SCHUMI_4EVER
March 3rd, 2010, 21:29
Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X - Beggars can't be Choosers
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-40-37-93.jpg
First of all I would like to say that this review is based entirely on single player same as my earlier Red Alert 3 review so I have no idea whether Multiplayer is any good. This game does however also allows you to play the campaign with a friend.
Next I would like to say that this review may end up rather negative and it may look like you should rather go with something else, but as there has been nothing else for 6+ years now (even more if you never managed to get
into Lock On : Modern Air Combat and prefered Jane's Titles) this is a must buy game for anyone that likes aerial combat, the bad review merely indicates that it's not a game you should pay top dollar for but rather pick up for $20 or less.
Story: 5/10
The story is entirely forgettable, don't expect a Clancy novel. Your Squadron in the US Military gets shut down so you join a private military contractor called Artemis. Artemis is contracted by the US Military but recieves a better offer from the enemy and turns on the US, you being a loyal citizen side with the US Military and fight to bring your former Employer to Justice.
That said story has never been an integral part in an aerial combat game and thus this hardly matters, it's the gameplay that matters so let's get to that.
The campaign consists of 19 short missions lasting between 10-20 minutes.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-41-21-94.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-41-43-88.jpg
Gameplay:
I shall seperate this section into three categories, Missions, Combat and Realism.
Missions: 7/10
Now my bias may show a little here but I hate protection missions so I am not pleased that in 14 of the 19 missions I have to watch someone else's six rather than my own. Obviously you have to destroy the enemy but thankfully how you do that, or rather how you can get around to do doing that varies a fair bit. You have to do things like find radar transmitters, perform a hit from a specific angle using the ERS, use the ERS to navigate a dangerous area and take out command centers, take out various targets whilst flying low or just plain defend an AWACS plan from enemy fighters as it tries to locate a target among other things. Missions are fast and frantic and often there will be so many forces swarming the target you're meant to protect that you will have to prioritize, do I take out the fast bombers quickly approaching which would do far more damage first, or do I take out the ground forces already doing damage...which detracts somewhat from the combat as you get hurried around the map. There's also one mission that's really retarded where you have to fly from a sort of far-out sideways view, but thankfully that's the only mission where you are forced to use this mode.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-41-25-68.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-46-43-81.jpg
Combat: 7/10
Combat is decent. Firing missiles and dropping bombs and in general offense is as good as it gets. The aresenal loadout is fairly simple with range usually being the deciding factor or just simply how large the loadout of the particular weapon is you can take, no complex choices like do I pick Sidewinders or straight-flying missiles, also all the planes come with a pre-configured loadout so often you will make your plane choice based on load-out preferences. Otherwise it's pretty much the same as you're used to with Combat Flight Sims. The biggest problem is probably that there's little to threaten you, missiles are dodged fairly easily and so is other enemy fire so
it ends up somewhat onesided.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-58-02-00.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0318-02-52-13.jpg
Realism: 4/10
H.A.W.X is no combat flight sim. You don't have to worry about fuel, or take-off and landing and even your thrust only has two, well two and a half options, full, normal and a temporary brake. On Normal difficulty your plane can take a ridiculous amount of damage and has an oversized weapon load-out as well. Hard sees things a little closer to reality with a smaller loadout and you being able to take less damage. Elite mean you can basically just take one missile hit and you've had it, and you also need to make sure that every missile hits it's mark as you can't waste ordinance. Dodging Missiles is easy and there are quite a few fire and forget weapons.
Unfortunately combat takes place in what sometimes ends up being a very small square as you see immersion broken by a net that appears far too late as you find yourself with your screen going glitchy and warnings informing you to get back into the combat zone immediately. Things like SAM batteries also throw a net over the battlefield further breaking immersion...but usually you'll be too busy taking out the SAM battery to really be bothered.
Emphasis in this game is less on realism and far more on fun combat without distractions.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0318-00-31-94.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0318-00-34-46.jpg
Replayability: 6/10
The mission based gameplay in H.A.W.X really limits it's replayability as your emphasis is always on an annoying objective rather than your own six. There's only one mission where you can let loose without worrying about anything and that mission is also included in the demo. What's really missing mission from the game is an an endless mode where you can just fly around and destroy things without worrying about anything else in each of the 19 mission locations, inclusion of this would have made the game so much better, well for me at least.
