Tom Clancy’s HAWX, a game leaning much more towards an arcade-style aerial combat flight simulation than full-out realism, has entered itself into a very unique genre, and a genre that is only getting more and more niche as time goes by without new entries. You would think that this would single the game out amongst the newer game releases in other genres as it’s the ‘only game in town,’ but, for one reason or another, HAWX seems unnecessary in the current videogame climate.

There are no doubt fans of the console flight sim genre, as the sixth iteration of Namco’s Ace Combat series, and the warmly received Blazing Angels, can attest, but Tom Clancy’s HAWX comes off as feeling lifeless and unloved, as though the developers were simply going through the motions of making a flight sim because there was a perceived gap in the market, which is the very attitude that leads to something more closely akin to cash-in movie-licensed games.

While HAWX (or H.A.W.X., which stands for High Altitude Warfare eXperimental squadron) isn’t a movie-licensed game, it does feature the Tom Clancy branding, which at least means that the story is above average, featuring some suitably entertaining political intrigue, if a little far-fetched.

The narrative is set in the near future and deals with the rise of private military companies (PMCs), privately funded armies run by corporations who are able to attack and defend entire nations if the price is right, acting as a proxy army for the highest bidder. The story deals with the increasingly confusing and murky issues surrounding PMCs and the rights and responsibilities they possess, as well as loyalty to one’s nation or to the colour of money.

As David Crenshaw, your career as a US Air Force pilot is coming to an end, but thanks to an opportunity for employment at a newly formed PMC called Artemis, you’re able to remain doing what you do best – flying expensive, high performance aircraft with all of the offensive and defensive capabilities such hardware is afforded, which includes excellent manoeuvrability, high performance missiles, automatic assault weaponry and missile flares to keep heat-seeking missiles, shot from enemies, off of your tail.

Actually controlling such aircraft in-game is made easy with the simple to understand control system, using the left stick to roll your plane from side to side and climb up and down, while the shoulder buttons allow you to strafe left and right to fine tune the direction in which you’re moving. A variety of viewpoints are also available, either flying with the camera placed behind the plane, or a ‘first-person’ view, with the camera attached to the nose of the aircraft.

Dealing explosive damage to aggressors is a simple matter of locking on to enemy aircraft, ground emplacements, ground-based vehicles and naval vessels by aiming yourself in their general direction until the lock-on is complete, also being able to switch between nearby targets with the press of a button. Once you’re locked onto a target, that’s your cue to start firing a barrage of missiles, before moving onto the next target, while certain types of targets require different attack methods and weaponry to be effectively destroyed, providing a bit of on-the-fly thinking in the heat of a mission.

To add a sliver of strategy, you’re also given command of a squad of fellow fighter pilots, being able to order them to attack whichever target you may have lit up at any time, or telling them to protect you as you take care of the enemy. This is a handy and simple to use feature, and while it didn’t seem to work one hundred percent of the time, the orders are usually carried out faithfully enough to warrant their continual use, although your squad mates could have been a bit more autonomous and actually do some work without you having to manage their actions.

A few missions into the game, you’re given a new ability to play with, something called Assistance Off mode, which allows pilots the freedom of extra manoeuvrability at the risk of stalling your plane, while the Enhanced Reality System plots out the best course to intercept enemies and evade missiles (if you’re out of flare counter-measures).

You’ll definitely need the ease of the controls and the added abilities in order to tackle the missions provided, which admittedly become very ‘samey’ very soon. Anything from escort, protection and attack missions are on the cards when entering the world of HAWX, each requiring you to make a multitude of bombing and strafing runs against your enemies, relegating them to scraps of metal and debris in the process. Every time you successfully hit or destroy targets, you’re rewarded with experience points that go towards a levelling system, ranking you up as you go along and unlocking new hardware for more aerial destruction.

The singleplayer campaign, while quite beefy, is a little shallow due to the limited range of possible actions during an operation, which leads to the aforementioned ‘samey’ missions. This is alleviated, however, by the inclusion of multiplayer options in the form of four-player co-operative play - allowing you and some friends to play through the singleplayer campaign together - or a player VS player mode, pitting you and your buddies against each other in a series of aerial dogfight deathmatches.

Presentation-wise, Tom Clancy’s HAWX is a little disappointing. The flashy mission briefings soon become tired and stock-standard, coming off as detached from the game and enforcing the idea that development of HAWX was a bit rushed, using story in-betweeners and loading menu information as a crutch to fill in the blanks in the experience.

Graphically, too, HAWX is lacking, as the geometrically detailed landscape 2000 to 3000 feet below your plane still fails to impress as a result of low texture resolution and somewhat unimpressive explosions and ancillary graphics effects. To put it bluntly, the game doesn’t appear as though it’s ready for the newer generation of console hardware, instead placing itself somewhere between current generation and last generation hardware capabilities.

Tom Clancy’s HAWX delivers a unique, niche experience for console players that would only really appeal to people who are looking for an aerial combat, arcade-style flight simulator, but not many others. In the end, the entire game seems a little unnecessary and out of place, trying to fill a perceived gap in the market, but not bringing anything truly new and revolutionary to the genre.

While fans of games such as Ace Combat and Blazing Angels may find that HAWX delivers a suitable experience and provides them with the type of game that is becoming increasingly extinct, other flight sim fans will find a game that had an opportunity to innovate and prove itself a necessary addition to the line-up of current generation games, but only just succeeds in holding itself together for long enough to amuse yourself with the game presented, let alone achieve those lofty goals.

Pros: Entertaining, if far-fetched, story; great moments of combat satisfaction; easy-to-use controls; great multiplayer additions

Cons: Presentation feels rushed and crutch-y; graphically underwhelming; squad-mates repeating dialogue; ’samey’ mission structure;

Purchase: