Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII is a combat flight simulator title recently published by Ubisoft for PC. The recommended system requirements are: Windows XP,  3.0 GHz Pentium IV or AMD Athlon, and 1 GB RAM. The game may be played with either gamepad, joystick, keypad, and/or mouse.

The program purports to cover every significant air battle in World War II.   I do not know this to be a fact because I have not completed the game and I am not absolutely sure at this point if I ever will. But in any case, the game’s packaging shows screenshots and a narrative description of air battles over London, Paris, Berlin, Pearl Harbor, and Midway.  At this point I feel compelled to paraphrase Winston Churchill who didn’t say:  “Never in the course of human events has so much great advertising promised so much and delivered so little." In case you are wondering, my paraphrasing isn’t really that original because RAF pilots of the period used to grumble and end the quote with “…. and were paid so little.”

The opening cut scene's graphics are visually stunning and quite good.  The player is greeted with a “shaking” close up of a 1940 style pinup girl drawing that within a few moments, pans out to a bomber formation and their fighter escorts.

Unfortunately, it’s all downward from there.  Two examples in the beginning illustrate this.  There is an irrelevant quote as you load the game, from Winston Churchill that reads “If you are going through Hell, keep going."  I cannot help but to wonder whether this is a reference to the gameplay or to Ubisoft’s current financial condition after the release of “Blazing Angels”.  Why would a highly regarded publisher--such as Ubisoft--publish a title such as this that is very likely to soon be found in your neighborhood computer store bargain bin?  Yes, I read other on-line reviews and that seems to be the consensus of opinions.

As flight simulator gamers are well aware, the last several years have been ones of scarcity and a dearth of quality combat-specific flight simulator games. That is, with the notable exception of Ubisoft’s IL-2 Sturmovik and IL-2 Forgotten Battles, and the middling Pacific Fighters. One would think Ubisoft would build on the successes of these titles rather than release a product line that degrades and belittles beginner or serious virtual pilots with this arcade style of gameplay. Curiously, Ubisoft does claim that all major battles are included in Blazing Angels and yet ignores the previously well done Eastern Front--while including Pearl Harbor and Midway from their somewhat mediocre Pacific Fighters title.

Perhaps I’m being unduly harsh with my quibbling criticism of Blazing Angels so let’s discuss the actual gameplay experience and you can decide for yourself.  The game starts--because it is so programmed and you do not have a choice--with an arcade mode where you are to fly three training missions. Rather than becoming immersed in gameplay, you may be tempted to uninstall Blazing Angels immediately.

The reason for this is where you first encounter the fine art of How Not to Script a Voice-Over.  What is that old nursery rhyme?  When she was good, she was very, very good but when she was bad she was horrid?  When I first heard that grating, inane sound of what some ignoramus stereotyped as an American “Redneck” pilot wannabe who greeted me, I didn’t know whether I should laugh, cry, or turn the sound off.  It’s not that Americans are singled out to insult--Every nationality whether German, English, etc are subjected to the same stupid, trite and insulting scripting. The only thing that can be said in the voice over’s favor is that the gamer is immediately in “killer mode.”  You may commit what will turn out to be justifiable homicide on the office intern who produced this horror of a script. Or if he or she had a mentor or if there was an accomplice involved, fire them all. The moral of the introductory comments is: if you really want to play this title, you are not alone if you turn the sound off.

The user manual is a very spartan twenty pages. If you want historic information on the significance of a particular campaign, or time period’s weaponry, I’m sorry, it’s not included in the program. Nor does the user manual contain a single word about the aerodynamics of flight; nor even a section on FAQ.  When you first install this program you will be linked to a promise of a “free” strategy guide.  First off, it’s not free.  It costs ten dollars. Secondly, you don’t need it because little or no strategy is involved in playing Blazing Angels.  For example, in the North African Campaign, one scenario tasks you with finding three German camps in a blinding sand storm. The only strategy here is to persistently and randomly flying about while avoiding flying so low that you crash into the ground.

The flight model is what I term arcade-style.  There is only one camera position and it is not from the cockpit – it’s a third person perspective outside the craft and from behind the plane. This is no HUD or control panel to show airspeed, altitude, or compass direction.  With terse mission statements and no de-briefing screens, the player is often left to ponder what was supposed to have happened and what did happen while playing a particular mission.  In the Britain Campaign I only knew I had “won” because I advanced into the next scenario.

Now for the good news/ bad feature that you all knew was coming.

The good news is unlimited ammo and fuel. Also, no blackouts, whiteouts, spins or death spirals. Sometimes the word “stall” flashes on screen but you can ignore it. Your WWII plane flies as if it was an F-16--that is, totally unrealistically. It even flies on without a hiccup even though it’s in flames and is smoking.

The bad news is you do not get to choose the type of aircraft to fly nor side or country. There is no attempt to make a campaign dynamic thus eliminating any chance that gameplay will reverse or influence historical events. The single most poorly designed feature in this game is the save function.  Each campaign is subdivided into two or three scenarios or missions.  If you complete the first part, progress is automatically saved; but if you close the program before completing a campaign, you have to start from the beginning of the campaign.

This wouldn’t be altogether horrible if it wasn’t for another program flaw.

To my way of thinking, a game should have balance between being easy for beginners, challenging for the “veterans,” and offer levels that afford the opportunity to develop the skill necessary to play and succeed at the more difficult levels. In Blazing Angels the player cannot configure the level of difficulty. Missions range from the ridiculously easy to the impossible and it’s simply not fun to always lose. Take, for example, the North African campaign. In Part I – all you have to do is fly straight ahead and the level is saved. . .on to Part II.  Clear the German artillery and armor positioned on the high ground overlooking and firing at British troops. Challenging, but doable.  Part III: disrupt flights of Stukas sent to bomb the ground troops. This is nearly impossible because the armor and artillery of Part II are now back in action and omnipotent in shooting you down as you hunt Stukas, even as you are surrounded by a flight of Stukas. If you concentrate on the mission of “disrupting” the Stukas, you are shot down by the AA or artillery. If you somehow avoid being shot down by AA, you may shoot down countless number of Stukas but you’ll lose to the German armor.  If you try to destroy the armor before starting to shot down Stukas, you are inevitably be too late to shoot down enough Stukas to win the level.

The graphics are good and the game itself has its moments. These moments are too few however, and there are just too many flaws to overlook.

• The Intro 8.0 (The opening cut scene is excellent)
• Story Background 1.0 (An American flyer flying with the British and trying to earn their respect. )
• Game Play 5.0 (The lack of appropriate save points)
• Graphics 8.0
• Sound 0 (Moronic scripting)
• Replay Value 1.0 (like somebody would want to but there may be a few)