I was impressed with Hawx but with Hawx 2 not as much but still impressed nonetheless. I have to admit the developers addressed a lot of issues that I felt where either missing or not refined enough in the first version. I definitely felt a lot of though went into the game, there is a distinct maturity about the game although not 100%, 75 maybe. All the big shots made it into the game with about 30 planes give or take, a drone/s and an AC-130U gunship(Think Transformers in the desert when that Scorpion was shot with saber rounds) The big shots, Su-47, A-10 warthog, MiG-1.44, F-22, F-35, F-15 Eagle, Euro fighter, newcomer Harrier GR9 and PAK-FA which was a surprise Add-on that blew me away. Fingers crossed maybe the J-20 Chengdu will also make a late appearance. The biggest and most welcome additions where in flight refueling takeoff and landing, this added an extra layer of excitement, adrenalin pumping as you scramble for the nearest airfield to restock on ordnance before the enemy takes over and annihilates your ground forces. The drone missions where also refreshing and a welcome addition and the AC-130U gunship mission was awesome, bang, bang, bang, boom, boom, boom. The A.I. seemed to have had a few more flying lessons because they really make you work for it, I found it challenging(in a good way) to shoot down. Having said that in some missions the unlimited flares that the A.I. planes kept deploying went from challenging to very annoying(in a very bad, monotonous way). Another welcome improvement was full control of airplane speed in 'On mode' unlike in the previous Hawx where you could not brake to reach or even pass the precipice of stalling, to quote one of my friends "Its a stall fest I tell you, I love it." But it seems for everything they added they took something out, you cant stall and stay in 'Off mode' anymore if you stall in 'Off mode' the plane reverts to 'On mode' which is annoying along with the auto correction of the plane when you veer off the runway before take off. Another thing that got on my nerves clearly not one of their brightest ideas was changing view, in order to change view(cockpit, 1st person, 3rd person) you now have to pause the game and go to the menu to change the view instead of just toggling the R3 button like in Hawx 1. Overall the graphics look much better but because some stages are dimmer e.g. dawn stages, night missions the game looks dull unlike in the previous game which had bright and clearly lit missions even the night ones. Although it gives Hawx 2 more authenticity it makes the graphics look poor, it took me a while to realise it wasn't the graphics that where poor but the lighting but by then I had already bad mouthed the game. The evidence of the improvement in the graphics and more refined plane details is when you're flying TVC planes you can clearly see the thrusters moving in a cool hypnotic kind of way plus missile launches look more refined. VTOL from the F-35 was absent, which was disappointing. I loved the rear camera that popped up when a missile was approaching that improved battlefield awareness and excitement. The missile warning in this game was a bit muted unlike in Hawx 1 where the missile warning sound gave you a chilling feeling of imminent doom and instilled panic every time, this time round in Hawx 2 I missed it a number of times. Another part where I feel disappointed is that of course there is need to make it realistic but its still just a game the fact that only a few planes are available for certain missions because of specialisation(ground support, air superiority) it was quite frustrating it limited the scope of entertainment, who cares that SU-47s' don't launch from a carrier I wanted to fly all the planes on all missions. The A.G. missile which was my favorite weapon for Ground support missions in Hawx 1 was rendered impotent, instead of being able to belt out four missiles in an instance like 'bang, bang, bang, bang' they now only fire one at time, maybe its more realistic but it sapped the fun out of it, If I wanted realistic I would've gone and joined the Air Force. Maybe its just me but when I played Hawx 1 then played Hawx 2 the latter game's controls felt a bit slugging even though the plane movements where more accurate. Having said that the mechanics and dynamics seem very accurate and solid I could accurately fly under bridges, squeeze through tight spots without butchering the laws of Physics…much. The ability to tailor the plane's payload from a list of weapons, individually and not as a predetermined combination was brilliant and insightful however it would've made more sense to go to menu, choose a mission, choose plane, tailor payload then start the mission instead of being forced to go to menu, hangar, select plane, tailor plane plane's payload, save, go back to menu then pick mission, start mission. For those of us who play different missions over and over its can get very tedious, speaking of tedious cut scenes are compulsory, you have to endure them every time you play the mission and can only skip some of them midway. Also when playing the mission 'Blackout' the Lead pilot refers to any plane you pick as an A-10 when he says "…the warthog can take a lot of damage…" and he also seems to skip a beat when he speaks after the mission, these things though minor seem to annoy me more and more the more I play. In the same mission there's an instruction on how to get help from your wing-men which doesn't disappear until you summon your wing-men to help you I thought that was annoying as well what if I want to shoot the bandits myself and I don't need assistance? Some of the cut scenes show the mission's default plane landing even when you are using a different plane. The play multiple mode option was brilliant(Arcade, Mission, Survival, Free Flight) although I think the Arcade mode would've been better if it was like the game 1944 where you have a ridiculously large payload and a balanced mix of unending A.I. fighters and ground enemies and a difficulty setting. Overall I have to say(as a fan), it was great game, a classic maybe. Overall(as an indifferent player)it was a good game. It showed a great deal of effort went into improving it, a decent effort. Despite its faults it has a solid foundation for growth and a bit more fiction will do the franchise good.
Having been a fan of the 1st HAWX, I was really looking forward to getting back to some serious dogfighting. First off, I found the single player very painful to play, the controls felt sluggish and there was some amount... Read Full Review
So HAWX2 hit shelves today.............. Bargain bin tomorrow. Single player campaign is a bit choppy. The ground visuals are awesome but the airplanes are missing that realism that one would expect after "Ace Combat... Read Full Review
