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Tom Clancy's HAWX
Ubisoft, Ubisoft Romania
Game details:
Release Date: March 17, 2009
Genre: Flight Action
ESRB: Teen
Platforms: PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox360
There has long been a deep chasm between the two different types of flight simulator games. In the red corner, flying for the fun of tearing other planes apart: the arcade flyers. In the blue corner, looking grim for the sake of mapping all the buttons of the keyboard and needing even more: serious flight simulators. I've always tried for something in-between, since I want to have fun while thinking that I really fly a plane, and before HAWX, I was either going to crash into the nearest hill after forgetting how to pull up in a simulator, or I'd have childish fun flying a toy plane and destroying toy submarines. I lean more towards the arcade then. You might digress, but hey, I'm not a pilot, am I? Tom Clancy and Ubisoft brings us that in-between with HAWX, with the leaning towards arcade I like, but still with the feeling of a serious sim to boot.
About the game
HAWX is a flight combat arcade simulator. To sum it all up. It's a game in which you are put in the place of an ace pilot and sent flying to destroy everything you are asked to. And no, you don't have to take off, nor land (these parts always had me in flight simulators). You just have to propel yourself forward by the means of the holy button W (or whatever controller you are using), steer the plane in the direction you see fit, preferably over the ground, and sending rockets flying to dispose of faceless enemies. Pure fun, 'nuff said.
Starting out
You start the game as a pilot in the US army, on his last mission before retirement. You fly around, blow some stuff up, down some planes, usual pilot stuff, after which, feeling the money in the military wasn't enough, you get hired by a big military company for big bucks. You get to see Rio de Janeiro and fly around the beautifully rendered city, blow up some invading tanks and ships, even down some planes. You get more and more planes to play with, always with one of them up as a recommended fit for the next mission. Eventually you will get used to how the game works and flying becomes second nature.
Flying for pleasure
Then you get OFF. OFF is a mode you toggle in if you feel the normal control of the plane isn't enough to work. When in OFF, all assistances go offline, and your camera backs up in a more encompassing view of the field, allowing you to keep your eyes on your target as well as your position relative to it. It also allows you to drift in the air. Yeah, drift. Drifting is incredibly useful as you get to change your vector in a very tight manner, you can dodge missiles as if they are confetti driven by the wind, as well as bring your weapons to your enemies more efficiently. Having all this advantage also has a downside: When slowing down to drift or whatever else, slowing down too much will make you lose control of the plane as it plummets to its doom. Handling this is as simple as straightening the plane and accelerating though, but when flying low, it's a possibility that the only thing going up after that are pieces of you and your plane. While it's an arcady mode, it fits with the game, and eventually you will spend most of your dogfights in this mode. Bombing runs are however much harder in this mode than the normal one, so you might have to change frequently.
Graphics - Ace!
HAWX looks great. This might be enough said, and the screenshots do tell about it, but what sticks out in this game are the environments. Every map you fly on has been adapted from satellite imagery in order to give you an accurate depiction of how it might be like to fly a military jet over cities like Rio de Janeiro, Chicago, Washington and even Tokyo. You even get to see a NASA satellite launch first hand. The volumetric clouds look realistic enough and never seem to annoy, although in lengthy battles the smoke from battles does tend to blind you somewhat. The sun and sky look amazing and the planes are beautifully and delicately rendered, and even though you will mostly see the explosions rather than the actual item, tanks and helicopters look great too. You do get the feeling of a high-power jet speed when you fly close to the ground, and there is even an achievement in the game that encourages you to fly at low altitude upside down to get you dizzy. It is hands down the most beautiful flight simulator I've played that doesn't require you have a powerhouse of a computer to run. I'm looking at you, Microsoft Flight Simulator XIII.
Gameplay - Lock, launch, boom, dead.
