Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. XBox 360
H.A.W.X. is the newest Tom Clancy game where you patrol the skies in the latest modern fighters protecting the troops on the ground and fighting in an arcade style flight action game.
Ratings:
Graphics & Audio: 21/25,
Gameplay: 18/25,
Creativity 25/25,
Fun 24/25
Total: 88/100
The newest Tom Clancy game takes to the skies in the first flight action game to cross the franchise of that author best known in the gaming circles for the Ghost Recon series. This new game is a great arcade style action game where you have a host of different modern jets to take on the bad guys and protect those Ghosts on the ground.
H.A.W.X. takes a new twist to the arcade game in a very fun and exciting flight action style game with a great story line and some pretty good online fighting from the cockpit of the most modern and very realistic jet fighters. You start off your campaign with one plane to get you used to the game with an end to your military career but the beginning of your private fighting.
The story has you at the end of your career for the United States military and joining a private security firm to head out overseas and dole out some hurt on the bad guys around the world. Once you complete a few missions the private firm you work for goes rogue and you find yourself back in the military to help defend your country.
Each mission you successfully complete unlocks more planes and weapon packs as well as gives you more experience toward higher levels. When you gain higher levels you also unlock more planes and weapons for a great variety in aircraft such as the venerable F-14 and F-16 fighters or modern Eurofighter Typhoon.
By the time you end the single player campaign you will have unlocked at least 35 different fighters with that many weapon packs and then some. The fighters range from Vietnam era jets like the F-5 to the ultra modern prototype fighters like the Saab-39 Gripen and the YF-12A Jaguar.
There are over 50 fighters available but some are only available through preordering the game or other types of purchase and website signup bonus arrangements. The campaign has 19 missions where most of the missions allow you to select any fighter you have but a few missions have a single plane choice.
The weapons range from simple drop bombs to high tech all aspect targeting missiles so you have a good variety of weapons for missions. You also have the ability to carry hundreds of weapons in this not too realistic arcade fighter game so running out of ammo usually is not too much of a worry.
The single player missions can continue after the campaign to get more unlocked like the rest of the aircraft and the weapons on the three difficulty levels as well as in free flight where you simply cruise around the various mission maps. You also have a pretty good online component that allows up to four on four fighting but this is a lesser used component by the looks of things.
I found it difficult to find many playing online so I am working out more on the campaign missions to unlock more aircraft and weapons as well as gaining more levels. The game is quite fun and being an arcade flight game does have a much more lenient system in all aspects from ammo and damage to flight physics.
Online I had no problems finding a server to play on as the system automatically places you but few people were playing the game after the initial frenzy of the games launch. H.A.W.X. is not a flight simulator so I think this has affected the enjoyment for some who are looking for more of a total realism game from the Tom Clancy fans.
The online component works well but without the missions it is a long drawn out free for all in team deathmatch games but it would have been nice to include some coop play or something else. The campaign is really fun and with the unlock and level system there is plenty to come back for as the missions really do get tougher.
On the higher difficulty you get more realistic damage and less ammo so it does not get harder by adding more enemies but more realism. The game is fun and has plenty of visual and audio realism in the Tom Clancy gaming tradition with the latest Ghost Recon muted graphics and textures.
The graphics are great and the planes are very well detailed with three views available from your aircraft; first person from your cockpit seat, a gun sight view from the cockpit and third person view from the rear of your fighter. Each view has its advantages and are equally as fun but the ground textures and other planes are also well done with plenty attention to detail on the plane models.
The graphics and effects of other planes, explosions and even the enhanced views to help you fight on your HUD are well done but the ground textures and graphics could have used a little more work. The detail is in the little things as well as the bigger ones and the ground views are well done but are rather blocky and without smaller details.
Overall when you’re flying by at over a thousand knots the ground details tend to not matter and the game concentrates more on the other aircraft more than ground detail. The aircraft are very well detailed and you get a real sense of combat in the planes in all views, especially the frantic pace.
The game is quick and frantic and shows just how much modern fighters rely on their planes special gadgets and high tech systems and less on their skills but the H.A.W.X. game adds more to this. There is an Enhanced Reality System that allows you to do things like slide around turns and perform maneuvers that are physically impossible in the real world.
This system is hard to use for some parts and not all that great but it does add another component for those looking for that extra something in a game that is new and unique. I found it easier to just use the planes as is and not add to the fun in a way that jeopardized my own fun except in the mission that required you to use it.
Audio for the game is very good with a realistic quality you would expect in a Tom Clancy title using both radio communications and sound effects you hear from your plane. The overall experience is a quite believable flight even though some of the realism is lost to the use of such an abundant ammo supply and the slightly over the top maneuvers some of the planes can perform.
Overall H.A.W.X. is an excellent game that is both fun and a very entertaining experience for both the single player campaign and the multiplayer dog fighting. The campaign is a bit more fun as you will not have a problem finding others to play in the games enemies that are tough enough of an adversary.
Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. is well worth the cost for a fun arcade flight action game on the XBOX 360 and the PC.