Times are slippin, into the fuutuuuure
Times are slippin slippin slippin, into the fuutuuuure oooooh
So I wanna flyyyy like an eagle, to the sea
Fly like an eagle when the spirit carry me
I wanna flyyyyyyyy
Fly, fly, into the fuuutuuuure
[Neil] DUDE!
Sorry, onto the review
Flight simulation is another genre I'm not a regular with, but I know a lot more about it than I do about Real Time Strategies, so at least I knew enough to get me started. With that said, if Hawx is a flight simulator, then Grand Theft Auto 4 is a wholesome fun little rump for the entire family to enjoy. Don't take that as a bad thing though because the fact that it's not as complicated as most flight simulators is why Hawx is something you should check out. Like Halo Wars, this game is a good place to start if you're interested in the genre.
Where there's smoke.....I like to bring up my biggest complaint about modern day (or in this case, near future) flight sims: the sense of speed. Normally, by the time you see a jet, it's way over on the other side, but the games never have that sense of going really really fast through the air. I guess when you're actually in a jet, things seem slower, but when I'm flying past a building, I want it to whiz past me so fast that I barely noticed it was there. It's not that fun whizzing between buildings when you can clearly avoid them because you're going so slow. I've gone by buildings faster on Need For Speed; you mean to tell me a sports car is faster than a jet? While I'm talking about buildings, why are only tall buildings rendered? It looks like someone stuck skyscrapers on a page from Google maps. Essentially, you can recreate the levels in your own home by printing out a map, put some yellow Christmas lights on it to represent cars, and make your buildings with gray Legos. You might want to wait until your finish making the set first before turning on the lights because Xmas lights burn paper quickly.
Normally, I try to avoid spoilers, but in this case, I'm gonna relay most of the story to you because I feel like need to (plus I want to). It's not like anyone play these games for the story anyway. If you really have that much of a problem with it, skip down to the picture below and enjoy yourself. It's 5 years in the future, and 3 pilots get booted from the Navy because...there too old I guess. The pilots begin working for a Private Military Company called Artemis. After a few years, the company decides to switch jobs and work for....I forget the country and attack Brazilian forces. Unfortunately, the US is helping Brazil for...some reason I can't remember. The three pilots refuse to open fire on their own countrymen, so they defect back to the Air Force. Because they're a PMC, they can take any contract they want, and there's nothing to the US can do about it. Fair Enough. The US can't interfere with your business, so there's really no issue here. Then, in the most erect of dick moves, they invade the US. I'm pretty sure the US can do something about that, now can they? What was the point of invading America? They would have left Artemis alone if they didn't bother them. Did they really think they can take over a whole fucking country? In fact, how the hell did a COMPANY acquire enough money and hardware to rival a COUNTRY (and a superpower country at that)? You need at least 2 trillion dollars just to make it to the fuckin Gulf of Mexico. And since it's a company, isn't invading a country with no means of monatary gain a waste of fuckin resources? Who jeopardizes their company just to be a dick? That's what you have to look forward to in Hawx. It's a piece of shit story, so I don't think I ruined anything for you (in fact, I should have done the same thing for Bionic Commando because that story is beyond retardation). If you didn't listen to my warning, and are mad that I spoiled it for you.....
....here's my apology for the spoilers
One look at her picture, and he's gotten upright
(both are not good)
Normally, I try to avoid spoilers, but in this case, I'm gonna relay most of the story to you because I feel like need to (plus I want to). It's not like anyone play these games for the story anyway. If you really have that much of a problem with it, skip down to the picture below and enjoy yourself. It's 5 years in the future, and 3 pilots get booted from the Navy because...there too old I guess. The pilots begin working for a Private Military Company called Artemis. After a few years, the company decides to switch jobs and work for....I forget the country and attack Brazilian forces. Unfortunately, the US is helping Brazil for...some reason I can't remember. The three pilots refuse to open fire on their own countrymen, so they defect back to the Air Force. Because they're a PMC, they can take any contract they want, and there's nothing to the US can do about it. Fair Enough. The US can't interfere with your business, so there's really no issue here. Then, in the most erect of dick moves, they invade the US. I'm pretty sure the US can do something about that, now can they? What was the point of invading America? They would have left Artemis alone if they didn't bother them. Did they really think they can take over a whole fucking country? In fact, how the hell did a COMPANY acquire enough money and hardware to rival a COUNTRY (and a superpower country at that)? You need at least 2 trillion dollars just to make it to the fuckin Gulf of Mexico. And since it's a company, isn't invading a country with no means of monatary gain a waste of fuckin resources? Who jeopardizes their company just to be a dick? That's what you have to look forward to in Hawx. It's a piece of shit story, so I don't think I ruined anything for you (in fact, I should have done the same thing for Bionic Commando because that story is beyond retardation). If you didn't listen to my warning, and are mad that I spoiled it for you.....
....here's my apology for the spoilers
One look at her picture, and he's gotten uprightFlight sims work like this: you don't actually turn left and right by moving the left stick left or right. Moving the left stick right or left will make your aircraft rotate in place (well, not really 'in place' since you're be constantly moving forward). To make a turn, rotate the plane in the direction you want to turn. Rotate until your plane is flying on your side, then pull back on the left stick in order to make that turn. If none of this makes any sense to you, it's because it's really hard to explain, but once you pick up a controller, it'll become clear to you. As for all other aspect to air combat, everything is normally explained in the toturials.
