Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X 2 Review

Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X 2 Review

I’m sure there’s a Top Gun joke here somewhere.

The Plot

The combination of a high level of violence in the Middle East, the appearance of the leaders of various forces and the disappearance of several Russian Nuclear weapons means that the High Altitude Warfare Experimental Squadron (H.A.W.X) is, once again, called in to try and find out what’s going on.

Game Play

HAXW 2 offers more to the gamers than at first you might think.  There is a lot more on offer here than just a twenty-mission campaign.  In fact the campaign is just the start of it but lets not get ahead of ourselves.

Campaign

The campaign will introduce you to various pilots across the HAWX squadron, mainly Hunter (US), Monroe (UK) and Sokov (Russian) as it moves you to and from locations all over the world.  This makes for some diverse landscapes combat challenges.

Some of the features from HAWX have returned (although some have now taken somewhat of a back seat) and are joined by some completely new features.  One of my particular favourites is that you are now tasked with the take off and landing of your aircraft with can be quite a dicey affair under pressure.  Luckily to aid you we see the return of ERS (Enhanced Reality System), which will place a series of gates on your screen to guide you to the perfect approach for your landing.

Another much moved feature returning from Ubisofts 2009 air combat hit is Assistance Off mode.  This was one of my particular favourites of the first instalment in the series as it allows you to increase your manoeuvrability but will mean that you sacrifice your accuracy in doing so.  As well as a decrease in accuracy you will also notice that it is possible to stall in assistance off mode.  This has been changed slightly since the first game as now when you stall you’re automatically placed back into assistance on mode to aid your recovery.

Much like its predecessor HAWX 2 is full of little challenges and perks that will see you gaining XP and levelling up across all single player and multiplayer modes.  A new addition, however, is the Plane Mastery feature.  This allows you to earn custom skins, extra damage from specific weapons and ultimately custom weapon packs for your planes.  Each of the games thirty planes has five to six levels to master, each with its own reward.

Free Flight

Once you have finished the campaign this mode allows you to go and have a closer look at the environments of the missions without out the fear of being engaged in combat.  It will also allow you to practice your landings and take offs should you be planning to attempt the campaign on a higher difficulty setting.

Survival

As you may have guessed this is the almost customary mode that sees you fighting wave after wave of enemies for no other reason than to show you can.  There are three different maps to choose from and you’re able to use any planes and weapon load-outs that you have unlocked to date.

With ten waves of enemies to fight you’re going to have to choose your weapon pack carefully as enemies will appear on ground, sea and air.

Arcade

Arcade mode is a brilliant new addition to the series.

Here you are tasked with replaying the campaign missions under very strict circumstances.  Some levels will see your weapons restricted to guns only while others will force you into Assistance Off mode or offer you less support from your allies.

Online

The majority of the single player game modes such as campaign, survival, individual mission and arcade are all also supported for up to four players online.

This is great news for survival especially as it allows you to mix up your planes, weapons and support/passive abilities depending what you have unlocked from the seventy three P.E.C challenge rewards available giving you the ability to assign ground, air or sea roles to the members of your team.

The real meat and veg of the multiplayer though is Team Battle.

This mode is an adversarial mode that pits up to eight players against each other in various landscapes and scenarios.  Within team battles there are five different maps/scenarios with another one becoming available through Uplay.

Open Range

Open Range is very much the default mode of Ranked matches, so much so in fact that in order to try the other modes I had to host my own sessions in player matches.  This is not necessarily a bad thing as this mode is quite accessible for new comers to the game that lack the unlocked planes to seriously engage in sir to air combat.

Open Range is a hybrid of both dog fighting adversarial game play and a hunt to destroy satellite dishes and radio towers.  Doing either will net you enough points to win the match so low defensive flyers can proper without going head to head with planes and pilots far more advanced than themselves.

Air Superiority

This is all out dog fighting.  If you don’t have the planes and weapons you will need to come back when you do. 

Oil City

This is probably the most technical game mode in HAWX 2’s arsenal.

The idea is to destroy targets set out amongst various oilrigs all the while keeping your eyes peeled for enemy planes.  The twist here is that there is an altitude limiter on meaning that you have to fly very low through the oil rigs at all times.  There is absolutely no room for error and more often than not you will be reduced to cannon range when engaged.

Brawlers

This mode is much like Open Range but with the addition of airborne missiles to destroy as apposed to ground targets.

Tokyo’s Last Stand

Another one of my particular favourites that requires you to engage in air to air combat as well as try to halt a large invading force.  Both plane and weapon selection need careful consideration if you’re team is going to be successful.

Ballistic (Uplay)

Offered as a reward to Uplay members this mode is an aviation version of attack and defend.

You and your squad will need to assign roles as you both aim to destroy the enemies ballistic missiles while protecting your own at all costs.

Graphics and Sound

It should come to no surprise to players of the first game that HAWX 2 looks and sounds amazing.

The environments across all game modes are spectacular and the attention to detail give to the planes is nothing short of breath taking.

Whether you are breaking Mach 2 over the Scottish highlands or hugging a Russian mountain line to avoid detection you will at some point look around you and think ‘wow’ right up until the moment the lock on tone sounds and forces you back to your senses with some evasive flying.

The sound can quite often go overlooked in games but that is not something that seems possible here.   There is so much going on at any one moment that keeping a well-trained ear out can be the difference between success and defeat.

Final Thoughts

A solid game in a well over looked genre, HAWX 2 is a welcome addition to any fan of flight games. 

A good length campaign combined with customisable multiplayer and a multitude of additional game modes should keep you happy long after you have reached the highest level available to you.

Overall

7/10

Consumer Opinion

Buy – If you missed out on the first game or simply want my more diversity from HAWX you will not be disappointed.