In March of 2006, just four months into the Xbox 360's launch, Ubisoft released Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII as one of the first combat flight sims for the Xbox 360. But does this game crush the Axis forces, or does it go down in flames?

Story:

The games single player campaign is pretty easy to understand. You play as a Captain (which is who you are referred to throughout the single player campaign) in the American Volunteer Group (AVG) fictional squadron called the Angels of Dunkirk. This squadron is made up of the player, Tom (aka the shield), Joe (aka the mechanical wizard), and Frank (aka the hunter).

Throughout the single player campaign you and your squadron will fight in some of history's most important battles. From defeating the Luftwaffe over Parliament during the battle of Britain, to shooting down zero's in Pearl Harbor to turning the tide at Midway and all the way to the final battle at Berlin. Although the story flows well, it lacks a well executed plot and is pretty predictable as to where the player will end up next.

6.5/10

Design:

The design of Blazing Angels is impressive for a WWII Flight combat simulator. Each piece of the game flows very well together. The game makes it harder and harder for the player to reach his objectives for each level the player progresses. From shooting down enemy fighters in a free hunt to providing escort for bombers ect. Also, each map level is big, but it isn't big enough when the game has to force you fly back into the designated battlefield (an occurrence that has cost me a few repeats on some levels).

Nevertheless, the games design has held on it's own and has truly innovated WWII Flight Combat sims.

8.0/10

Gameplay:

The gameplay aspect of Blazing Angels is not all that bad. The games controls make it very easy for players to adapt (the training segment in the first mission helps this). Unlike most Flight Combat Sims which have you rely on Radar, Blazing Angels takes more of a Historical approach by using a following camera in order for you to find your enemy targets. Along with Radar, there are no missiles (but you can use rockets to attack ground targets), so basically you have to rely on your guns and get up close and personnel with the enemy.

The success if the game also relies on teamwork cooperation. Forcing you to be strategical on how your squadron mates you fight throughout the mission whether it's to attack the enemy, or defend you from enemy fighters.

As for the multiplayer aspect, well considering that this reviewer purchased the game with new and popular retail titles currently out in the market such as Halo 3 and CoD 4 as well as modern flight combat sims such as Ace Combat 6 to contend with, there is not much online multiplayer activity for this reviewer to recommend for replay value on XBL, but it's a great game to play with all of your friends offline.

8.85/10

Graphics & Sound:

As far as graphics go, Blazing Angels has very decent graphics. With movable ailerons, elevator and rudder along with historically accurate color schemes on all 46 aircraft as well as moving vehicles and people on the ground when doing a low fly by. However, the ai humans runing around back and forth in a straight line gets old after a while.

As for sound, Blazing Angels has different sound characteristics for different armaments (from small caliber machine guns to heavier caliber cannons), and aircraft engines (piston engines to jets). However, the character audio from both your teammates as well as poor German/Japanese voice acting become pretty annoying after hearing the same audio voice tracks over 10 times in a single mission.

7.0/10

Overall:

Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII may not be the best combat flight sim game for the Xbox 360, but it is a great game to play due to playing 46 historically accurate aircraft ranging from the Supermarine Spitfire to the P-51 Mustang and the ME-262 jet among many others to choose from. Despite Blazing Angels losing online value on XBL due to other more popular titles, it's still a fun game to play with your friends at a party via a system link or splitscreen. I mean come on, who doesn't want to shoot down enemy fighters in a P-51?

READERS NOTE: I would like to let all viewers know this reviewer is a WWII history nut and is not only viewing this game based on the categories set forth by the reviewer, but also viewing this game for it's historical accuracy.

Average Score: 7.58/10

Gift for the grandchidren and they think it is great. The different options of playing are good.

Great game, it has all the features to make this game a really enjoyable game, really easy to play and to have a great time.

it has also some mini campaigns on which they require a more a skill player to do them.

I would really recommend this game to whoever likes flying wwII games.

This was my first WWII dogfight game and it stunk for the following reasons.
1) The game is repetitive, fly around take pictures or shoot/bomb a target.
2) Xbox live support for this game stinks! There is nobody to play against for this game. The players know it stinks and don't even bother to play anymore.
3) How many times can you hear the same crappy taunts from the A.I. in this game.
4) The A.I. stinks. Your squad mates are just plain stupid. I found myself yelling at the T.V.
5) The time restrictions on the various missions are ridiculously short. I found it close to impossible to complete missions. I eventually gave up on this game after spending countless hours attempting to master it. Playing the same scenarios over and over again!
Which leads to
6) I have been through most of the game and I have not gotten even one of the 1000 Xbox 360 Achievement points for all the time I waisted. The award system put in place is just as crappy as the game.

i was really looking forward to using the sixaxis in a game that should be well suited to it. the scenery is pretty good for the most part. enemy planes are way to easy to shoot down, perhaps that is only in campaign mode? any plane i select flys well in motion sensitive-arcade and very poorly when set to motion sensitive-simulator mode. the arcade campaigns are nearly impossible to win and therefore become endless. the game infuriated me several times when a hard won "checkpoint" (that would have finally freed me from campaign hell) was lost when i next opened the game... product seems rushed to market but there has been no patch etc, so i guess now that B.A.II is coming out this version is as good as it gets.