Tom Clancy's HAWX - Q&A Feature

"Talk to me, Goose," were going to be our first words to Thomas Simon, Ubisoft Bucharest's Lead Game Designer on HAWX. However, fearing that he may have heard thousands of Top Gun references from geeky game journalists since he started work on the first Tom Clancy game to take to the skies, we eased off the 80s cheese and eased on the TVG charm. 

TVG: A couple of the levels we played during today's hands-on threw a lot of variation into the mix in terms of mission objectives, such as defending Air Force One or avoiding the radius of surface-to-air missile launchers on a bombing run. Does this variation continue as the story progresses and can you give us a couple of standout examples?

We worked hard on the level design to bring this sort of variety. For example, there are missions where you have to provide very strong and close air support. You will see troops on the ground progressing and you have to suppress the enemy defences ahead so that they can progress. Yeah, there's quite a lot of variation. In the end, level design is really what makes the game and you can have a great idea, but in the end it comes down to gameplay, so we've been making a lot of effort with that.

TVG: In terms of the adversarial multiplayer, you've already mentioned that there will be an 8 player team deathmatch mode. Is that the only mode on offer or are there more?

You have the campaign, which you can play solo or co-op, and you have team deathmatch mode which is dedicated to collaboration within the team taking out the other team. You have lots of features to select targets, support your team, and impair the other team.

TVG: So it's all co-operation? There are no individual deathmatches?

Well, variations on the deathmatch are possible, but we really focused on offering, let's say, a constructive experience. We just found out that, in the end, it brings more to the player, but it doesn't prevent you from shooting everything you want.

TVG: In addition to the list of planes we've played with today, I noticed the silhouette of a F-117 Stealth Fighter on one of the loading screens...

Yeah, there are a lot of them. You have the F-117; you have the F22 - all types of aircraft. We don't have everything of course, but we do have quite a lot from the early planes at the first moments of the Cold War to prototypes that are not even in service like the F-35. Actually, some pilots who will fly the F-35 are not even born yet, so it's quite a large scope.

TVG: Are there any heavy bombers at all, or are you sticking to the fighters?

So, you have some attack planes like the A-10 Thunderbolt, but we don't integrate massive bombers - you're a fighter pilot. Piloting a bomber is not at all the same stuff. It's a very rigid way of piloting. So, you will escort bombers and destroy enemy bombers, but you won't be in control of them.

TVG: With the voice command system, are you integrating that in a similar way to EndWar?

You have a different use for it. In EndWar it's a system that allows you to control everything and give complex orders etc. In our case we are more straight to the point because we have different gameplay. It's about giving straight orders to switch targets or weapons, attack a target and these sorts of things. It's designed to be a cool feature you can use if you want to, but it's not mandatory to use it, so you can use it fully or keep control of piloting and give orders on some elements like switching targets. If you are playing a team deathmatch, you will get a little edge if you use voice and manual command because you will maximise your controls by using the two things at once.

TVG: And is it using the smooth voice recognition software we saw in EndWar?

It's the same system.

TVG: One of the real-world locations you showed us today was Rio de Janeiro. Do you have any other instantly recognisable locations like this in the game?

There's Afghanistan, Cape Canaveral, Chicago... We have the whole city of Chicago in one of the missions. Actually, we have two more US cities that we're not going to disclose now as they're titbits for later, but you'll have a total of three major US cities including Chicago. You also have the Mexican city of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, which is also open, so lots of real places.

TVG: Do you have any plans for downloadable content?

Yes, we do. We'll have DLC and I can tell you that we'll have more planes, but I can't give you all the details now.

TVG: We've played around with quite a few of the weapons during our hands-on, but will there be more unlocked as the campaign progresses and, if so, can you give us some examples?

During your hands-on most of the weapons were unlocked but yes, you won't have most of the weapons when you start the campaign. You will have to unlock them progressively and not only weapons, but combinations of weapons as well because having multiple air-to-ground missiles is great, but if you combine them with a load-out that is very efficient for dogfights, then you get a very strong configuration. So, progressively you will unlock both weapons and packages of those weapons as well. For example, multiple air-to-ground weapons are not something you will have straight away and it's the same thing for long range, radar guided missiles as well.

TVG would like to thank Ubisoft Bucharest's Lead Game Designer on HAWX, Thomas Simon, for taking the time to speak to us about the studio's upcoming jet fighter spectacle.