H.A.W.X.: Revolution X shooting down Ace Combat this fall

By Tiberius Jonez

Like Abbott and Costello, Hall and Oates and Lennon/McCartney, Tom Clancy and Ubisoft have been a long-standing team with a track record of success. Responsible for some of the most memorable IP’s around, from the Splinter Cell franchise to Rainbow Six: Vegas, the duo have become a staple of the shooter genre. That’s why I was surprised when I heard about their latest collaboration – an air combat game called H.A.W.X.: Revolution X which is set to debut this fall on the Xbox 360, PC and PS3.

With the Ace Combat series being the uncontested champ of this genre for the past ten years, it will be nice to have an alternative – especially one intent on straddling the line between arcade and simulation while maintaining a high level of realism.

The realism extends beyond the planes - which look beautiful – to the topography of the areas over which you’ll pilot them. By utilizing real satellite data, Ubisoft Romania says the areas you fly over will be virtually identical to their real world counterparts.

H.A.W.X. is an acronym for The High Altitude Warfare - Experimental Squadron, a real squadron founded in 1943. It was originally known as FALCO until the U2 spy plane scandal of the 1950’s forced the government to shut down the unit – at least publicly. In reality the name was changed to H.A.W.X and the program continued as a secret government project devoted to the testing of the US government's experimental aircraft and weapons systems, combat and recon black ops missions, training US and Allied pilots and the capture of enemy air-oriented technology.

The game is set in 2012 with the world on the precipice of global conflict. Private Military Corporations (PMC’s), which seem to be the favorite foil of game plots right now (see Metal Gear Solid 4), are available for hire by any sovereign country and are seen as legitimate mercenaries. Unfortunately, over the years the PMC’s have become more and more powerful and difficult to control, which is where the H.A.W.X. come in - to lay down the law.

H.A.W.X. offers a pilot assistance program called ERS, which aids in tracking enemies and piloting. The system is turned off by double-tapping your brakes and on by double-tapping your thrusters. According to a write up on IGN after a hands-on session with the game, switching back and forth between the two flight styles becomes second-nature within minutes and using it has nothing to do with skill level – it is something all players will use. In short, you’ll be turning ERS off when you need to make really difficult maneuvers that require full control of your jet’s systems and turning it on when you want to find difficult targets or get a better view of opposing planes during dogfights.

Judging by screenshots, H.A.W.X. is looking great and the gameplay sounds very promising. Hopefully we’ll see more on the game before its fall release.