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

Let's get one thing clear, this isn't a flight sim! This is Afterburner on steroids! The focus is on action rather than realism and it benefits from it. Even the most casual gamer will be able to plunge head long into this game without even reading the contents page of the manual. With real life planes that can perform unrealistic manoeuvres (in some cases would result in death) the action envelope is pushed to the extreme. This is the air combat game I have been waiting for.

I have the full game on 360 and PC, my PC usually gets more playtime as I'm in a huge multi-gaming clan (TAW).

Highly recommend the game and only scored it 4 stars because there's no 4.5 - once Ubi fix their master server lists for PC I'll be happy to let it have 5 (which it deserves on 360)

The HAWX missions are pretty fun in single player, but really come to life in co-op mode. The PC co-op mode is having problems connecting at the moment owing to Ubi's master server not updating properly, but the 360 Live version works perfectly.

You level up in the game like in RB6V2 and CoD:WaW, with ranks awarded for XP gains, and XP gains for kills and completing tasks (like shooting down XX enemies with a particular type of missile). Each rank gained unlocks extra planes and weapon packs. This gives even single player missions replayability as you decide to destroy ground targets with cluster bombs this time instead to get the extra XP points, for example.

In co-op mode you can choose any mission and have 3 players join you to complete it, the twist is that for every additional player beyond yourself the game adds more enemies and ramps up the difficulty! Great fun and can get very hectic as you try to co-ordinate who is going to destroy what - hehe.

Flying in HAWX is sheer adrenalin fuelled fun. e.g. You dive out of the sky to nail a tank that is nestled between high rise buildings, peel out and then realise that the same high rise buildings are now blocking your exit route so you quickly flip the plane 90 degrees in the air and shoot through sideways between two of them. Or perhaps, you are engaged in a furious dogfight, outnumbered and trying to protect a bomber flight, or even a presidential plane, wheeling, braking, diving, trying to get that LOCK so you can blow them out of the sky, all the time watching them get nearer to your protected plane and hoping you get them before they get it.

I bought the Saitek AV8R-02 (360/PC) Flight Stick for the game and have not regretted it. Playing the game with a joystick is way more fun than a control pad or keyboard/mouse.

When i first installed the game i couldnt wait to get started.
The write-up and reviews looked brilliant.

But was quite disapointed once i got into the game, for example, the flight isnt really realistic, no turbulance, Not joystick sensitive (Turned my joystick a small bit, no movement, a bit more... still none, a bit more and the plane rapidly moved and started spinning..)

The lockon system makes missle fire easy.. too easy, the gun fire is manual, hard to hit targets because of the dodgy flying.

All in all 3/5 - Graphicly it is pretty good, scenary is amazing, plane choises are good.

Wouldnt reccommend for people who like extreme realistic flying combat games. But for people whom like easy games that the computer does most of the work games, then reccomended for you.

Graphically very pretty, nice selection of planes and cheap thats the good points.
Bad points clunky controls especially when trying to assign wingmen targets and the advanced combat view while giving some manevouring advantages is so unfriendly and unintuitive that i seriously doubt anyone will ever use it outside the mission where you learn how to use it,all the missons are completely lead you by the hand linear and finally its absurdly easy even on elite.
Skip this and go see how it should be done with one of the ace combat series.

Demo played [3rd Mar].
[+] :
Very smooth graphics, combined rich details of dog fight. Plane models: very detailed.
Very intensive combat progress, no bored in flight.
Close-to-real aerodynamics.
Easy control with assistances even for recruits.

[-] :
'Flat' ground detail, no massive 3d landscapes (that's why it can run so smoothly compare to FSX...)
Still high requirement on your PC.