HAWX

I really dig flight games, but I'm not sure about picking up this game. I have played demo, which I think was cool, but pretty much all the reviews I have read are contradicted tot eachother. Some say it's good and varied, others say it's quite repetitive.

The idea I get now is that HAWX is a bit more macho-like, while Ace Combat (as far as I now) goes a bit deeper into the themes of war. But! Since there is no Ace Combat on PS3, HAWX may be the next best thing.

Has anyone played through the full game? Any thoughts/recommendations?

Ok let me place it to you straight and don't get me wrong, I love combat flight simulation games such as Ace Combat, Colony Wars (meh ok, thats space but still flight combat), Jaeger (not sure on spelling here but this was one seriously overlooked Xbox original title which deserves a good play through, graphically nice for it's time and fun though very demanding on it's players skills) The list goes on, hopefully you've got the picture. All flight games, be they combat or not are repetitive. All FPS games are repetitive for the same reason all there is to do is shoot things and fly/run here and shoot more things. If it's not a combat flight game, just a flight game like Microsoft's flight simulator X then theres not even the shooty bit in the end and beginning of the fly here part.

HAWX is pretty cool, it's been developed much like Advanced Warfighter and other Tom Clancy games in the sense that as you fly missions and score kills you get points. The points then add up and give you a rank. The rank will then proceed to help you unlock more stuff. Not much different from the points = planes and add ons thing thats been going on for years with Ace Combat series. HAWX is probably the best flight combat sim out there for the PS3 which sadly is lacking in this genre of games, As for the Xbox 360, HAWX is a lot of good fun from what I've seen and played but it's not quite as good as AC06 imho though I haven't brought HAWX (played at a friends house the other day though) and I own AC06 I will probably pick my own copy up too.

As for if HAWX feels more arcade/confrontational than AC06? I'd say they're pretty equal. HAWX tends to focus more on bombing and dog fighting missions from start to finish whilst AC06 throws one or two curve balls with some nice recon/stealth/rescue missions available in the game, 1 of which is extremely challenging, irritating and eventually down right fraustrating on the higher levels (SPOILER)It involves shooting down barrage ballons with radar jammers on them within a set time limit and with no lockon possible and no radar to make things more interesting you've got a low mission roof so travelling at high speed and targetting is ill advised and to just make it a little more difficult you're flying in a fog so thick that you can't see further than 20 feet! But for the most part the two titles are pretty equal if you've got a PS3 and no 360 then get this game if you like flight combat sims and if you've got a 360 and liked AC06 then get this title too. I will say Ace Combat as a series especially since 4 upwards has often had deeper storylines than most other flight combat games developed since Colony Wars back in the day.

Thanks! That really helped me out. I ran through the demo again today and I'm gonna pick it up tomorrow. I'm curious about the multiplayer too. I hope there are some people still playing it. From what I've heard AC06's multiplayer never really left the ground (pun intended)...

AC06 multiplayer did actually do really, really well the only problem was that the game had about 6 months to a year in Japan before it came to the west. Therefore with bonus special planes which added inbalance and other players who had played it for a good few months first the multiplayer became a matter of going online and getting owned for the new players in the west who hadn't had the game for months. Unfortunately the game was not designed with a ranking system in mind of this inbalancement. In the end AC06 was a massively enjoyable title for the 360 which did have a very good multiplayer idea the problems came with staggered release dates, special access codes for content ect and for some players who might not have been able to grasp the tactics there was complaints about the "High G turn and missile lock maneouver" which basically meant turning the plane at the most extreme risk angles to acquire a lock on and fire before an opponent even realized they were the target.

Thanks again for recommending this game. The online team deathmatch is probably the most thrilling online experience I have had on PS3. The single player is still a bit basic, but I'm only at 1/3 or so. I like it though!