That said as the missions are short usually ranging between 10-20 minutes this game is ideal to load up when you only have that amount of time free which again boosts replayability as very few games allow for such short stints of explosive gameplay.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-57-21-66.jpg
Graphics: 7/10
Graphics are decent, nothing special, but an appreciated graphics refresh on modern aerial combat games. The world is still mostly flat with 3D objects inserted here and there though more than in previous Combat Flight Sims. Explosions are impressive and your plane is very well rendered as well as are enemy planes. Enemy Ground units are a little blocky though and look little better than they did 2 or 3 years ago. So overall it's nothing to write home about but still much appreciated.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-43-02-55.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0318-01-26-45.jpg
Sound: 7/10
No idea how to rate this category as usual, everything sounds as it should though so I assume everything to be good. The only thing that bothers me a little though I guess it could be realistic is an explosion close by/just behind me sounds like an explosion in a hall/big enclosed room...(you know how if you turn on the windows room accoustic effects)...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0318-16-20-18.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0318-03-32-30.jpg
Overall: 6/10
As the title states beggars can't be choosers, Lock-On:Modern Air Combat released in 2003 is the last modern flight sim released on PC so if you're looking for alternatives to H.A.W.X there are none at least if what you want is modern fighter planes in fast paced missile combat rather than WW2 fighters trying to machine gun each other out of the air for instance which makes this an absolute must-have game for lovers of modern aerial combat who wish to see foes explode left and right from missiles fired from fighter like the F22 Raptor, F16 Falcon, F117 Nighthawk, A10 Warthog, Mig29 Fulcrum to name just a few.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0318-15-49-72.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-53-35-25.jpg
Screenshot Disclaimer1:
Yes health and missile readouts are high, but no not that bad, I cheat, most missiles I have seen was 160 and health is always 100 or below.
Screenshot Disclaimer2:
Screenshots taken with the DX9 version. The DX10 version performs pretty much just as well but it seems my driver crashes often...in other words often when quiting a mission, trying to restart it, or loading a checkpoint the game and the entire PC will just stop responding for 4 minutes, then everything will resume but the game will be stuck in a window just displaying a black screen. I assume this is an issue exclusive to my system though.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0318-12-44-99.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-40-37-93.jpg
First of all I would like to say that this review is based entirely on single player same as my earlier Red Alert 3 review so I have no idea whether Multiplayer is any good. This game does however also allows you to play the campaign with a friend.
Next I would like to say that this review may end up rather negative and it may look like you should rather go with something else, but as there has been nothing else for 6+ years now (even more if you never managed to get
into Lock On : Modern Air Combat and prefered Jane's Titles) this is a must buy game for anyone that likes aerial combat, the bad review merely indicates that it's not a game you should pay top dollar for but rather pick up for $20 or less.
Story: 5/10
The story is entirely forgettable, don't expect a Clancy novel. Your Squadron in the US Military gets shut down so you join a private military contractor called Artemis. Artemis is contracted by the US Military but recieves a better offer from the enemy and turns on the US, you being a loyal citizen side with the US Military and fight to bring your former Employer to Justice.
That said story has never been an integral part in an aerial combat game and thus this hardly matters, it's the gameplay that matters so let's get to that.
The campaign consists of 19 short missions lasting between 10-20 minutes.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-41-21-94.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-41-43-88.jpg
Gameplay:
I shall seperate this section into three categories, Missions, Combat and Realism.
