine (especially in the version for Xbox 360), but on the other hand, the artistic work done both in the design of the levels, the airplanes, in the election of the color palette, the filters, etc ... has been so good, that it improves the general set and leaves us a good taste of mouth once that first general impression has passed. Playing Blazing Angels will make us feel immersed in an old Hollywood movie with certain comic touches of the 50s.
Just start the first mission we can see a small example of the graphic section of the title. An air base, a small town in the background and a valley to fly over. On the ground at the airbase we can see how the cars pass, etc ... Inside the town, the houses will be quite well achieved and even highlight on the rest of constructions the bell tower of the church. Although within the negative part, it should be noted that all houses are quite similar to each other and their size, like that of most elements of the scenario, will be disproportionate to our plane.
Some of the scenarios that we will visit will be especially spectacular, such as London, where we can fly over Parliament and Big Ben or Tower Bridge and Paris. It is in these phases set in large cities where we will also enjoy the pleasure of flying and we will especially miss a free flight mode with which to enjoy the graphic display shown. Flanking the Tower Bridge and doing a dive to cross the River Thames just a few meters high is a great feeling. However, if we try to fly low over the streets of one of these big cities, we will find ourselves with a rather more desolate panorama, where there will hardly be room for detail, although it is not especially necessary either, since in most of the time we we will find fighting at high altitude.
Although the distance drawn is quite large, the scenarios are not particularly extensive, and the moment we move away from the action a small distance our plane will turn on itself in some spectacular caper and will return to the battle again . The truth is that if we do not seek these limits and dedicate ourselves exclusively to the mission, we will not even realize the extent of the terrain, since it is more than enough and the action flows smoothly within it.
Within the graphics, the effects of fumes and explosions are especially noteworthy. We have already seen the capabilities of Xbox 360 when handling particle effects and volumetric smoke in games like Call of Duty or The Outfit, both also set in World War II. Well, Blazing Angels has effects very similar to those already mentioned in these two titles but in the air. From our privileged bird's-eye view, we can see different columns of smoke from the emplacements attacked with astonishing realism. Likewise, when we chase an enemy plane and we are shocked, if it starts to smoke from its engine, it will be hard to follow it since we will hardly see anything on the screen.
The explosions that accompany these effects of smoke are also quite spectacular. The modeling work done with the airplanes on the other hand is irregular and does not stand out especially on the whole. In addition, sometimes we will have the feeling that the size of the planes of our enemies is quite inferior to ours. Even so, the guys from Ubi have taken care of the brushstrokes to the maximum and our plane will look just as well and will have small details when it is making pranks and we see it from the bottom.
As we have already mentioned at the beginning of this section, it is worth highlighting the artistic work carried out. The palette that predominates in Blazing Angels are the ocher colors, which together with the filters of used images, give us the sensation in more than one occasion of being in front of a painted sheet, to a composition specially taken care of with an exquisite retro air and perfectly achieved .
The graphic engine does not suffer at any time despite the fact that the screen shows a large number of aircraft and manages everything fluently. Finally, the sensation of speed will also be especially well achieved when we approach the ground, increasing speed as it happens in reality. In general and in short, the technical section of this Blazing Angels is correct, but it does not surprise or take advantage of the hardware on which it runs, especially in the Xbox 360 version. Still, it has small details that make certain moments of the game are recorded in the retina and remain.
Little has to be objected in general regarding the sound section of the title, only that the game has arrived in our country without doubling the Castilian (although it is translated). For the rest, nothing stands out especially within this section, but neither clashes nor has a quality below what is required.
Within the effects of sound we will find all kinds of noises typical of a war: explosions, machine guns, bombs ... next to these will be the noises typical of aircraft engines that will stand out above all others. In short, nothing that we have not heard before or that will leave us especially surprised. On the other hand, the communication with our partners through the radio will be continuous and their dialogue very varied, but as we have said, the rest of the pilots have not learned Spanish, and they will speak to us in perfect English.
The soundtrack for its part will always be present in the background in a tone much lower than the rest of the sounds. They are very simple epic melodies but they give a good result. These songs will give us the feeling of having heard them before in lots of games, but they perfectly accompany the action. In short, a more than correct sound section that follows the general tone of the game.
The ease of handling at the time of taking control of our aircraft is precisely the aspect that makes this Blazing Angels earn points in the face of its final assessment. We will only need a few minutes of the tutorial to fluently manage all the options offered by our plane. Making capers while pointing and shooting at our nearest enemy is something that will not take more than five minutes. With the two analog sticks we will handle the plane with absolute mastery.
This game, instead of having a self-target like many other aviation titles, has a feature enabled, when we press a button, what it does is that it moves the camera so that we see our closest objective and allows us to maneuver easily to He with our plane to a position where we can face him to shoot him easily.
The chases and loopings in the air are continuous and this increases the spectacular nature of the game. Continuously we will be chasing the enemy planes with the turbo and will try to get behind them. The level of difficulty is quite demanding and the story mode has an average duration of between eight and ten hours.
In total there are eighteen missions that will lead us to fight throughout the globe. Luckily, we will not be alone in the air, as our squadmates, the Blazing Angels, will give us coverage in all phases. We can give simple orders to one or all our squadron such as attacking a certain target, attacking massively, regrouping or repairing our plane without taking land.