Flying the plane is easy and nice. Flying the plane in OFF is a more awesome experience, but that's not what matters, does it? Having high tech flying toys at your disposal will make you expect for lock-on missiles, carpet bombs and multiple target anti-air missiles. Well, your expectancies should be met easily, since destroying enemies requires no less than a lock and the press of the button. It won't always be that easy though, and dogfights can get frantic fast, and even when fighting in OFF you might not get a good lock. This is where the ERS comes in, the Enhanced Reality System. Triggering it gives you a multitude of gates through which if you go, you will get in a good position to fire from. In the case of planes, the ERS will place you behind the target jet, giving you enough of a window to shoot the bird with your main cannons. In the case of ground units, the enhanced reality will give you a good approach angle from which to fire without endangering you and your fighter. You might not use ERS many times during the game, but there are certain sections in the campaign in which using the system is either very useful (getting at the right angle to attack an underground bunker), or needed (giving you a path between SAM site fire). Everything feels right when playing the game, although at higher difficulties, when the ammunition is more realistic in scope, you will run out of missiles or bombs really fast.
HAWX features an extensive list of challenges that, should you complete, give you more experience towards the next rank. Each enemy you destroy, achievement you get or mission you complete gives you more experience. More experience gives you higher ranks, higher ranks unlocks more planes, load-outs for them, as well as bragging rights. The challenges are extremely diverse and structured on different difficulty levels, ranging from killing a number of enemies with a given weapon, to flying an unstable plane in OFF for a lengthy amount of time without stalling. One of the coolest though would be the vertigo challenge, in which you are to fly 50 meters over the ground upside up at high velocity for 2 minutes. Not only do you get dizzy from it, but you can also crash horribly! Well worth the amount of experience though.
Controls - Hmm... click. EJECT!
It is easy to forget how hard it is to actually fly a plane when it is so easy and accessible in this game. Compared to the multitude of buttons and switches a normal cockpit has, HAWX controls using a handful of keyboard buttons and the mouse, if you want to use it. I prefer the keyboard only, even though I'd love a joystick with this game. Flying is as simple as the arrow keys and the W and S keys to increase or reduce the throttle, changing targets is as easy as pressing one button prompted on screen, you also have flares you can use on the press of a button if you feel the rocket on your tail can't be lost otherwise, and OFF is toggled by the pressing of a simple button. The controls on the keyboard feel slick and easy to use, and they don't detract from the experience as looking all over for an elusive wheel hatch button might be.
Sounds and atmosphere - Top Gun
Had there not been so many enemies to destroy, I would just enjoy the ride... Wait, I can do that, there is a Free Flight mode especially for that. The atmosphere is great, aided by the great graphics and presentation. Every plane's engine sounds different and with differing amounts of power. All of them sound great, and when mixed with the hellish sounds of heavenly combat, it immerses you even further. Hearing the alarm sounds might get on your nerves later on, when missiles will be coming for you from three SAM batteries at once, but it still is an enjoyable predicament. The voice acting in the game might clutter the radio chatter sometimes, but adverse to the effects normal repeated speech my have (annoyance), this actually conveys a feeling of many things going on at once, giving you the impression you actually do have wingmen, rather than a cohort of useless cup holders following you.
Sinker or floater?
HAWX is a fun game. Of that there is no doubt. Flying through the beautifully rendered scenery, blowing stuff up, throwing bombs over buildings and tanks has only felt as much fun in the days of classic shoot 'em ups ala Raptor. This here Tom Clancy game is not one you should just get over with as "another flight simulator", since that is what it is not. It's a great combat flight simulator, featuring a plethora of planes, awesome planes I might add, like the F117 NightHawk and the F22 Raptor (my personal favorite), great gameplay and amazing atmosphere packed with a greatly designed campaign and very fun multiplayer guaranteed to grant you hours of fun, even tens of them if you are achievement savvy.
Even if you are acrophobic, Tom Clancy's HAWX might be the game you may love. I've had a great time with the game, despite at times being a bit annoying (like the faulty checkpoint system that would save the game just before a key objective you had to defend is destroyed) and for one thing I know for sure, you will not hate this game. Also, I'm proud to say that this game has been developed by fellow Romanians at Ubisoft Bucharest. Great job guys, and keep them coming.