• Review: Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2


    Single Issue II (Written by Gen. Chris)



    Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2 (2010)
    Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2 HAWX 2 sees the player return to the skies as three separate pilots as the world quickly plunges into a state of panic. Insurgents in the Middle East and Russia are creating numerous problems, and the disappearance of several nukes makes the situation even worse. The player must do everything in their power in their control of the three pilots to combat the insurgents and find and destroy the nukes before they can be used to kill millions of innocents.
    Like its predecessor, this game does have many positives that contribute to a good gaming experience. The graphics have improved over the previous game, and the world from the skies looks very beautiful. Planes in particular are well textured and modeled, and look very realistic. It also is a really fun campaign, and has many interesting and thrilling missions that give a sense of anxiety to the story. Several missions in particular are incredibly hectic and engaging, and completing these missions is very satisfying. One really fun mission involves dogfighting in and out of oil platforms and buildings constructed on the ocean, and adds an interesting challenge to it. The only mission that really kind of got to me was the final mission. While certainly epic, the mission is an almost blatant copy of the final mission of Ace Combat 4, and features a brand new mechanic that was a complete surprise that really threw me for a loop. I died more times in that final few minutes of the last mission than I did in the rest of this game and the first combined, while remaining on a low difficulty. This was frustrating, and likely partially my fault, but that last mission just kind of left a bad taste in my mouth for various reasons. The game does feature real world locations like the first HAWX game, which grant an air of authenticity to the campaign. The campaign is also somewhat related to the previous game, with the return of Crenshaw as an advisor. The story now follows three separate pilots from the US, the United Kingdom, and Russia, and while the pilots themselves are not as fleshed out as I would like, the story in general feels much more complete than the previous game, with a possible arching mystery that sounds intriguing though unfortunately only mentioned in the closing moments of the game and left unresolved, perhaps for a third game. The story is also aided with the use of actual cutscenes compared to the rather dull briefings and debriefings of the previous game. HAWX 2 features the return of numerous aircraft that can be piloted in the campaign, though choosing these planes seem to be far more limited compared to the previous game, and weapon packages seem to now be automatic rather than allowing you to choose. A new feature added is also the ability to land and take off to rearm your plane for the longer missions, which I never needed to use outside of scripted events but may be necessary while playing on harder difficulties. Finally, the sound of the game has improved dramatically compared to its predecessor, with far better quality voice acting and in-game sounds including a really cool sonic boom added as the player crosses the sound barrier, as well as an improved soundtrack.
    Again like its predecessor, HAWX 2 does feature many negative attributes. While the graphics have certainly improved, it again only looks good from the skies. Close to the ground it still does not look as good, which is unfortunate as you are close to the ground fairly often in certain missions. The story, while an improvement, features the too-often-used cliche of Russia, or in this case ultra-nationalist Russians, as the primary enemy later in the game. Though towards the end it appears that there may be another hand or faction involved, the use of Russia as the enemy is disappointing, especially compared to the previous game that used a private military contractor as the enemy. Another disappointing feature is the fact that some of the new missions require you to be the gunner of a C-130 plane or the pilot of an unmanned drone. While the missions are not bad by themselves, they simply do not feel right in regards to the fact that this is supposed to be a game about aerial dogfighting. The game also removes the wingman mechanic, which means that the fairly helpful wingmen from the previous game are no longer available to the player. The takeoff and landing mechanic as well as a new in-air refueling mechanic are interesting additions but do not feel that necessary outside of one specific mission where it makes a lot of sense to do. Eliminating the ability to choose your aircraft and even your weapons packages, in my mind, also decreases the replayabilty of the game, as it was fun in the previous game to do different missions with alternate planes or weapons. This also makes the upgrade and level system pretty much unnecesary in the game, unfortunately. But one of the worst aspects of the game is the incredibly uneven enemy AI. The AI can go from mind-numbingly easy to frustratingly-competent even within missions, which makes no sense compared to other games where the AI should gradually get better over the campaign. The later parts of the game felt like a switch turned on to make the enemy suddenly far more deadly and elusive, which is not helped by their apparently endless supply of flares in some missions that can make taking them down unrealistically difficult. This can all be rather frustrating though it does create interesting challenges. It is simply something the player has to adapt too, but the AI could have been far more consistent in its advancement and execution.
    Overall, the game is definitely an improvement over HAWX 1, but still retains many of its problems that were simply not ironed out in the year between the games. The story is good, but feels incomplete and unrelated to its predecessor, and the pilots again feel very minimal in their impact on the narrative. Removing many of the options and mechanics of the previous game feels like a large step back as well, which is unfortunate. The graphics are improved, but definitely needed a lot more polishing in regards to the ground level of each mission. The audio is really the only thing that has improved leaps and bounds over its predecessor, with Tom Salta returning as composer for the soundtrack, and the sounds of battle really aid the game in trying to make it as realistic as possible. The game is decent, but still not great, and the idea that there may be more in the overall story of this particular set of games makes me hope that we may eventually see a third game. I can hope, but five years on and no word from Ubisoft makes me think we may not. Even still, Ubisoft Romania should be commended for their efforts in making a decent game, and I hope if they get a third they are given the resources to improve on it and maybe give the story the finale it deserves.

    7.5/10