I know the demo's been out for a while now, but I kept on getting the same error message.

Error 762: This item has been removed from the marketplace.

When it clearly wasn't. I saw my friends playing it. But here I am, providing my own in-depth review as to why H.A.W.X. 2 didn'tdisappoint me.

Starting off as to why I didn't like the original H.A.W.X. It was very arcadey. When you stalled, you immediately stopped horizontal motion and plunged like the world's fattest rock. The graphics were too colorful and over-saturated for my tastes, dropping that bleak war color scheme everyone uses and adopted this almost cartooney feel. You also carried an enormous amount of rockets and bombs and whatnot and could take up to 12 hits or so. The AI was weak and forced you to go around in circles until you managed to get a bead on him. Very boring and unfun. Very easy too, even on the hardest difficulty, thanks to the ERS mode that automatically plots a route to take out the target with ease.

But now, Ubisoft has learned from their mistakes and fixed everything wrong with the game. Instead of being solely a semi-realistic flight combat simulator, it has more variety to it, with AC-130 gunship missions, escort missions, UAV scout missions, and night-time bombing raids, you also get a more Hollywood feel to it. Dogfights are more visceral, with planes flying nearly a couple fight above your own.

Plus, everything wrong with the original is now fixed. Physics are more realistic, with heavy-duty planes being harder to turn and lighter planes being extremely maneuverable. You also only get around 40 rockets on the normal mode, and can only sustain two hits, with the first dropping your plane's health to 36. The damage model is also improved. In the original, you'd take damage and that's that. This time around, damage affects your plane, and it starts veering off course should enough damage be taken. Color scheme is now more realistic and I can see myself flying there in real life. Heck, AI is even better, although not by much.

Basically, instead of flying in circles around the sky, the AI tends to take the scenic route. In the first mission of the demo, in the second half, I was tasked with destroying CAS aircraft. Once I locked on and fired my first rocket, the enemy was alerted to my presence and immediately began dodging. They would fly mere inches off a mountain wall, and the way they flew forced you to take the same route or suffer the consequences. It felt like a movie all in once. You just have to see it to believe it. Friendly AI was also improved, doing a lot more work this time around. If it weren't for them, that mission would've been a good 40 minutes. But, it's not without it's faults. AI tend to fly the same routes, and they have unlimited flares, unleashing them whenever you have a lock. It's even worse than them playing hide-and-seek in the sky.

But, there's more variety at least. Like I said, you have escort missions, AC-130 gunship missions (surprise), escort missions, full on air assault missions, CAS missions, etc. You can also perform landings and take-offs, as well as mid-air refueling. However, landings and take-offs are very unrealistic and easy, comparable to the original. Taking off, you must start your engine, then engage the afterburners (or throttle or whatever). You go from immobile to an instant 700 mph (exaggerated of course, that's not the actual speed). And for landings, you must touch the aircraft carrier or runway and you immediately are treated with a cutscene. Add on ERS help and that makes it extremely easy. Thankfully, the mid-air refueling is a challenge. In the demo, you get 4:00 to start the refueling. It took my 3:00 because of the intricacies of lining up your gas nozzle to the plane.

Overall, I'd suggest this game to any flight combat enthusiast. It's well an improvement over the original, but for those looking for a realistic game, don't bother here. It's another Hollywood type game.

My rating, well, it's an 8/10. In fact, I might even purchase this at a later date.