Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII Hands-On

It's already out on the Xbox, Xbox 360, and PC, but Ubisoft's World War II flight combat game, Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII, isn't done quite yet. It's also due out for the Wii and was recently shown off at a Sony event running on the PlayStation 3. Early indications suggest it's roughly the same game it was on the 360, but motion-sensing support via the Sixaxis gives it a new sense of style, at least from a control perspective.

As you'd expect, steering your plane is done by tilting the controller around. It took a minute or two to get used to it, but before too long, slowing down and coming around on enemy bombers was just about as easy as it was in the previous versions of the game. This is a mission-based game, and the mission we tried had us taking out enemy bombers before they could sink our fleet of ships. Since they moved slowly, it made a good test run for the new steering controls. In addition to following orders and completing objectives, Blazing Angels gives you wingmen to work with. Each has his own skill, like Joe, who can show you button commands that, when entered, will repair some of the damage your plane has taken. Calling upon your wingmen is done via the D pad.

Beyond the new control option, Blazing Angels on the PS3 looks a lot like Blazing Angels on the Xbox 360. It's got some good lighting, and the plane models look good up close--though if you're getting close enough to admire the enemy planes, you're probably doing something wrong. The version we saw seemed to be running at a reasonably stable frame rate.

Using the Sixaxis to control flight is one of its more obvious uses--and like some of the other flight games we've tried, Blazing Angels appears to be using the motion sensing technology pretty well. Look for it to blaze onto shelves right around the time the PlayStation 3 is released.