Missions: 7/10
Now my bias may show a little here but I hate protection missions so I am not pleased that in 14 of the 19 missions I have to watch someone else's six rather than my own. Obviously you have to destroy the enemy but thankfully how you do that, or rather how you can get around to do doing that varies a fair bit. You have to do things like find radar transmitters, perform a hit from a specific angle using the ERS, use the ERS to navigate a dangerous area and take out command centers, take out various targets whilst flying low or just plain defend an AWACS plan from enemy fighters as it tries to locate a target among other things. Missions are fast and frantic and often there will be so many forces swarming the target you're meant to protect that you will have to prioritize, do I take out the fast bombers quickly approaching which would do far more damage first, or do I take out the ground forces already doing damage...which detracts somewhat from the combat as you get hurried around the map. There's also one mission that's really retarded where you have to fly from a sort of far-out sideways view, but thankfully that's the only mission where you are forced to use this mode.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-41-25-68.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-46-43-81.jpg
Combat: 7/10
Combat is decent. Firing missiles and dropping bombs and in general offense is as good as it gets. The aresenal loadout is fairly simple with range usually being the deciding factor or just simply how large the loadout of the particular weapon is you can take, no complex choices like do I pick Sidewinders or straight-flying missiles, also all the planes come with a pre-configured loadout so often you will make your plane choice based on load-out preferences. Otherwise it's pretty much the same as you're used to with Combat Flight Sims. The biggest problem is probably that there's little to threaten you, missiles are dodged fairly easily and so is other enemy fire so
it ends up somewhat onesided.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-58-02-00.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0318-02-52-13.jpg
Realism: 4/10
H.A.W.X is no combat flight sim. You don't have to worry about fuel, or take-off and landing and even your thrust only has two, well two and a half options, full, normal and a temporary brake. On Normal difficulty your plane can take a ridiculous amount of damage and has an oversized weapon load-out as well. Hard sees things a little closer to reality with a smaller loadout and you being able to take less damage. Elite mean you can basically just take one missile hit and you've had it, and you also need to make sure that every missile hits it's mark as you can't waste ordinance. Dodging Missiles is easy and there are quite a few fire and forget weapons.
Unfortunately combat takes place in what sometimes ends up being a very small square as you see immersion broken by a net that appears far too late as you find yourself with your screen going glitchy and warnings informing you to get back into the combat zone immediately. Things like SAM batteries also throw a net over the battlefield further breaking immersion...but usually you'll be too busy taking out the SAM battery to really be bothered.
Emphasis in this game is less on realism and far more on fun combat without distractions.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0318-00-31-94.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0318-00-34-46.jpg
Replayability: 6/10
The mission based gameplay in H.A.W.X really limits it's replayability as your emphasis is always on an annoying objective rather than your own six. There's only one mission where you can let loose without worrying about anything and that mission is also included in the demo. What's really missing mission from the game is an an endless mode where you can just fly around and destroy things without worrying about anything else in each of the 19 mission locations, inclusion of this would have made the game so much better, well for me at least.
That said as the missions are short usually ranging between 10-20 minutes this game is ideal to load up when you only have that amount of time free which again boosts replayability as very few games allow for such short stints of explosive gameplay.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-57-21-66.jpg
Graphics: 7/10
Graphics are decent, nothing special, but an appreciated graphics refresh on modern aerial combat games. The world is still mostly flat with 3D objects inserted here and there though more than in previous Combat Flight Sims. Explosions are impressive and your plane is very well rendered as well as are enemy planes. Enemy Ground units are a little blocky though and look little better than they did 2 or 3 years ago. So overall it's nothing to write home about but still much appreciated.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-43-02-55.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0318-01-26-45.jpg
Sound: 7/10
No idea how to rate this category as usual, everything sounds as it should though so I assume everything to be good. The only thing that bothers me a little though I guess it could be realistic is an explosion close by/just behind me sounds like an explosion in a hall/big enclosed room...(you know how if you turn on the windows room accoustic effects)...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0318-16-20-18.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0318-03-32-30.jpg
Overall: 6/10
As the title states beggars can't be choosers, Lock-On:Modern Air Combat released in 2003 is the last modern flight sim released on PC so if you're looking for alternatives to H.A.W.X there are none at least if what you want is modern fighter planes in fast paced missile combat rather than WW2 fighters trying to machine gun each other out of the air for instance which makes this an absolute must-have game for lovers of modern aerial combat who wish to see foes explode left and right from missiles fired from fighter like the F22 Raptor, F16 Falcon, F117 Nighthawk, A10 Warthog, Mig29 Fulcrum to name just a few.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0318-15-49-72.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0317-53-35-25.jpg
Screenshot Disclaimer1:
Yes health and missile readouts are high, but no not that bad, I cheat, most missiles I have seen was 160 and health is always 100 or below.
Screenshot Disclaimer2:
Screenshots taken with the DX9 version. The DX10 version performs pretty much just as well but it seems my driver crashes often...in other words often when quiting a mission, trying to restart it, or loading a checkpoint the game and the entire PC will just stop responding for 4 minutes, then everything will resume but the game will be stuck in a window just displaying a black screen. I assume this is an issue exclusive to my system though.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/SCHUMIinSA/HAWX2010-03-0318-12-44-99.jpg