Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.

Our verdict on Silent Hill's current generation debut.

	Version 360 (PS3, PC, Wii)	Developer Ubisoft Romania	Publisher Ubisoft	Genre Aerial warfare

Page: 1  2 

Page 2

Something similar seems to have happened to the 19 story missions, which are all about moving to checkpoints and bringing the hurt to waves of air, ground or sea-based opponents, sometimes while protecting a hapless friendly or two, with a pitiful excuse for a boss fight - think well-fed re-skin of basic foe with a longer health bar - tossed in at the finale.

This is a shame because as far as knuckle-whitening dogfights are concerned, H.A.W.X. is onto a good thing, and given a more involved enclosing framework of challenges the game might have snuck into the realm of recommended purchase. The default controls are instantly gratifying - left stick to pitch and yaw, right to free-look, triggers for braking and acceleration, face buttons for weapons - but it's the "Enhanced Reality System" - a cluster of flight aids and fail-safes, toggled on and off with a double-squeeze of the triggers - which proves most interesting.

With the ERS, H.A.W.X. offers both a highly flexible difficulty factor and a decent set of tactical possibilities. Keep the aids on and the system will, if requested, help you line up a shot on your target by projecting a path of Colony-Wars-esque hoops for you to fly through, or alternatively guide you away from an especially stubborn missile. It'll also keep you from slowing into a stall.

With the aids off, the camera jumps back from the usual cockpit, tail-fin or nose perspectives to give you a cinematic shot of your craft and the surrounding air. There's no fail-safe to keep you airborne, or virtual reality water-wings to waltz you into an optimum angle of approach, but you can turn much faster, decelerating hard and spinning your plane around on its trajectory - the aerial equivalent of a handbrake turn, useful indeed when dodging missiles or trading machine gun fire with nippy foes.

The idea is to mix and match these modes, flipping the aids on to draw a bead on some deeply entrenched SAM battery, then flicking them off to power-slide into an attack vector towards a swarm of MiGs. It works, beautifully. So beautifully, in fact, that Ubisoft doesn't bother mixing things up when you crank out enough experience points to get your hands on a new ride. The game's 50 plus authentically rendered, officially sanctioned real-world aircraft all feel much the same, from "omni-role" F-22 Raptors to F-117 Nighthawk fighter-killers. Aviation enthusiasts (keep your distance, please) may enjoy picking over the dimensions and specifications, but such nuances will be lost on the majority.

As a consequence of this and the limited mission design, H.A.W.X.'s drop in/drop out online co-op and eight player competitive multiplayer modes aren't up to much. Co-op can be a blast if you get a full four players in the air, and take on one of the later, tougher missions, but there's just not enough depth or variety to sustain regular bouts of deathmatch.

Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. has some gutsy moves, but it's never given a chance to put them to truly show-stopping use. While there's material here worth building on, Ace Combat's throne is safe for the moment.

Page: 1  2 

MORE REVIEWS >>