Ubisoft's ambitious Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII for the PlayStation 3 -- a historical action game that fuses arcade-like dog-fighting with near photorealistic graphics -- doesn't soar like it should. Admittedly, it fares better than the Microsoft Xbox 360 and other versions available last spring. You can climb into the cockpit of more than 50 authentic World War II aircraft, including the famous P-51 Mustang and British Spitfire, and take on the Germans and Japanese in dozens of missions over famous locales such as Berlin, London and Pearl Harbor. But the pretty graphics are useless when poor frame rates cause the action to slow down whenever there are a lot of planes or tanks onscreen at the same time. After all, wasn't the PS3 supposed to have some extraordinary new Cell processor? Missions can get repetitive, too, but at least there's a handful of online game variations for up to 16 players. Multiplayer modes include Onslaught (shoot down as many planes as possible in a predetermined time limit); Kamikaze (destroy wave after wave of kamikaze fighters before they hit your base); and Historical Battles (play some of the solo campaign missions cooperatively with a friend online).

This PS3 version of the game includes exclusive solo and head-to-head missions, improved graphics and 11 new aircraft. The wireless PS3 controller is used to fly the various planes, using traditional buttons as well as the built-in motion-sensing technology, but simulator snobs may prefer a flight stick. It would be remiss not to mention that the rumble feature, which isn't in the latest PlayStation controller, is sorely missed in this type of game. It's too bad Blazing Angels suffers from these shortcomings, and the stellar graphics and many solo and multiplayer game modes barely lift this game off the ground. That said, war buffs or flight enthusiasts may want to get their wings by taking this PS3 game for a spin as a weekend rental.