Tom Clancys HAWX
Tom Clancy’s HAWX for Xbox 360 puts you behind the throttle, in the fighter pilot’s seat. As a member of the elite HAWX squadron, you’ll find yourself manning cutting-edge aircraft, training on all the newest weapons, and carrying out dangerous top-secret missions set against the backdrop of a chaotic future, where private military companies (PMCs) are constantly putting your skills to the test and forcing you to defend your reputation as one of the top military pilots on Earth.
Fly alone or work with other pilots. View larger. |
Let E.R.S. help you demonstrate your skills. View larger. |
Experience photo-realistic environments. View larger. |
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Perform tricky maneuvers to try and escape brutal dogfights alive. View larger. |
Take on secretive, black-op missions all over the world. View larger. |
Shifting International Dynamics: The Hazards of PMC Warfare
Set between Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 and Tom Clancy’s EndWar from the popular Ghost series, Tom Clancy’s HAWX takes place in a world where warfare is constantly evolving–a time when state-sponsored militaries lack the funds and personnel to modernize their forces and elite, private mercenary groups have grown in size and scope to pick up the slack.
The Reykjavik Accords of 2012 defined the role of these PMCs in combat, and they made it fully legal for these groups to purchase from the international armaments market, leading to a shift in the structure of global military power. Over time, you’ll do battle on the front lines of both sides as this shift reveals high-stakes arms threats and a terrifying glimpse of the future.
HAWX: The Elite, High Altitude Warfare eXperimental Squadron
You’ll begin the game as former U.S. Air Force Pilot David Crinshaw, assigned to provide air support for the well-known Ghost Recon team. You and your fellow HAWX pilots are some of the most highly-trained specialists in the world. Based out of Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, you’re tasked with everything from testing secret and experimental aircraft weapon systems to carrying out combat and recon missions, training other top pilots, and attempting to capture enemy technologies.
With the rise of the PMCs, your unique skills in higher demand than ever before. And with 49 playable planes available in game, plus additional planes available to some pilots through pre-order bonuses or VIP memberships, there’s no shortage of sleek, fast, deadly aircraft at your disposal as you put your skills to use.
An Iconic, Enhanced Reality System to Help You Deliver Results
When you’re in the midst of a firefight, E.R.S. in-game technology can help anyone survive, if you know how to take advantage of it. Featuring incoming missile detection, an anti-crash system, damage assessment, a tactical map, and weapons trajectory control, E.R.S. even allows you to issue orders to your squadron and other units, much like the iconic Cross-Com system in other Tom Clancy games. When you’re getting started, you can ease into the rigors of flight and gain confidence by using a special assistance mode that offers support through the E.R.S. This mode can be switched off at any time, deactivating safety features and allowing you to perform advanced maneuvers.
Cutting-Edge Realism and Innovative Multi-Player Modes
Whether you’re in a classic F15 Fighting Falcon or a new-generation Gripen, the controls and flight graphics are designed to keep you on your toes. And the game’s photo-realistic environments have been created using detailed satellite data. When you pull back on the throttle to jet all over the world, you’ll experience this authentic world from a variety of viewpoints.
Game play options aren’t limited either, with the campaign featuring solo and multiplayer options with seamless jump in/jump out functionality, and a PVP mode where players can challenge each other to dog-fights for bragging rights, earning experience points and cash, and unlocking additional weapons.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars good but not great
Its fun for a few hours but no real reason to play it over again. Try ace combat for the 360 instead. Multiplayer has only 1 mode and it is pretty much the same thing over and over. It is fun to Fly with 3 other friends in the missions but it makes them very easy even on the highest difficulty.
4 Stars HAWX delivers a ridiculously good time!
As an avid fan of flight games for years (in the Ace Combat tradition, not the realistic flight sims) HAWX is a worthy addition to the franchise. Unlike Ace Combat, which always takes place in fictional countries, it’s fun to take your plane over real locales. Like Ace Combat, it also suffers from a laughably preposterous story–but the flying is solid, fun, and engaging enough to keep playing. The online multiplayer is also a fun and excellent addition.
4 Stars HAWX Review
Enjoyable, yet short, arcade/simulation jet fighter game. Graphics, controls, and playability are very good. Cons: too short.
4 Stars good fighter/ flying game
this is the first flying game i have played. i thought about the “flight simulator”, but with my anger for games running slowly on windows based pc i decided to just pick up a game i could fly and shoot planes down. good flying game, fairly easy to pickup what is going on with the story, even if you have never played a tom clancy game.
3 Stars Passable, but could have been a lot better
Let me say that HAWX gives a great first impression. There are a lot of good ideas at work in HAWX, and you can tell the developer tried to make an innovative arcade fighter sim. Unfortunately, those innovations are implemented so poorly that you almost wish they hadn’t bothered.
The game claims to have more than fifty licensed planes you can unlock. This is true. What it doesn’t tell you is that about a quarter of these are Dassault Mirage variants, and while the Mirage is undoubtedly fine plane, it’s not so awesome that unlocking another one feels like much of an achievement. And speaking of unlocking, the XP system is designed around multiplayer even though it is used for the campaign. If you don’t have XBOX Live, have fun accumulating the 1.4 million or so points needed to reach Level 40 at ~600 points per mission.
Plane handling is okay but not great. An A-10 handles an awful lot like an F-22, and in general you won’t notice a whole lot of difference from one plane to another. Some go 2000km/hr and others just go 1500, but nothing seems to willingly go slower than that unless assistance is off (more about that shortly). Not the end of the world, I suppose, but it does take some of the luster out of “50 iconic in-game planes” when you realize they all handle the same.
The “Assistance Off” mode is a great idea in theory. The game pulls back to a long distance view, airspeed and altitude/attitude indicators are disabled, and your plane gets a significant maneuverability boost at the cost of a much higher chance of stalling. It sounds good, but aircraft have HUDs for a reason: knowing how fast you’re going helps you avoid a stall, knowing how far you are off the ground is helpful during a stall, and knowing where your aircraft is pointing helps you recover from a stall. In short, you get more maneuverability at the cost of being able to use it effectively. Thanks, HAWX.
Still, even with all this HAWX isn’t a bad game, and even if you just play the singleplayer campaign there’s a lot of fun to be had. It seems ideal for an impulse purchase once it hits the discount bin if you’re into multiplayer. If you’re just looking for the singleplayer campaign, consider renting it instead.
