One wingman offers the ability to quickly fix your plane as it takes damage through a brief, un-interruptive mini-game. The problem is that it's too easy, and almost impossible to completely screw up. As such, taking damage isn't the threat it should be, unless you're flying solo without him.
The targeting system is the key feature here, and it's greatest innovation. While it eliminates the cockpit view for the sake of implementing it, Angels allows the player to stay focused on a target as they fly by holding the L trigger. This eliminates the need for a radar (though it wouldn't have hurt), makes finding the right enemy painless, and does so without being too disorienting initially when switching to new targets.
The only issue with this is watching your altitude. Since you're focused on a target, you can easily flip upside down and not know it until you're a few feet above the ground. Some missions present this problem worse than others, especially those that use the bloom effect a little too well.
Still, you'll have few issues replaying these missions, and the generous checkpoint system means you'll lose little time. Once the campaign is completed, you can tackle a few other modes, like the side missions, ace mode, or an arcade survival test. Ace presents one-on-one battles against all unlocked planes, and can be surprisingly intense.
Where Blazing Angels misses the mark is online play. It has the requisite amount of modes, allows for 16 players, and has no lag. There's a reason for the latter though, and that's because no one is playing. Even on a Saturday night, the lobby is barren. You can count the number of people online with one hand, and to find more than one game available should be an occasion to celebrate with full cake, ice cream, and party hats.
That's one of the crimes of the current game industry. While Blazing Angels isn't completely original, it separates itself enough to be an Xbox 360 highlight. If the online play is any indication, no one knows this. It deserves to be recognized for what it does right, though try and ignore the inexcusable dialogue as much as possible.
Blazing Angels is a rated T (Teen) by the ESRB for Violence, Language. This game can also be found on: Xbox, PC.
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