HAWX review

[Chardok]

Hi!

Did you play Ace Combat?


No, none of the specific ones. Okay, maybe 6, so, did you play Ace Combat 6? Cool, now you have a frame of reference.


Now - did you like Ace Combat 6?

Yes? Cool.

No? Cool.

See, 'cause it really is that easy - HAWX is Ace Combat 6 with coop patch. Oh, and worse explosions, but better ground textures. In fact, I think the AWACS dude in HAWX is the same dude in Ace Combat 6. Don't listen to other reviews who tell you that HAWX is not like Ace Combat 6 - they're wrong. HAWX IS ACE COMBAT 6. IT EVEN HAS "high-g turns" (but you have to do it in third person view and you can't do it at all until the 6th mission.)

there....here's the number rating -

Whatever Ace combat 6 got / 10

[Jordie]

Also the MP is full of people who only use the high tier aircraft with the "I win" missiles (like the Semi-Active and Quick Maneuver missiles from Ace Combat, only they're impossible to evade without flares, which you only get 3-6 of while they have over a dozen missiles) which isn't much fun.

[TheFeniX]

Having dodged the Ace Combat series years ago after (what was it 2?) missile lock = win, I tried and the demo for HAWX and enjoyed it a lot. Of particular note is the seamless co-op. You don't have to wait in the lobby for everyone to pick their plane/loadout. If someone leaves, the slot opens up and anyone else can join in without interrupting the game.

The storyline is balls retarded, but this is Tom Clancy we're talking about so I'm not exactly expecting anything that, you know, makes sense. This is irrelevant for me personally as I wanted to fly a jet. At least the mission are a mix of intense dogfighting with excruciatingly painful maneuvering levels. Personally, I found there weren't enough levels dedicated to dogfighting. Most involve you bombing ground targets while praying you avoid a radar lock.

The graphics are top-notch. Not much to be said there.

The controls are pretty basic. People bitch about OFF mode being to hard to use, but after about 5 minutes of flying in it, I really don't dogfight any other way unless I need a radar-guided missile lock. My only issue is the speed with which the OFF camera switches targets. Rather than "snapping to" it take it's sweet time to scroll across to the next target.

And I learned something from this game. I thought the YF-12A was some bullshit designation for an SR-71 with weapons. Which.... it is except for the "bullshit" part. They actually mounted missiles on the fucking thing at some point. Damn I should have joined the Air Force...

I have yet to play TDM as I've heard some pretty awful things about it. I'm waiting till this weekend when two of my other friends pick the game up. Then we'll have 4.

[Starglider]

Having dodged the Ace Combat series years ago after (what was it 2?) missile lock = win

4 and 5 were like that 6 is actually has significantly harder to use missiles than the PS2 games. On my first playthrough I expected the missiles to work like they did in the older games, missed a lot, declared them useless and relied almost exclusively on the guns. Then I realised that I needed to lead the target more and set up decent firing solutions if I wanted the (default) missiles to hit. This is one of the things that was actually good about AC6.

In fact amusingly the standard missiles in AC6 behave rather like the unguided rockets in Blazing Angels 2 - the later have such a huge proximity blast radius you can reliably pick off maneuvering enemy fighters with single rocket shots from >1km range, if you lead the target enough.

At least the mission are a mix of intense dogfighting with excruciatingly painful maneuvering levels.

Ah but does it have flying through tunnel complexes? The developers of BA2 apparently realised that to be a proper arcade flight sim, they had to rip of the AC series and have tunnels in the last level.

The controls are pretty basic.

As long as they are actual plane controls rather than Blazing Angel's fucking annoying 'direct gunsight control = dumbed down unresponsive shit for the FPS mouth-breathers'.

They actually mounted missiles on the fucking thing at some point.

For brief trials only, before McNamara fucked things up as usual.

I'll probably be getting this game, sometime in the near future.

[TheFeniX]

Ah but does it have flying through tunnel complexes? The developers of BA2 apparently realised that to be a proper arcade flight sim, they had to rip of the AC series and have tunnels in the last level.

The last mission you fly through a valley while staying under the radar. It's a bitch until you learn to Yaw your way through it.

As long as they are actual plane controls rather than Blazing Angel's fucking annoying 'direct gunsight control = dumbed down unresponsive shit for the FPS mouth-breathers'.

If you're talking about "left = bank left/pulls up on stick automatically" then that option is available. I wouldn't use it to save my life though. "Expert" flight mode is the way to go.

Oh wait, I think I know what you're talking about with the camera thing with blazing angels (I played it for a bit before I wanted to gouge my eyes out). Though the Camera is "locked" on the target, you have full control over the plane in OFF mode. Using the cannon in that mode is a motherfucker. I can usually score a hit if I'm in range, but you pretty much need to be in standard mode to drill a target with it.

