Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. may be Rightful Heir to Ace Combat's Abandoned Throne

I don't know how it happened, but some where in my gaming career I became a massive fan of aerial combat games. The first Ace Combat is probably what won me over but it's still a surprise whenever I consider it. I mean, I loathed Top Gun the movie and the game before I ever even knew what that word meant, and frankly, my poor opinion of the license stands after having given it additional opportunities to prove itself. And have you played the theme song in Guitar Hero III yet? If repeating the same 5 goddamned irritating chords in an irritating pattern doesn't make you want to smash someone's expensive HDTV with a plastic instrument, I don't know what will.

 But discussing popular culture in the gay community is not what this site is about, so I apologize for digressing. Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. by Ubisoft's Romanian division is the newest flight combat title to grace our respective consoles and I have got to say that, by the demo, it's pretty damned good. Here's some gameplay footage I shot myself so that you may consider it without all the bullshit quick-cutting marketing departments like to use:

The graphics are definitely the best I've seen in any flight sim so far, which I think is probably saying a lot considering that after you render the planes for these types of games, you pretty much just have to stretch a bland texture over a bump-map for the ground, throw in a few primitives that are shaped like buildings, and call it a day. Oh, and don't forget a bridge that you may or may not be able to fly under.

For the most part H.A.W.X. appears to have followed this formula well, except that the textures are really sharp, the explosions are superior (at least in size) to most games, and the particle effects for clouds and smoke are excellent. The only flaw I noticed is that these particles are not affected by bodies moving through them, so you can not puncture a cloud in a manner somewhat similar to a piece of paper. You instead just pop out of them like a rabbit out of a magician's hat, but this is a small qualm that I admit wouldn't affect my decision to purchase it.

The sound is engaging and even exhilarating at times, and that's something truly worth appreciating when you spend so much time in vast, empty skies. Incoming missile alerts are as annoying as they will always be and when you narrowly dodge one you can hear it sweep hurriedly past you, almost as if it's annoyed to have missed. The evading jet fighters are somewhat musical and it sometimes seems to transition into background harmony during play, making it almost aurally pleasant to engage in a dog-fight. And when you break the sound barrier, the sonic-boom lets you know it, which is awesome while you're attempting to out-maneuver an enemy who's hot on your tail and who must now suck your exhaust fumes.

The controls are not intuitive but it's a flight sim, so what do you expect? I believe RC Helicopter officially ended the era of pleasant aeroplay when they mocked up the world's worst control scheme and dubbed it "realistically accurate". You'll get used to it and at least you'll get over it, and then you'll probably enjoy H.A.W.X. for what it's worth.

 I'll be keeping an eye on Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. when it hits shelves for the PS3 and Xbox360 on March 6th, and then for Windows on March 10th. There's a Wii version in the works too though it does not yet have a release date. I can tell you right now that will probably just be for the people who are desperate for some air combat and are unwilling to buy a real console to experience it with. Oh, snap!

I'm kidding, of course. Mostly.

-Unfather

PS:
Developers, please stop naming things with acronyms. It's just dumb.