It's not as if the world needed another arcade-styled flight game. We have Ace Combat to take care of that. It's not as if we needed another game set in World War II either. However, none of that is relevant to the game play of Blazing Angels, a wild take on the War with enough of a hook to keep you playing.
There is something that needs to be known immediately. Blazing Angels does little to challenge the player, and the 18-mission campaign is brief because of it. Its focus is offering thrills, sights, and intense combat that make it infinitely replayable.
Set inside an alternate spin on WWII, Angels follows the well-known conflicts and inserts its own along the way. Most of the missions use the actual events to increase the intensity, or provide a new perspective. The D-Day battle in particular becomes a fresh way to experience the war's most overused entertainment set piece by bombing bunkers or silencing troops trying to make the advance on beached allied soldiers.
That's one of numerous unforgettable moments. A fight above Paris involves taking out AA guns perched atop the Eiffel Tower and sweeping in-between buildings at low altitudes to take out approaching tanks. With the superb detailing of the cityscape and no noticeable draw-in, this is a feast of epic game playing.
As is probably expected, not all of the game's missions are that thrilling. An early outing sticking the player with the task of flying blind in a sandstorm to find German encampments should forever be outcast by those who are patient enough to deal with it. Another forces sharp turns through a London river, with the city banking both sides, with limited altitude is one of the (unfairly) toughest in the game.
There's also the issue of aggravating dialogue that is not only repetitive, but dangerously close to being offensive. If it's not offensive, it's disrespectful. To turn the Japanese pilots (who for some reason speak English with horribly clichéd accents) who bombed Pearl Harbor into blubbering fools is unforgivable. Even in Blazing Angel's fantasy world, it's not right regardless of your feelings on the attack. It's also in sharp contrast to the great soundtrack that maintains a serious tone throughout.
Flight is difficult to separate in video games from one to the next. Angels offers a few options to differentiate itself, and make it a recommendation even to those who have eagerly awaited the new Ace Combat title. The majority of missions offer wingmen who are at your command. While not always the brightest pilots to take command, they do help when a request is made, and will actually shoot down enemy planes regularly. It's something that's been sorely lacking from flight titles for years.
Article comments