For brief trials only, before McNamara fucked things up as usual.

Yea, but... they mounted fucking missiles on a plane that could fly across the continental US in a little over an hour. Anyways, I use it non-stop in campaign for some reason.

[Starglider]

Oh wait, I think I know what you're talking about with the camera thing with blazing angels (I played it for a bit before I wanted to gouge my eyes out).

No, I was talking about the fact that the Blazing Angels games don't have an 'Expert' control mode, you are locked on 'Beginner' at all times. It's not even 'auto bank/pitch' like in AC, the game actually tries to move the plane for you to approximate simple 2D control of the gunsight. This is only mildly annoying in dogfighting (forget doing any serious ACM other than 'slow down/speed up') but it's monstrously frustrating when flying through tight spaces (did I mention the massive lag?). The follow camera is expressly designed to work with this FPS-like control scheme, which is fine, but if you could use real controls then a camera stick would work better.

[TheFeniX]

Wait, you mean you actually aimed the reticule real-time and the plane just "caught up" to it after the fact? I don't remember it being that retarded..... No, the HAWX flight controls have nothing anywhere near that.

[Starglider]

Wait, you mean you actually aimed the reticule real-time and the plane just "caught up" to it after the fact?

That would have been merely annoying. Instead, the game worked like you were /trying/ to do that, but the actual reticule remained locked to the plane's orientation. In other words the main controls were always camera-relative yaw/pitch, which the game translated (badly) into semi-realistic plane movement. There is a secondary manual roll on the right analogue stick, but this exists primarily so you can hit it by accident during throttle changes (throttle is also on the right analogue stick), disrupt the camera and send your plane veering off randomly into a cliff.

The second game did at least fix one glaring flaw in the first game, where secondary weapons fire was achieved by clicking the right stick, invariably creating unwanted throttle and roll commands. The only explanation for this is that the developers were outright sadists, considering that the original game left several buttons on the controller (i.e. X) completely unused.

[Vanas]

Mm, I'm unsure about Tom Clancy's Ace Combat. I'm rather preferring AC6 for it's general flying and looks other than the shiny ground textures. The whole two modes thing annoys me, though the intercept paths thing seems to mostly work. My friend complained that the missile dodge one kept directing him into the sea though...
I do love the way that certain aircraft like the YF12 and the EF111 just summon missiles from their centrelines and gunfire from their noses as well. That reeks of quality.
As for the plot, I've no idea what's going on due the lack of subtitles. This is reminiscent of the last Clancy game I've played, R6V2, where it's taken me about a year to discover the whole thing is 'You were a dick to me, now I'm going to kill everyone so daddy will see I prefer girls' or something. I mean, seriously, do they ever explain how this PMC can throw away entire naval taskforces without seemingly noticing or launch attacks on DC without anything intercepting them? Heck, AC6 made slightly more sense here as New York Gracemeria is right on the border.

[TheFeniX]

That would have been merely annoying. Instead, the game worked like you were /trying/ to do that, but the actual reticule remained locked to the plane's orientation. In other words the main controls were always camera-relative yaw/pitch, which the game translated (badly) into semi-realistic plane movement.

Well, I did play this game at a friends apartment years ago while drunk. I don't remember it being that bad, but I'll take your word for it. In fact, I quit playing it so I could try out "Donkey Konga"..... so it had to be awful.

The whole two modes thing annoys me, though the intercept paths thing seems to mostly work. My friend complained that the missile dodge one kept directing him into the sea though...

I've found dodging missiles with ERS annoying. If I'm attacking a ground target and I pick up a missile, I'll wait until it closes to about 500m, quickly switch to OFF, and cut a 360 with the air brake. In a straight up dog fight, I stay on OFF mode unless I need to select a different target (target switching in OFF mode is just painful) or check the map. Fucking around in OFF mode for too long can screw you in an escort mission.

I do love the way that certain aircraft like the YF12 and the EF111 just summon missiles from their centrelines and gunfire from their noses as well. That reeks of quality.

With no specs for the cannons (I don't think the YF-12A ever mounted any) and the enclosed missiles, there's really no where to put them. My best experience with the plane though was climbing to about 6000 feet at Mach 2 right above the "SOTA uber-cool battlecruiser" then dive bombing at max speed and pouring an entire payload of rockets into it. WIth one volley you can drop it to 20%. Since the kill is worth a 1000 XP and no one else had a plane that could match my speed at all, it was aces.

As for the plot, I've no idea what's going on due the lack of subtitles.

