14 DAY TRIAL // 
High up in the air, with afterburners engaged, near top speed, a few missiles left and the flare counter full, it does not seem like anything can harm you. A fighter plane, however modern, is still something incredible fragile, with a well placed missile or a few rounds of hot iron enough to tear down the fragile sheath of metal that separates the pilot from freezing air and lack of oxygen. But up here, flying virtually in H.A.W.X. 2, I do not fell threatened at all.
Of course, it helps that the Ubisoft Romania studio made video game imagines aircraft as significantly sturdier that they are in real life, in maybe it's biggest concession to the arcade style. A pilot can sit tight in the cockpit without fear as a few missiles hit his machine after failed flare runs and a few attempts at getting the pursuers off course. It doesn’t feel natural to get hit and only see a number go towards zero percent although it makes sense in the world of video games.
Consoles don't get too many flight simulation games these days so it's nice to see that the developers at Ubisoft Romania have created a series where pilots are heroes, able to almost decide the outcome of potential World Wars on their own, and where planes are lovingly detailed and beautifully rendered as they engage in their high altitude deadly dance of cannon, missile, flares and quick accelerations. But as you climb into the cockpit be prepared for a bumpy ride.
Gameplay
It's hard to know what H.A.W.X. 2 is trying to be deep down inside. On one hand the game aims to be more of a simulation than the first title in the series, with landing and take off included as mandatory elements in most missions and with more of an emphasis on close quarters dog fighting.
On the other hand the game is clearly arcade, with some enemies nearly impervious to missile fire and with stalling only a real problem when the game itself needs it to be one. Planes also carry more ammo and more tech than they would be able to in real life.
The problem is not only linked to how this particular game has been built but to the actual need of the genre to create a balance, attracting players by making the experience accessible but also keeping the gameplay as close to real life as possible.
H.A.W.X. 2 is clearly more of an arcade than a sim but the second installment in the series introduces take offs and landings. Getting off the ground is not hard at all and is mostly tedious, making the addition seem a bit unnecessary. Landing on the other hand can be punishing, which means that the return of the Enhanced Reality System is a welcome one, guiding the player back to the landing strip and telling him when to reduce speed and when to drop the landing gear in order to make sure that the billion dollar flying machine makes it to the ground safely.
In the air refueling is another real life challenge that has been added and it can be really tough to pull off, especially with a threatening timer counting the seconds down in the background. The initial approach is similar to the landing sequence but the final tweaks needed to link up to the fuel hose can be real hard to pull off. I literally lined up my plane in the final two seconds on my first try, leaving me with vaguely shaking hands which lead to a short pause before continuing the missions.
The air battles are pretty similar to the first title in the series and that holds true for both the good and the bad parts of the experience. Wingmen seem pretty ineffectual, meaning that the player controlled plane needs to do 90 percent of the work in order for a mission to succeed. That's good because it means that there are a lot of planes to engage and then shoot down but also bad because combat can drag on for quite a long time with adrenaline bursts turning into frustration pangs as time goes by.
Enemies also seem, at times, bizarrely capable to throw flares continuously from an endless supply, throwing off all missiles you fire at them and leaving only the cannon as a viable alternative. It makes sense to push the player into some close fights but the developers make it feel too forced in H.A.W.X. 2.
The game also varies the type of missions by introducing a bit of stealth via drone and some escort action via an AC-130 and its full complement of cannons, fully controllable by the player. The drone missions can be pretty boring, with limited movement and no actual enemy planes, feeling a bit empty after the huge action pieces.
But the first escort mission in the game, where the main hero of the first game is rescued by Ghost operatives from terrorists, is one of the highlights. Babysitting a fragile vehicle does not sound like a good idea but in H.A.W.X. 2 it works beautifully, with varied threats emerging left and right and guns overheating as you move to target and eliminate them all as the package proceeds to a friendly rescue ship.
Story
The easiest way to enjoy H.A.W.X. 2 is not to pay too much attention to the Tom Clancy branded techno thriller plot that underpins the missions. It seems strangely similar to that of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, with threats rising in the Middle East only to actually mask the rise of an ultranationalistic faction in Russia, which has the ultimate aim of getting their hands on nuclear weapons in order to get another World War started, with the mutual destruction of all major superpowers all but assured.
The three different points of view, American Major Alex Hunter, British RAF Lieutenant Colin Munro and Russian Captain Dimitri Sokov, have no clear differences but serve as a good way of offering a wide variety of planes that the gamer can take to the skies to blast enemies and protect friendlies.
Graphics and audio
H.A.W.X. 2 is significantly better looking than its predecessor in action and offers a more varied array of landscapes for the player to run through. The first game in the series had some issues when loading terrain textures that are now gone and there's significantly more detail in the planes, even if that means some dropped frames at times when a lot of planes and installation appear on screen.
The problem is that the in game cutscenes look pretty bad and unfortunately the game has quite a few of them. Vehicles and helicopters look like they are made out of whole grey non textured metal and the area around them is like a sort of plastic sheath on which things slide around rather than moving naturally.
The night missions, especially one that is clearly inspired by the first Baghdad bombings of the early '90's, are some of the most well built from a graphical standpoint, managing to convey a sense of the power that a stealth plane has over almost blind ground based defenses.
The soundtrack of H.A.W.X. 2 is competent but audio wise nothing truly stands out and the voice work, crucial in offering some credibility to the story line, does not impress.
Multiplayer
The entire single player campaign in H.A.W.X. 2 can be tackled by four player in cooperative mode and a few hours playing with another friend show that it can be much fun that playing solo, mostly because of the increased firepower that two humans can bring to bear in cooperation when needed.
The game also has competitive multiplayer, with the progress done in the single player translating into some upgrades for the competitive side.
The problem is that all the variety and all the mixing and matching leads to a finished product that tries to be all things to all flight lovers and does not succeed in delivering the highly tailored experiences they are expecting. Make no mistake, H.A.W.X. 2 has solid mechanics, fun dog fight moments and a real gem of a mission where the player needs to cover the rescue mission of David Crenshaw. But to really shine this game needed a better story, less characters, less aerial ambushes, more complex setups for the air battles and more interesting ideas for the drone missions. Sadly all of them are currently missing.
The Good
The Bad
Conclusion
