Luftwaffle.

In some sort of divine karmic spite, the gods of gaming have decided to thrust upon me Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions Of WWII. Considering how thrilled I still am by the first game, you can tell I went in with lowered expectations.

Blazing Angels: Secret Missions Of WWII
Achievements: 50 (31 offline for 500 gs, 19 online for 500 gs)

Well, we all know how I looooove even splits of online/offline achievements. There's actually a pretty robust selection, from 270 points for a campaign clear to filling in all your little extra jooblies and exploring the game for the other 230. Online takes a similar approach by encouraging you to use multiple planes in different gametypes, and I like that.

As for the game itself... there was this LucasArts game on the PC and (eventually) Xbox that went by the name Secret Weapons Of The Luftwaffe. In case you don't remember this number, it basically involved flying a bunch of secret (made-up) and not-so-secret (based on real events) missions in all sorts of crazy planes, including a lot of experimental ones that never actually saw combat, if they even saw prototypes or otherwise flyable models.

Blazing Angels 2 is that game, minus the unlockable X-Wing and TIE Fighter, and with moderately better controls.

They cleaned up the control scheme quite a bit from the last one, having the sense to put the secondary fire button on the right bumper (which is right near the RIGHT TRIGGER AKA THE BUTTON THAT SHOOTS THINGS) as opposed to clicking the right stick, and shuffling a couple other things so that in general, the layout makes more sense without abandoning the essentials from the first game.

Things are prettier, of course, but not that much prettier, and the intermediate scenes between missions used to convey the story are pretty lame. As much as they were just scripted game footage in the first one, I kind of prefer it to the smeary comic book style retouched photos they used this time around.

Still, it feels like a more solid play this iteration, and dogfights are already a lot less frustrating. However, word on the street is that mission eight is already nigh-impossible, which is decidedly not a good sign when there are eighteen missions to clear. Or maybe nineteen, as I'm not sure if you get the War Hero achievement for clearing the game at the same time as the achievement for clearing mission eighteen, or if the last mission didn't get a numbered icon like the rest because of said War Hero.

We'll see how pissed off I get at it on Wednesday, since I have all day to foment my rage towards Ubisoft Romania given my day off.

Oh yeah, heads up for Rock Band people - Official Xbox Magazine's February '08 issue hits newsstands today (1/15), and the bonus disc comes with three exclusive tracks. The songs in question are Freezepop's "Sprode" (previously featured in Amplitude on the PS2), Bang Camaro's "Rock Revolution," and Count Zero's "Shake" (my personal favorite of the three). If nothing else, Sprode is a great money whore for you vocalists out there, since Liz Enthusiasm, as much as I love her, is not that hard to top in the singing department.

Sure, it'll set you back ten American dollars, but there's plenty of other content on the disc if you're interested, and it's not the worst bathroom reading I've had even if the magazine felt kind of crowded. To save you some time, the songs are in the Extra Content section, and I'm pretty sure you and your friends can pass the disc around like a common street whore if you all chip in your lunch money to buy it. And don't forget, more tracks on Xbox Live in the morning as well!