There are a couple of features that separates Hawx from other flight sims. The first little innovation is the ERS system, or as I like to call it, the 'Tell Me Where to Go' system. When it's available, activating the ERS will display the path that's best to travel if you want to reach your target or avoid missiles. This is a Godsend because it is hard trying to shoot a tank conveniently parked between buildings. After a while, you become so good that you won't need to use the ERS unless the game dictates it. The biggest difference, however, is the Assistance Off mode. By double tapping one of the trigger buttons, you go into a completely different camera view way the hell away from your plane and off to the side. In this mode, you have more maneuverability (Jesus Christ that's hard to spell) and can dodge missiles better, but you no longer have assess to your ERS, and your plane can now stall if you lose too much speed. Speaking of speed, everything gets faster when the assist is off. It's not exactly the speed I'm looking for, but it's getting there. It takes some getting used to, but once you do, you might actually prefer it over the traditional viewpoints. Assistance Off mode is only really good for dogfights though, which leads to my only exclusive complaint with Hawx. Most of the complaints I listed apply to all flights sim, but this one is exclusive to this game. There aren't enough dogfights in story mode. Now I applaud Hawx for having more variety in missions than most sims (which I'll explain in a minute), but how do you not have one whole mission of dogfighting. A bunch of planes going at it with the assist off would be badass, but usually enemy planes only serve as a distraction to your main goal, which is usually to protect something or escort someone. Every flight sim I've playing had me either killing everything, protecting something, escorting someone, or all of thee above. That was pretty much it. Hawx still has A LOT of mission like that, but it also has missions that I've never seen before. In one mission, I had to destroy beacons that were putting up some kind of field. The catch was I had to fly low to the ground to avoid detection from their radar system. In another mission, the enemy disable my radar, so I had to find the radar towers using a sonar system that beeps faster the closer you get to your target. Another mission had me looking for a base hidden on an island somewhere. I had to use the sonar system to find the base while avoid the red radar fields on the map. If I flew into one of the fields, the enemy would know I was there, and the surprise attack that was planned would be called off, and mission failed (restart). Now that's variety. Online is also good fun. A bunch of people in planes trying to shoot one another: what's not to love (especially with assistance off)? Sadly, they only have team deathmatch, so don't expect much from online.
Either I'm hit, or the plane just fartedThere are a couple of features that separates Hawx from other flight sims. The first little innovation is the ERS system, or as I like to call it, the 'Tell Me Where to Go' system. When it's available, activating the ERS will display the path that's best to travel if you want to reach your target or avoid missiles. This is a Godsend because it is hard trying to shoot a tank conveniently parked between buildings. After a while, you become so good that you won't need to use the ERS unless the game dictates it. The biggest difference, however, is the Assistance Off mode. By double tapping one of the trigger buttons, you go into a completely different camera view way the hell away from your plane and off to the side. In this mode, you have more maneuverability (Jesus Christ that's hard to spell) and can dodge missiles better, but you no longer have assess to your ERS, and your plane can now stall if you lose too much speed. Speaking of speed, everything gets faster when the assist is off. It's not exactly the speed I'm looking for, but it's getting there. It takes some getting used to, but once you do, you might actually prefer it over the traditional viewpoints. Assistance Off mode is only really good for dogfights though, which leads to my only exclusive complaint with Hawx. Most of the complaints I listed apply to all flights sim, but this one is exclusive to this game. There aren't enough dogfights in story mode. Now I applaud Hawx for having more variety in missions than most sims (which I'll explain in a minute), but how do you not have one whole mission of dogfighting. A bunch of planes going at it with the assist off would be badass, but usually enemy planes only serve as a distraction to your main goal, which is usually to protect something or escort someone. Every flight sim I've playing had me either killing everything, protecting something, escorting someone, or all of thee above. That was pretty much it. Hawx still has A LOT of mission like that, but it also has missions that I've never seen before. In one mission, I had to destroy beacons that were putting up some kind of field. The catch was I had to fly low to the ground to avoid detection from their radar system. In another mission, the enemy disable my radar, so I had to find the radar towers using a sonar system that beeps faster the closer you get to your target. Another mission had me looking for a base hidden on an island somewhere. I had to use the sonar system to find the base while avoid the red radar fields on the map. If I flew into one of the fields, the enemy would know I was there, and the surprise attack that was planned would be called off, and mission failed (restart). Now that's variety. Online is also good fun. A bunch of people in planes trying to shoot one another: what's not to love (especially with assistance off)? Sadly, they only have team deathmatch, so don't expect much from online.
(both are not good)
There aren't any real options for the Xbox360 when it comes to flight sims, but this is a definite pick up in my book. There's not much that separates it from to others, but it's enough to make it awesome. I think it's around 40 bucks now at Gamestop, although I could be wrong. It could have been BestBuy. For those of you who want to try something different, this is it. Now.....
FLYYYYYY LIKE AN EEEEEEAAGLE.....
[Neil] Stop it!
Screw you; I like that song. I dont care what anybody says. Best song Seal has ever made. Actually it's the only good song Seal ever made.
[Neil] What about 'Kiss from a Rose'?
...................
[Neil] Sorry
Rating: Sweet
Note: The woman in the picture is Shi Reeves by the way. If you want to look her up, I suggest doing so when nobody's around. What she does on-camera may be too much for some people to handle......I'm saying she does porn.
FLYYYYYY LIKE AN EEEEEEAAGLE.....
[Neil] Stop it!
Screw you; I like that song. I dont care what anybody says. Best song Seal has ever made. Actually it's the only good song Seal ever made.
[Neil] What about 'Kiss from a Rose'?
...................
[Neil] Sorry
Rating: Sweet
Note: The woman in the picture is Shi Reeves by the way. If you want to look her up, I suggest doing so when nobody's around. What she does on-camera may be too much for some people to handle......I'm saying she does porn.
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