Who will give us coverage will be Tom, Frank and Joe. Although we will continually be talking to them through the radio, we will know nothing of them, as history is not very well constructed. The argument is a mere excuse to make us relive the air battles of World War II. The truth is that we will not empathize with the guys in our squad, and unlike in other games where we lead a team as in Ghost Recon, little or rather nothing, we will come to care what happens to them when they are involved in In the middle of the battle, we will only care if they help us to make things easier for us.
Each one of them will have a marked personality and a specific function within the group. Tom will be in charge of being on the defensive inside the missions, Frank on the other hand will be the one who opens fire and Joe, the youngest of the group, will have the mission to fix our plane during the battle as many times as we ask. Between again and again we will have to wait for a while. If we ask for your help, he will give us a combination of buttons that we must press quickly so that the damage is arranged as if it were a small skill minigame. If we do not do it within the short time given, the fault will be half repaired and we will have more chances of being shot down, a little touch of originality within the game. The external camera for its part perfectly follows the action at all times without any type of hesitation.
The great problem of this Blazing Angels at playable level is the repetitiveness of most of the missions. During most of the game we will be dedicated to downing enemy planes or air bases, and when we do not do this, we will have to defend positions of our army in the same way, that is, demolishing the enemy forces. All this means that in a short time we end up slightly bored of always doing the same actions even if our plane is different and the scenarios vary. Moreover, the only thing that will keep us playing will be the fact of seeing the rest of the airplanes and scenarios, but once the campaign is over, we will not have the slightest interest in playing the individual mode again. It is worth noting the possibility that we will have to take off and land with our plane,
Once finished the campaign mode we will open three additional game modes that will be no more than small extensions of the main mode with the sole objective of slightly increasing the life of the game, arcade campaign, minicamp and duel of aces. However, the multiplayer mode will satisfy our desire for more air combat. We can compete on our own or by teams in various game modes with a total of up to sixteen people through Xbox Live! or local area network. Even we can also play some missions of the story mode in cooperative. In short, a game mode that will give much more life to the title.
conclusion
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII (Xbox 360, PC) The first game of aerial combat of the new generation is here. The people of Ubisoft have brought us almost by surprise a new title that aims to gain a foothold in the landscape of aviation games. An original setting, excellent control and a quite successful multiplayer are its strengths. However, its lack of originality and quite ordinary graphics in its version for PC and Xbox 360 leave you one step away from the big ones. This game was originally conceived for Xbox and this ballast is noticeable in its conversion, although the remodeling work done has been more than remarkable. More smoke effects have been added, the quality of the textures and lighting has been improved and the drawing distance has increased. Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII (Xbox 360, PC) Blazing Angels has some very good and funny details, along with some interesting news, but in general all we have seen before, and is that the market is full of aircraft games some of them set in World War II. Still, this is a highly recommended title for all those who love Ace Combats and derivatives. The game has enough quality to keep us hooked for a long time. On the one hand we find a campaign mode with a medium duration and another with a multiplayer that will extend the life of the title once we finish the individual mode. Definitely a good attempt by UbiSoft to create a new and original franchise. We will have to see if they decide to continue the saga and how it can evolve in future titles. Until the arrival of Over G Fighters of Taito, this is the only game on Xbox 360 with which we can become heroes of the air. In PC there are many more options to consider, some of higher quality than this Blazing Angels Take off and land with our plane becomes a vice Control will allow us to perform all kinds of actions in a matter of minutes The multiplayer will keep us hooked PC) In short, a good attempt by UbiSoft to create a new and original franchise. We will have to see if they decide to continue the saga and how it can evolve in future titles. Until the arrival of Over G Fighters of Taito, this is the only game on Xbox 360 with which we can become heroes of the air. In PC there are many more options to consider, some of higher quality than this Blazing Angels Take off and land with our plane becomes a vice Control will allow us to perform all kinds of actions in a matter of minutes The multiplayer will keep us hooked PC) In short, a good attempt by UbiSoft to create a new and original franchise. We will have to see if they decide to continue the saga and how it can evolve in future titles. Until the arrival of Over G Fighters of Taito, this is the only game on Xbox 360 with which we can become heroes of the air. In PC there are many more options to consider, some of higher quality than this Blazing Angels Take off and land with our plane becomes a vice Control will allow us to perform all kinds of actions in a matter of minutes The multiplayer will keep us hooked This is the only game on Xbox 360 with which we can become heroes of the air. In PC there are many more options to consider, some of higher quality than this Blazing Angels Take off and land with our plane becomes a vice Control will allow us to perform all kinds of actions in a matter of minutes The multiplayer will keep us hooked This is the only game on Xbox 360 with which we can become heroes of the air. In PC there are many more options to consider, some of higher quality than this Blazing Angels Take off and land with our plane becomes a vice Control will allow us to perform all kinds of actions in a matter of minutes The multiplayer will keep us hooked
The best
- Taking off and landing with our plane becomes a vice
- The control will allow us to perform all kinds of actions in a matter of minutes
- The multiplayer will keep us hooked
Worst
- Technically, it's not a big deal. Missions can be made repetitive. It's not exactly a very original game.
It fulfills the expectations of what a good game is, it has quality and it does not present serious faults, although it lacks elements that could have taken it to higher heights.