Now I may not be an expert at flying games, in fact my last endeavour at combat from the cockpit was Air Combat, on the PSX. Obviously things have moved on since then, well except Air Combats dominance over this genre. Jumping into to cockpit as David Crenshaw the H.A.W.X squad leader, a former U.S. fighter pilot, who goes private after the first mission. Joining Artimis an army for hire, which is a common occurrence by 2014, (trying not to spoil the story) but this is a short lasted affair and eventually end up fighting for the U.S. again.
A few issues will show within minutes of getting into the action, you never really get a great indication of speed, finding you have to 180 the aircraft because the target has zoomed past after seeming an age away or the slightly hectic HUD. Forgivingly pressing the ‘X’ button shows you the best path to take out targets, which seems a really cheap way of doing it, alternatively you could fire wildly as there doesn’t seem to be a limit to the rockets you can unleash at the enemy, not recommended though. Most flight games aren’t renowned for the freedom given to the player but when you’re in a dogfight an happen to stray out of the combat zone the game decides to make you self destruct in the heat of battle, which is infuriating when you’re close to completion of a level.
Even though there are 50 different planes they all pretty much fly the same. You’ll find yourself barrel rolling and pulling stunts in-between targets to keep yourself amused. Interestingly there is a Rainbow Six style levelling up system to unlock new equipment to aid you in battle, even if you fail a mission terribly there is always some points to come from the disasters. Really disappointingly for a Tom Clancy branded game, the A.I. of your teammates is quite poor at times. Sending them to destroy other planes quite often is a pointless task, although they fair better against ground units they still could do with a bit more independent thinking.
Dog fights are the highlight of the game, with ‘Off Mode’ activated the game really comes into its own which after battling for position an the eventual take-down is oh so satisfying. In fact it’s so much better than going in with all the gadgets you’ll find yourself resorting to it for almost any occasion, regardless of how simple or difficult it is.
Graphics look nice when at altitude, when close to the ground however the game lacks serious detail with buildings being no more than blocks of colour. Rivers have seemingly been added on afterwards, look ok but against the dry land background it’s a bit of a joke really. Landmark cities replicated using the somewhat flawed satellite mapping system are a relatively enjoyable to navigate around, even if the game gets a bit too busy in these areas .The planes are obviously where the time has been spent as they look extremely detailed and far outshine everything else graphically. The storyline is a bit shallow but it ties in well with events from the other games in the series. This is a really nice touch although I don’t remember ever needing as much air support in Advanced Warfare thought. For people who are fans of the series these moments unfortunately will remind you that this game doesn’t really live up to expectations people associate with the Tom Clancy name.
Despite its flaws, H.A.W.X is a thoroughly enjoyable game and once you truly get into the action you’ll see beyond the flaws (properly because you’ll be far to busy taking out everything on screen). It would be harsh to call it a bad game, because its anything but, it’s just at the end of the day if you’re after the best arcade jet-fighter game around then you will pick up Ace Combat, H.A.W.X is a valiant attempt at taking the crown but lacks the finishing touches to make it a truly great game.
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