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Tom Clancys Hawx PS3

Format:
PS3

Genre:
Shooting

Style:
Singleplayer

Buy/Support:
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Hawx has some of the best flight combat physics around and offers gamers the ability to take to the cockpit of the most advanced war machines around.

When it comes to games, I have to say I'm probably the biggest kid around. Ever since I was young I always remember role-playing as the leader of a group and put on a cheesy American voice. I'm not so young anymore, but I still seem to do that same role-play. Happily for me, Tom Clancy's Hawx offers me the perfect opportunity to do that!

My face lit up when I stuck the game into my playstation and discovered that I could use voice activation to control my co-pilots and other functions of my plane! So I put in my bluetooth headset, cleared my throat and worked out what words to say in an American accent to get my plane working!

I'm not sure if my accent was off, or I was saying the wrong words, but I soon realised that the voice activation wasn't all that smooth. In fact, in some places I found myself shouting the word 'fire' in all sorts of various accents in an attempt to get my plane firing when I needed it to. There are moments in the game when you only have a split second to get your missile fired before you lose your lock, or you plough into the ground - so the delayed firing really wasn't working.

Other voice commands also seemed slightly delayed, and in some cases just didn't work at all. So I decided to turn my headset off and go back to pretending. That actually worked a lot better. It felt much more interesting when I could just press the X button to launch the missile and it also meant I was actually hitting the enemy, rather than hitting the air behind them.

The first few missions on Hawx were somewhat disappointing. That was mainly because I hadn't got to the planes with the assistance off mode yet. If any of you have played the demo, you'll know what I mean - it's the mode that allows you to fly around like a maniac and take out other planes properly, with crazy sharp turns and exhilarating dogfights. So for the first few missions, I was actually quite bored. The incredible landscapes and picture perfect cities were entertaining enough to keep me playing until I got to the interesting missions.

Whilst the later missions were fun, they soon became a bit laborious. Mission after mission consisted of simply taking out waves of land, sea and air enemies whilst protecting yourselves and others. In an attempt to liven things up, Ubisoft did try to offer some originality. For example, one mission consisted of the planes malfunctioning and all missiles being out of action. That meant I had to take down two or three planes with just my cannon. A task that was not all that easy, and actually a little frustrating.

Despite all of this complaining, there is something strangely compelling about Hawx. Perhaps it's my childhood love of Top Gun. There's not much selection when it comes to flight combat games on the PS3, and Hawx certainly offers enough to keep you entertained. Despite the similar mission structures, the game does offer a vast array of planes and weapons that will keep you entertained enough to keep going. Along with that, the incredible graphics and excitement of pretending I was actually a fighter pilot kept me gripped to the game.

Written by Sinan Kubba

You can support Sinan by buying Tom Clancys Hawx



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Sinan Kubba writes the Returning Gamer column.

"As an 80s kid I was obsessed with gaming. But university, stress and life relegated my hobby to the backseat. After years in the wilderness, I'm back into video games. I don't just want to play games that remind of a happy youth though. I'm just as excited about games that take things forward, experiences that re-ignite that curiosity and fascination I had years ago."

Here are the games I've been playing recently:

• Dark Souls
• Metal Gear Solid
• Portal
• Tiger Woods 11
• Home