Are you ready to kick the tires and light the fires? Do you feel a need, a need for speed? Are you ready to live out your dream of of being a hot-shot, “Top Gun” pilot? Well, H.AW.X. is here to give that opportunity. The next addition to the Tom Clancy universe puts in the cockpit and takes the fight the the skies. Is this unit worth signing up for? Well, if you like cool planes, if you like action, and you like fun; then yes.

HAWX begins at the end of your military career. You and your squad are leaving the military to join a PMC (private military corporation). The pay is better, the perks are better, and supposedly the missions are better. Of course what fun would it be if everything works out the way it’s supposed to. As you might expect, it doesn’t, and you and your squad have to decide where your loyalty lies and who will benefit from your supreme skills in the cockpit.

Fortunately, the cockpit is where all the action takes place, and truth be told, the story is fairly inconsequential aside from setting up each mission. It’s a convenient way to change locales and mission objectives, but aside from that the story doesn’t really carry a lot of urgency or even interest. Once you get into the cockpit, it doesn’t matter why you’re unleashing destruction, all that matters is you are in a hot zone and your skills are what will get you through it alive.

Nevertheless, the story does present an interesting take on the privatization of the military. When war becomes corporate and is less about the mission then the bottom line, what happens when a better offer comes along? In HAWX, what happens is the company you’re working for takes that better offer, and the next thing you know the company you’re working for is no longer fighting for the US but rather against it. This is the turning point in the game as you and your comrades chose patriotism over payoffs and reenlist with the US military to keep your former corporation from crippling the US. It’s an interesting and frighteningly plausible scenario, and in fact is a choice we all face in a spiritual sense. There are two sides to eternity, and it’s up to us to decide which side we’ll be on. The trick is whether or not we’ll be able to discern which is the better offer.

On the one side we have the world that calls us to live for ourselves, enjoy what we can in the here and now, believe there are no absolutes and that we can always be right, that there is no such thing as wrong, that money is supreme and our pleasure is all that matters. A life without boundary or restrictions that focuses solely on what we want is certainly a very attractive offer, and many are deceived into thinking it’s the better offer; just as your character in HAWX is deceived into thinking working in the private sector “where the money is” is a much better offer than serving in the military. However, when one really scrutinizes the truth of that offer compared with what the Bible offers, you’ll see that the sheen of what the world offers is all an illusion.

Jesus Christ died on a cross and rose from the dead because he loves you. He loves you so much that he wants you to enjoy life, true life, eternal life. Jesus offers forgiveness and peace, joy and contentment, life everlasting and eternal riches beyond imagining. Granted, he also calls for selflessness, self-restraint and discipline, a willingness to deny the flesh, a heart that wants to serve others, an attitude of generosity and humility. What most people don’t realize, however, is that is where life truly lies. But as with any offer, don’t take my word for it. Investigate your choices for yourself and decide, but keep in mind that the outcome of your decision isn’t temporal, it’s forever; so choose wisely.

Story elements aside, HAWX offers a visceral ariel combat experience. It’s a good blend between arcade and simulation. You have almost unlimited ammo, which makes the combat far more exciting, and the few limitations you have on your ammo adds to the challenge without making it feel like a sim. The really unique aspect is the options you have for flight controls. You can fly with computer assists on, which gives you a close behind the plane view, or you take the assists off and then you get a pulled back view of the plane which gives a better view of what’s around you. With the assists off you can pull of some truly impressive aerial moves and evasive maneuvers that make the dogfights challenging, exciting, fast-paced and fun. The moves you can pull off with the assists off make Maverick and Goose look like a couple of rookies. The really nice feature is you can switch between the two modes on the fly. Whereas the first mode is excellent for ground attacks, the second mode (as I mentioned) works better for air combat. Many missions present you with a mix of both, so I was often switching between the two as I caused as much destruction and mayhem as possible.

Aside from those two modes, the controls are simple and intuitive. You use the D-pad to switch between weapons, the Y button to switch targets, A to fire and the triggers to accelerate and brake. You can also activate voice commands, but I found that more distracting then helpful. Usually there’s so much happening at once that I couldn’t concentrate on which commands I was supposed to shout out, so I found just pushing buttons the easier option. Still it’s a nice feature to have and it works fairly well.

Graphically, the planes are the stars of the show, as you’d might expect. They’re rendered in loving detail and animate realistically from flaps to rudders to…whatever else helps planes fly. The game boasts that it uses real satellite imagery to accurately map out the ground of the combat zones you fly, but if you happen to fly close enough (and you will on occasion) you’ll notice blurry textures and other graphical defects that keep the environments you fly over from being as nicely rendered as the planes. It’s not a huge issue, but it’s a detail that would have helped improve the overall polish of the game. One major defect is the sense of speed. No matter what plane you’re flying or how fast you’re flying, you almost always feel like you’re traveling at the same speed. This is always an issue for flight sims, but considering the huge variety of planes you get to choose from, it would have been nice to have a greater feel for the difference between them when it comes to speed and maneuvering. I’d like to see and feel the difference between a modern F-22 Raptor and Vietnam era MiG. Should HAWX get a sequel, this is the number one issue I’d like to see fixed.

HAWX also boasts some nice online features. You can play through the entire campaign with a friend, which is really the best way to do it. It’s fun to coordinate your attacks as you decide who’s going to focus on air or ground forces while at the same time competing to see who gets the highest number of kills. There’s also a multi-player component where you can play against other players, which is also fun in short bursts. There are only so many ways to make planes flying circles around each other, but HAWX adds some power ups that give one side a brief advantage and other surprises to help keep things interesting.

HAWX is a game that looks good, plays good and is good. There are some refinements that could help make this game even better, but this a solid first entry into what will hopefully be a new franchise. The game has easy accessibility for noobs but offers control options and other settings to make it challenging and fun for veterans as well. Solid flight combat games are few and far between, and HAWX fills that niche nicely. Plus, its integration into the Tom Clancy world (there’s even one mission that’s a direct tie-in to a mission from Ghost Recon) gives it a rich universe to play in. If you’re looking for some furious high-altitude combat fun, enlist in HAWX today.

Score out of 7:

Graphics: 5 - The planes look great, the rest looks average. If a little more detail had been paid to buildings and vehicles on the ground, this would be a truly stunning game. It’s no graphical slouch, mind you, but some extra polish would have been nice.

Sound: 4 - The sound is solid, but it could have used a little more punch. From explosions to the roar of your jet, but a bit more to make sounds stand out and, as I said, give them some punch or oomph would have been really nice. Voice acting is all solid, but not spectacular, and the music is decent but it could have used some Kenny Loggins.

Controls: 5 - The controls are responsive and intuitive, and they give you plenty of options to customize them. The ability to switch between computer assists being on and off adds some depth and strategy to the gameplay.

Gameplay: 5 - Furious fun as you blaze a path of destruction through the skies. A nice variety of missions and objectives keep things fresh and solid controls keep the gameplay fun. Play the missions with a friend or going competitive online adds an extra layer of good times.

Story: 4 - The story is pretty standard Tom Clancy fare and not terribly interesting; I just want to fly and blow stuff up. However, it does have some interesting plausibility and meshes nicely with a couple missions from the Ghost Recon games.

Content: 6 - No gore or blood to speak of as you blow stuff up from a distance, and very little language to bother the proceedings. A fairly clean game overall.

Final Score: 5 - H.A.W.X. is a fun game, and first and foremost that’s what you want out of game. The excellent balance between arcade and sim gameplay is engaging, the mission variety keeps things fresh, and the fact the planes all look so good is a nice touch. A lack of a sense of speed or any performance difference between the various planes is disappointing, but this a solid first entry for what hopefully will be yet another ongoing Tom Clancy franchise.

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