You aren't missing anything. SPOILERS AHOY!
McBadaas pilot of the Air Force has his commission come up. Gets offered a contract with Artemis. Do some jobs for Brazil, then the the USA. Artemis then betrays the USA, McBadass sides with USA. Commence hilarious "US Intelligence is retarded/Artemis pulls off surgical strikes crippling USA military" bullshit. McBadass and his wingmen save the D.C, then the president, then stop a nuke launch, and stop a nuke going off in in.... New York? Really, I can't remember because at that point to plot had turned my brain off.

In a word, the plot is idiotic.

The actual missions are fun. It would be nice to have some kind of survival mode though. As it stands, the only time I die is when I get lazy around SAMs or take too long lining up a groud target and get hammered by enemy fighters. I'd like a game mode where me and three friends can just fight wave after wave of NPC fighters (preferably with unlimited ammo) until we all die.

[Stark]

Did they fix the hideous cannon effect? Freespace2 was better.

LOL at people talking about the elite control systems they use in arcade shooters, though. I play Crimson Skies with a yoke!

[CaptHawkeye]

Can you at least select a difficulty level way higher than what the demo gave us? It'll be worth a rent if it's actually a slight challenge.

[Starglider]

LOL at people talking about the elite control systems they use in arcade shooters, though. I play Crimson Skies with a yoke!

It's not a question of 'elite' or 'realistic', it's basic playability. The BA developers tried to make the controls easier to use for retards who expect all games to play like FPSes, but in practice they broke the game for everyone. This is worse in the first one due to the rightstick-secondary-fire thing and the fact that there is a level that consists of a long canyon full of ridiculously narrow spaces and slanting ice columns after blind corners. That level would've been hell even with the AC flight model, it was a multi-hour exercise in restart-from-checkpoint tedium with BA's ridiculous control scheme. BA2 has those tunnels in the final level, but a combination of saner level design (you actually have a second or two of warning before obstructions) and slightly less laggy controls make them bearable.

[AniThyng]

Tell me, are the missions as epic as AC6's got? I mean with dozens of aircraft, both enemy and friendly fighting, and with companies of land units duking it out?

[Darksider]

Tell me, are the missions as epic as AC6's got? I mean with dozens of aircraft, both enemy and friendly fighting, and with companies of land units duking it out?

You know, I could do with missions that are a little less "epic" in scale than some of AC6's missions.

From a thematic standpoint, It was pretty awesome to watch two massive military forces go at it, with smoke trails coating the sky and tracer fire and explosions dotting the ground, but from the standpoint of a shameless completionist, who loves to complete EVERY objective both required and bonus, some of those missions were a bit of a chore. I never really had time to enjoy the epic battle because I was too busy trying to rush from one end of the map to the other completing the various objectives and making sure the ground units didn't get wiped out.

Alternatively, if lowering the scale isn't an option, make the allied units semi-competent, so they're actually capable of surviving for more than five seconds without your assistance, obviously they shouldn't win the mission and accomplish all their objectives by themselves, but being able to concentrate on wiping out targets without hearing frantic cries from decimated units on the other side of the map would be nice.

[Pulp Hero]

I rented this game and I actually ususally like Tom Clancy video game plots. The original Ghost Recon and first couple of Splinter Cells were semi-plausible military thrillers. I have a lot of problems with the GRAW plots, but whatever I rolled with them because the games were good. But Christ, I can sum up my feelings on the plot of HAWX with one picture:



I mean wow. Remember when Tom Clancy games revolved around deniable Spec Op badasses working behind the scenes? What the fuck.

[Stark]

Remember the Endwar plot about global triple détente? Good thing America can be conquered by mercenaries without general Mugabe doing anything! The SLAMS network is offline - it was that easy! LOL

I found the missions boring. Aside from a few ERS based missions they were 'escort LOL spawning badguys' or 'timer LOL spawning badguys'.

[Tolya]

Remember the Endwar plot about global triple détente? Good thing America can be conquered by mercenaries without general Mugabe doing anything!

After playing Ghost Recon: AW2 I do feel some kind of a deja vu. For fifth fucking time with GR:AW1, GR:AW2 and both R6:Vegas.

This shit is getting old.

I remember another RTS game with a plot centered around a mercenary army conquering the bloody USA. Can't get the name out of memory though right now, but that would be a +1 on the deja vu meter.

The only thing I remember was that the games' antagonists used YF-23's in the final missions.

[Stark]

That could be Act of War, and that was terrorist/oil companies post peak oil. They could drop satellites laced with Ebola on you!

To reassure you, the first HAWX mission is in Mexico.

[CaptHawkeye]

I made AC4 sound logical not long ago and I already miss that week. What's the problem developer's have with basic plot direction? None really. It's just that no one gives a shit. I mean, why put effort into developing the plot when tying some vague conspiracy shit to player objectives and slapping a brand name on it would bring in just as much money as a Watchmen-quality storyline?