Stark Plays TC's HAWXXXXX

[Stark]

I'm going to talk about this demo without referring to the bizarre and terrifying plan to increase the cross-pollenation and take the 'Tom Clancy world' into even more bizarre, America-fellating directions now that Tom doesn't give a shit anymore. OK?

Anyway, I played the demo and I know JSF has too. I expected Ace Combat 6 with stupid HUDs, but I got Crimson Skies with unlimited missiles. The control/flight system is amazingly primitive (an F-16 cruises at about 2000kph), the missile play is ludicrously one-sided (always hit + easy to dodge), and it suffers from Ace Combat disease where you're basically flying around firing magical spawning missiles at red boxes on the HUD. The cannon is absoultely hilarious; the 'bullet' sprite is straight out of Half Life and the first plane you use doesn't even have a hole where the bullets come out.

Sadly the demo didn't have the 'computer power' mechanism where using the ENHANCED REALITY SYSTEM (ie gates you fly through) uses 'computer power' which needs to regenerate. However, the play is so low-threat and boring that it isn't even neccessary. The third-person mode (complete with 'lol handbrake turn' maneouvre) is deeply distressing when the demo forces you to use it for multiple close-range interceptions.

I feel the terrain looks better than AC6 (more 'stuff' down there) but it's irrelevant because you're never low or slow enough to give a shit. I think the planes are similar or slightly worse (at least in the demo) with spotty texturing. The system of 'unlocking' planes and having 'loadouts', combined with coop, might make it an interesting rent (at least if JSF is getting it too) but otherwise it's thoroughly uninspiring. It's a game where you fly a plane and shoot things; that's all. It has the typical hilarious/incompetent story we've all come to expect from Tom Clancy-branded stuff, so that'll sell a million copies alone.

[Ford Prefect]

Well, this is disappointing. I mean, I wasn't expecting much more than 'fly around and shoot stuff', but it could at least have been awesome flying around and shooting stuff. I don't need god tier realism or anything here, but I'd like the flight to actually feel like some serious jet fighting. Even Armored Core 4 feels more high gee than most air combat games.

[JointStrikeFighter]

Well, this is disappointing. I mean, I wasn't expecting much more than 'fly around and shoot stuff', but it could at least have been awesome flying around and shooting stuff. I don't need god tier realism or anything here, but I'd like the flight to actually feel like some serious jet fighting. Even Armored Core 4 feels more high gee than most air combat games.

Yeah sadly any flightsim featuring missiles degenerates into either "beep beep you're dead" radar sim or "pull max g and loose of a sidewinder" fuckfestery.

[Stark]

It's interesting Ford mentions AC4 though; even JSF enjoyed the 'flying' part of AC4 (although the controls are rubbish). HAWX is just kinda boring due to low-threat.

How did 'non-realistic' flight games go from Wing Commander to X-wing to Freespace to ... this?

[Vympel]

How did 'non-realistic' flight games go from Wing Commander to X-wing to Freespace to ... this?

Well for one thing, Wing Commander, X-Wing and Freespace all relied on gun combat with missiles as an also-ran.

[CaptHawkeye]

Oh well. It saddens me that the game play ultimately feels hollow and pointless because the aircraft lack any sense of physics.

Hey Stark, if you want to try an AC-knock off that doesn't *totally* suck, try Zero G fighters. I was surprised at the manner the game was carried out. It's an "arcade flyer" but in a more realistic manner compared to AC. It had some really cool ideas and paid attention to way more details than AC. Though don't get me wrong, it's ultimately broken disorganized shit. (Enemies get unlimited re spawns while you have limited ammo and no "regenerating" weapons at all.) So rent it.

[VF5SS]

Hawkeye, I think you mean Over G Fighters.

[CaptHawkeye]

Fancy that! I do! That's what I get for trying to form thoughts and memories all of 3s after waking up.

[Losonti Tokash]

The fact that anyone could recommend Over G Fighters is amazing. It's easily the worst game of its genre I've ever played. It was barely translated into English and the missiles are pretty much impossible to evade.

[CaptHawkeye]

The fact that anyone could recommend Over G Fighters is amazing. It's easily the worst game of its genre I've ever played. It was barely translated into English and the missiles are pretty much impossible to evade.

Ohhh yeah. It's definantly typical beep beep you're dead bullshit. But it's not as bad as HAWX is. It's a rental even when it's at its best.

[Stark]

Well for one thing, Wing Commander, X-Wing and Freespace all relied on gun combat with missiles as an also-ran.

Just like Crimson Skies and Rogue Squadron, other games that were actually good. Could it be that gun combat is actually interesting? I noticed after that they were all space games, but 'space' just means 'not even trying to have aerodynamics' which HAWX doesn't try either. HAWX even lets you carry MORE missiles than FS2, except they kill everyone EXCEPT YOU in 2 hits!

RE Over G Fighters, I flicked through the manual and I was surprised by how 'not arcade' it seemed - it at least had pretensions to be a true radar simulator. Not what I expected at all.

[Julhelm]

Dammit, I was looking forward to this actually being a decent game.

[Stark]

Let's not jump the gun; it's only a demo - and the worst kind, just the first few levels. It MIGHT be better, harder, more involving in the full version. The demo is just a giant snooze-fest, that's all we can say.

[Laughing Mechanicus]

Let's not jump the gun; it's only a demo - and the worst kind, just the first few levels. It MIGHT be better, harder, more involving in the full version. The demo is just a giant snooze-fest, that's all we can say.

It's worth noting that the demo for Ace Combat 4 was setup in an identical manner - locked on the easiest difficulty setting, offering almost zero challenge on the easiest levels. I imagine this setup is the work of the HAWX marketing department who are likely terrified (and perhaps justifiably) that the moron hoard will play the demo, find their cherished FPS skills are useless, get shot down and declare "the game sucks" and go back to Halo.

I have not managed to get my hands on this yet, as the PS network has not made it available it yet (great job, Sony). I have hopes the full game will be fun, but even when I do I am way more likely to judge the game based on reviews than a demo - I can't remember the last time I played a game demo that was A) Not rubbish and B) Actually communicated effectively how the full game would play. Ubisoft is particularly bad for this - the EndWar demo was also pointlessly truncated and showed precisely nothing about the main game when it so easily could have done so (e.g. play X turns of Theater of War).

I am quite a fan of the Ace Combat series, with all its myriad flaws, which is actually another reason why I am hopeful for HAWX being good. I imagine the mood in the Ace Combat office, after they watched some of the videos of HAWX in action, was apocalyptic - it's the first game in a brand new franchise being made by (as I recall) a brand new studio and it already looks like it does way more interesting things with the "arcade air combat" formula than EIGHT iterations of Ace Combat ever did and I hope that spurs the Ace Combat developers to try something new themselves.