Fractured Reality

Rarely has a game caused me so much indecision. When I enjoy something, I usually support it whole-heartedly, regardless of its flaws. My favourite game of last year, for example, was Mirror's Edge – a game which brought me closer to hurling my controller at the TV than anything I can remember, but which I adored anyway, despite its frustrating, unforgiving nature. Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. (which from this point on I will be referring to as HAWX, because the alternative is fiddly to type) for some reason, is different matter. It looks like the designers were so focussed on one particular aspect of the game to the detriment of the rest, making for a strangely schizophrenic experience.

Allow me to take a step back for a moment, before I explain what I mean. HAWX places you in the role of David Crenshaw, an ace fighter pilot with a name straight out of the All American Hero's Manly Man's Name Generator (picture the chiselled jaw), who is released by the air-force and joins up with a private military company called Artemis. A few years later, in a twist that should surprise approximately nobody, Artemis decides that the US government is interfering with its ability to make money, and launches an attack. Crenshaw and his team quickly switch sides, and fight to bring about the downfall of their former employee.

The campaign takes place over 19 missions with a wide variety of objectives (although they all boil down to blowing stuff up, obviously), with supporting ground troops or flying escort to other planes being the most reoccurring themes, and on the whole are thoroughly enjoyable, even though the forces you are supporting occasionally have the survival instincts of a pack of lemmings. In addition to this there are co-op and team deathmatch multiplayer modes – although only via system link or Xbox Live, with all modes of play providing experience points for a levelling-up system, unlocking more of the fifty-plus planes and their load-outs in the process.

The missions can be flown from one of three viewpoints – HUD, cockpit or 3rd person, with the addition of a forth after the first few are complete. This forth view is the Assistance OFF mode, and is one of HAWX's unique features. The premise is that by entering this mode, with a double tap on either trigger, you are disabling the onboard flight computers in order to perform manoeuvres which would not otherwise be possible. The effect in the game is that it allows you to power-slide the plane, executing extremely tight turns in the process. The downside that it becomes possible to stall, at which point frantic adjustments must be made to level the plane out and restart the engines before making an untimely impact with the ground. The major problem with OFF mode, however, is that the camera pulls back to a more cinematic angle, with your plane about a third of the way up the screen, and locks in place focussed on your current target. This can make for some confusing control issues, as you sometimes fly like a side-scroller or even towards to camera. Used appropriately however – entering OFF mode to pull off a quick turn, then returning to normal view for instance – it can be a powerful tool.

HAWX's other back-of-the-box feature is the Enhanced Reality System, or ERS. This equates to a magical path-finding button – pressing X when prompted creates a series of triangular gates which will lead you to your goal, whether it's dodging an incoming missile, plotting a course to hit a partially concealed ground target, or an intercept course to take you behind an enemy fighter. It often feels a bit like cheating however – or at least diluting the experience – and early in the game can amplify the feeling that you aren't totally in total command of the situation, which is brought about by the learning curve for the slightly clunky control scheme. As you progress, however, this feeling fades. The game was clearly designed to be comfortable to play with a pad, although I'm sure it would work at least as well with a joystick.

The problems with HAWX, then, are generally not with the experience of flying the missions, particularly as the most likely complaint – that of the camera in OFF mode – can be overlooked as it is (with one training mission aside) totally optional. No, the problems are the small but numerous design flaws hovering around the peripheral. The background music is just a bit too loud during mission briefings, making them difficult to hear. The landscapes and ground structures the missions take place over are generally poorly lit and textured, particularly when compared to the excellent plane models. The frame rate drops noticeably on occasions – usually when there are a fire effects and explosions in the field of view. The addition of voice commands is a nice touch, but poorly implemented – the commands are not intuitive and are often misinterpreted, meaning any use of the feature will be extremely brief. There is no way to sort planes into similar groups, or make quick comparisons when deciding what to fly during the mission briefings. On their own, any one of these could be overlooked, but added together they suggest a lack of polish and make a definite impact on the overall quality of the game.

This is what I meant at the start of the review – HAWX provides an enjoyable action/arcade fighter pilot experience (I refuse to use the phrase "flight-sim" because to imply simulation would be grossly inaccurate), marred by strange design choices and sloppy implementation on the periphery. It should be noted, however, that these issues troubled me much more when I started the game than by the time I had finished the campaign, and that now that this review is done, my plan is to turn on my Xbox and play a few rounds of deathmatch. I guess that's all the recommendation that's really needed.