Tom Clancys H.A.W.X

[Chewie]

HAWX2 announced:

linky

Not sure if anyone cares though. Me, I'm so starved for a Ace Combat-styled game on the PS3 that I'm almost tempted to pick up the first HAWX.... nah...

HAWX wasn't bad, certainly better than a lot of the other flotsom over the years. It's not AC, but then again, sometimes something a little different is good.

[Roy Focker]

It was bad and it wasn't good either. Pretty much a so so game.

[Vepariga]

I actually like HAWX,I enjoyed the first game and will be getting the second game aswell, I love the Ace Combat series aswell but hawx is a cool change of pace.

except that 'dance with the angels' crap in AC6..shudder that was poor.

[Flaming Guantlet]

As long as they model the variants between planes properly and not half-assed like the first game, I'm down for more.

[Ghost Train]

The game has some nifty features like EAS, which was admittedly fun at times, but it lacks the polish to dethrone Ace Combat as the top fake air combat simulator. The storyline was also incredibly bad and ridiculous, more so than a Belkan super weapon.

[Chronocidal]

Good grief. I can't believe the first one made enough profit to convince them a second game is a good idea.

See even with the corny plot/dialog, AC has tons of aircraft eye candy, and is actually fun to play. HAWX didn't even have that, and the PC version was a half assed console hackjob that never worked worth a damn.

I'll be cautiously optimistic for now that they will actually listen to their users and maybe do something right this time, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

Oh, and one more thing. If Ubi can make IL2, they have no excuse. If those dipwads don't do some research and actually learn what a stall is this time, I will personally go to Ubi HQ and slap all their developers upside the head with my college aerodynamics textbook.

Edited July 14, 2010 by Chronocidal

[arrow]

can't they port those realistic flight sims like falcon 4 & lock to the consoles.

[dizman]

Didn't Ubi try to bring over IL2 to the consoles and it didn't sell at all? There just isn't a big enough market for realistic flight sims on consoles. HAWX wasnt great but wasnt terrible either, I'll probably get HAWX 2 since I have no other options on the PS3.

[Chronocidal]

Even if it didn't, I loved the demo of IL-2, and need to remember to grab the full game. I think part of the problem with IL-2 is that the WWII aircraft genre has been done to death on PC already though, and the people who love those games won't bother with a console version. On the other hand, console players seem to love lots of missiles, jets, and explosions, which Hawx obviously tries to cater to.

Honestly, I wouldn't have so much of a problem with Hawx if the game wasn't built so.. well, incompetently. There's no other way to describe how bad some features are. I had to replay the demo to remind myself of how bad it is, and, yes, it really IS that bad.

Let me put it this way: Hawx is the only flight game I've ever played that completely ignores the physics of flight in atmosphere. There is no gravity, there is no drag, you can't turn by banking, and a stall isn't a loss of lift that can be mitigated by thrust, it's more akin to your plane suddenly having its wings ripped off just because you slowed down too much.

That's not even adressing the interface and control problems. For starters... the artificial horizon is wrong, the speed and altitude units are entirely non-sensical, the scale of everything is completely off... oy.

The people who made the game didn't do a lick of research, plain and simple. Seriously, how hard is it to look up aircraft speeds on wikipedia? Even if I put aside my personal pickyness about flight games... when you have an F-15 going 1200 knots at minimum throttle.. it's a very obvious indicator that something during development went incredibly wrong.

[Warmaker]

You are talking about the publisher that had taken the Rainbow Six game franchise and "streamlined" and "dumbified" them years ago. When I saw it was coming out under Ubisoft / "Tom Clancy" I didn't have much hope of anything.

Heh, makes me think of the good 'ol days of Red Storm Entertainment with the Rainbow 6 / Rogue Spear days of FPS gaming That died with the advent of R6: Lockdown.

Edited July 16, 2010 by Warmaker

[Uxi]

Speaking of WW2 consoles, I kinda miss the WW1-era... so bought the Red Baron Arcade on the PS3. Not TOO Bad. It has online multiplayer, but it's mostly dead. Too bad there's no trophies or I'd play it alot more.

I really wish there could be an updated version of ATF-Gold. Everything from the F-15 to MiG-29... F-4 to MiG-21. Loved their take on the "Aurora" and the F-22. Would hope to see some game with all these classic fighters as well as include add-ons like YF-23/F-23A, etc.

Edited July 17, 2010 by Uxi

[Chronocidal]

I remember those, though I only got the old Janes sims through the multi pack, Fighters Anthology. That was awesome for it's time, but the graphics were dated even by the time I had it.

What I really wish we could see is more stuff on the same level as the late Janes sims.. in my opinion Janes F/A-18 Superhornet sim is the pinnacle of computer sims, just for it's completely interactive interface, depth of detail, and ridiculous accuracy. I've had the chance to fly an actual military Superhornet sim, and it was almost identical. The guy who got my brother and I in there was pretty surprised when I hopped in and started hitting all the right buttons without him saying anything.

Hawx though... frankly, I can't believe these types of shovelware keep getting pushed, while Microsoft canned it's Aces team in charge of MS Flight Sim. I just got Afterburner: Climax for my 360, and spent a while with it.. before I realized something really really depressing.

The models in AB:C are good. Maybe not Ace Combat good, but very close, and beatifully rendered... but they leave Hawx in the dust. I sat there and my jaw dropped as I realized that they actually animated ALL of the F-14's control surfaces, and even gave them appropriate reactions. The spoilers pop up to roll, the slats drop, and when the wings are out the flaps will even drop to the maneuver setting just like the actual aircraft when you pull hard turns.

Is there just some cultural gap here? Both Ace Combat (Banco) and AB:C (Sega) were made by Japanese game companies, which seem to excel at putting fine details into their games. Hawx on the other hand... well, let's just say they lack try.

I'm sorely tempted to post a rant to the Ubi forums that if they want to know how a plane is supposed to fly, they should go play Afterburner.

[Vepariga]

Hawx was never ment to be a 'realistic' sim anyway,it was supposed to be fun modern air combat sim with crazy maneuvers. it never said it was a realistic sim.

IL-2 Birds of Prey was a great console title,made the transition really well,i love that game.

[Warmaker]

Hawx was never ment to be a 'realistic' sim anyway,it was supposed to be fun modern air combat sim with crazy maneuvers. it never said it was a realistic sim.

IL-2 Birds of Prey was a great console title,made the transition really well,i love that game.

It's not that Hawx was supposed to be an arcadey flight combat game.

It's the titles coming out under "Tom Clancy's: _____" are, IMO, utter shite. I haven't been impressed by anything coming out under that Tom Clancy label since Rainbow 6: Rogue Spear and its expansions.

Ace Combat, IMO, reigns its domain. I don't see any any worthwhile competition. It would be nice for it to be otherwise but I don't see the developers of Ace Combat being worried anytime soon.

As far as the old Jane's flight sims of the late 90s, yeah I loved them also. I bought Fighter's Anthology after toying around with US Navy Fighters on my friend's rig. Next one I got from Jane's was Longbow 2, WWII Fighters, and then F/A-18. Out of all the Jane's sims, the one I poured the most time into was Longbow 2 and its take on the AH-64D. The style of flying was just so different from fixed wing and my threats were of a whole different thing altogether. Loved the idea of playing with the terrain and the dynamic campaign system.

Edited July 18, 2010 by Warmaker