E3 2008 Preview
Tom Clancy’s myriad videogame series
have covered a lot of ground, putting players in control of a tactical unit of
soldiers in Rainbow Six, dropping them into foreign lands in Ghost Recon, and
putting them in the shoes of a superspy in Splinter Cell. Now, the house that
Tom built is getting ready to take off to new heights, quite literally. H.A.W.X.
is an action flight-sim game that allows players to take to the skies in one of
fifty different planes other huge sprawling environments. H.A.W.X. is a unique
departure from Tom Clancy’s series of games, but should be a fun excursion for
fans of aerial combat.
While H.A.W.X. plays a lot
differently from other Tom Clancy games, its storyline is still firmly rooted in
the universe of the existing games. You’ll do things from help out the soldiers
in GRAW, as well as help lay the groundwork for the events that unfold in Tom
Clancy’s EndWar.
H.A.W.X. lets you fly in one of 50
different aircraft from various types, including Russian craft, Swedish, US, and
older planes. The developers have had close conversations with the manufacturers
in order to get the planes as accurate as possible.
One element that H.A.W.X. does very
differently is the use of electronic assistance. With electronic assistance on
your plane cannot stall, you cannot perform any risky maneuvers, and you cannot
have full control nor a full view around your aircraft. However, electronic
assistance can be turned off, making the experience a lot more difficult,
catering to hardcore flight sim gamers.
The environments in H.A.W.X. are
impressively huge. The Cape Canaveral level looks like a more detailed version
on Google Earth, with every element of the area painstakingly recreated and up
to military snuff.
Online, you’ll be able to get into
8-player 4-on-4 matches, with an XP-system that you build up in single-player
mode and will net you more ships and support units. H.A.W.X. is turning out to
be a pretty impressive action flight-sim with great online features, making for
a unique and interesting franchise starter for the Tom Clancy universe.
