HAWX - UbiDays '08 Preview

Earlier this year, Ubisoft mounted a viral teaser on its Ghost Recon website that featured video and audio captures suffering spasmodic interference. Occasionally you'd see the flash of a jet fighter pilot's helmet or hear the words "target locked on" etc., but other than that we were left very much in the dark about this viral ad. Many outlets (TVG included) jumped to the conclusion that this suggested a GRAW 3 announcement was imminent, but within days Ubisoft revealed that the ads were referring to Tom Clancy's HAWX.

Sounding incredibly similar to (and probably the very same as) a previously revealed game under development at Ubisoft Bucharest called Air Combat, HAWX takes advantage of Ubisoft's recent acquisition of everything Tom Clancy. The year is 2012 and everything is certainly not right with the world. Private Military Companies (or PMCs) have taken control in the world's theatres of war and the sway of power towards these companies is a disturbing prospect indeed.

Air Combat

We can certainly see why Air Combat might have been an early working title for this project at Ubisoft Bucharest. Many aspects of the game look and feel very much like Namco Bandai's Ace Combat. After all, they are both games that straddle the dividing line between flight simulation and arcade style aerial combat. However, the combat in HAWX has the backdrop of real world locations (our hands on demo took place above Rio de Janeiro) and, in the now familiar Clancy style, the story draws from contemporary military dilemmas that are much closer to home than Ace Combat's slightly fantastical worlds of Estovakia and Gracemeria.

Ubisoft Bucharest will also be introducing some fresh gameplay dynamics to the well trodden genre, which will set it apart from the likes of Ace Combat. The most significant of these features is HAWX's Enhanced Reality System (ERS). The system itself is tied into the two different cameras that the game offers. The traditional camera (just behind the rear of the aircraft) is called the Assistance mode in HAWX, which will be more suitable for rookie pilots. Conversely, there is a second camera that can be initiated with a double tap of the left trigger and gives players more freedom to perform aerobatic moves and advanced dog fighting techniques.

Players can always return to the Assistance mode by double tapping the right trigger, and this is where the ERS comes into play. We used it to attack trickier targets such as tanks shielded by the surrounding Rio skyscrapers. Launching missile attacks along shallow flight paths simply wasn't going to take out these heavily dug-in targets. Instead, a loop-the-loop followed by a near vertical descent onto the target was required. The ERS helped us to achieve the correct flight path by displaying a course of reticules that, if followed correctly, moved our plane into the correct vertical descent. Then it was simply a case of letting our birds fly and pulling up before we hit the ground.

The ERS wasn't available in the second, more advanced camera. From this camera, players will view the plane from a much further distance (a few hundred metres) whilst the camera moves actively around the jet fighter depending on various aerobatic moves. It's these advanced flight techniques that are much more applicable in this camera mode, as a liberal use of the airbrake initiates controlled stalls that make your jet drop like a leaf. It's then possible to get back on the throttle and turn that stall into a cunning about-face on your dog fight rival.

Obviously, this second camera is much more useful than the Assistance mode for aerial combat against enemy fighters, and advanced flight techniques in general. For example, you can evade locked on missiles more easily, firstly with a deft use of the airbrake to pull a high G turn and then (just to ensure that the missile ploughs into a mountain and not you) letting off some flares by clicking the left thumbstick at the last minute. Be careful though, because if you hold onto the brake for too long then the plane will fall into an uncontrolled stall where you'll struggle to regain control of the aircraft before it plummets into the ground.

In The Hangar

As far as weaponry was concerned, we experienced the standard "Too close for missiles; I'm switching to guns" combo. Missiles were deployed using the A button on the Xbox 360 pad and our demo featured the usual heat seeking variety, while the B button sent off volleys of gun fire. Whether or not there will be more complex weaponry on offer in the final game, and whether you'll be able to chose your arsenal prior to missions, is unclear at this point.

We were told that there will be an array of 50 planes on offer when HAWX is released later this year. Although most of these models will be jets that are already in military service, some will be fictional designs while others, such as the F35, are based on true-to-life fighter jets that are currently in a developmental stage. Some of the HAWX planes will also be used as units in Ubisoft's other upcoming Tom Clancy title, the RTS game EndWar. We can expect to see more of these sorts of crossovers in Ubisoft's Tom Clancy games as the publisher looks to extend the brand, even as far as books and movies!

There were tight lips at UbiDays regarding the multiplayer offerings for HAWX, although Ubisoft reps did mention that there will be a strong emphasis on squad based play. We were told this during our hands on as we neared Rio in procession with a handful of friendly jets stood wingtip to wingtip. It was certainly an exciting prospect. Four player jump in, jump out co-op has already been confirmed for the title and this will no doubt form a large portion of the squad based play, although it'll be interesting to see how it's integrated in any adversarial modes that could feature in the final game.

Graphically, HAWX was very much what you might expect and quite similar to what Ace Combat offered. The landscapes were gorgeous from a distance, but a closer examination revealed some quite low-res textures, although this is to be expected in a game of this type. The planes, on the other hand, were lovingly designed to reveal fine details such as rivets across the fuselage which, when coupled with lighting effects that smeared gracefully across the jet's shell, produced some photo-realistic visuals for the planes at the centre of HAWX's gameplay.