While the WWII FPS genre is rapidly cooling down, the WWII flight combat genre is just as tepid as ever. At least with the flight combat games we only have one company taking on World War II instead of dozens. Just what has Ubisoft learned in the year and a half since the first Blazing Angels hit the Xbox 360? A lot, it seems. Blazing Angels 2 is a definite improvement over the first game in just about every area, but it is still too easy for its own good.
Quick Hits
- Title: Blazing Angels 2
- Platform:Xbox 360
- Publisher: Ubisoft
- Developer: Ubisoft Romania
- ESRB Rating: “T” for Teen
- Genre: Arcade-style WWII airplane combat
- Pros: Nice graphics; fun gameplay; a definite improvement over the first game
- Cons: Way too easy; not historically accurate
Features
The main campaign in Blazing Angels 2 throws out the story of the first game and instead focuses on your new hot shot pilot, Captain Robinson, and his crew of other hot shot pilots that form an elite squadron that tackles missions that other pilots can’t handle. Unlike the first game which tried to be historically accurate, Blazing Angels 2 kind of does its own thing. This isn’t a huge problem, but for WWII buffs, it is a turn off.
Blazing Angels 2 also has a multiplayer component. In splitscreen, system link, or on Xbox Live you can play in co-op or deathmatch game modes. On Xbox Live, lag and a lack of other people playing make the experience pretty lackluster. Co-op is quite a bit better than deathmatch, and is the recommended way to play.
Gameplay
Ubisoft
The gameplay isn’t really all that different from the first Blazing Angels. The controls are very responsive and surprisingly intuitive. The right stick controls your speed and the left stick controls your movement. And combat basically comes down to locking on and then holding the trigger until your enemy is dead. It is dead easy, but still can be quite fun. Mission objectives include more than just dogfighting, and you’ll be doing things like shooting down missiles or fighting “boss” craft such as zeppelins as well. As you play though the game, you earn upgrades and new weapons that make an already easy game even easier. The progression through the career and the new upgrades you unlock actually is paced very well, which is a good thing because this game could get very boring very quickly if you weren’t constantly being given new toys to play with. With that said, however, even with all of these new toys the game is far too easy to really hold your attention for very long. Unlike the last game, which had some crazy difficult and frustrating levels, Blazing Angels 2 is pretty much a cake walk where you can beat most missions on the first try. The game is fun, but you can blast through it in a day or two which puts it squarely in rental territory.
Graphics and Sound
Graphically, Blazing Angels 2 is a nice looking game. The game has a bit of a bland and dreary color palette, but the planes are nice and detailed and the cities you fly over actually look pretty nice.
The sound is also pretty good. Nothing spectacular, but the engine sounds and gunfire and explosions are just right.
Bottom Line
Ubisoft
In the end, Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of WWII is a fun game that is a decided improvement over the first game. With that said, however, it suffers from a short and easy campaign mode and a lack of modes. There is online play and co-op modes available, but finding people to play with can be difficult. It plays just fine and looks nice, but it all feels pretty mindless when it comes down to actually playing and that is where Blazing Angels 2 ultimately fails. It is worth a rental if you are interested, but I can’t recommend it for a purchase.
