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Warhawk - E3'06 Hands On Mini Preview
Chris Leyton
17/05/2006
It seems Incognito were the only one's who knew about the PS3 joypad, as TVG takes Warhawk on the Playstation3 for a spin...
With the surprise of Sony's blatant plagiarism surrounding the Playstation 3 coming as much of a shock to developers creating PS3 titles as anybody else, it seems only one such studio knew about the announcement ahead of the time. Stunning attendees at last year's E3 with footage from Warhawk, Incognito returned with a playable build of the PS3 follow-up to the popular 1995 PSone title.
Being the only title on display to utilise the newly established pitch, yaw and roll functionalities of the Playstation3 pad, a greater focus was placed on the action/shooter then probably expected. With the action being staged across a series of mountainous islands, the objective behind the demonstration was brief - destroy a collection of colossal airships and the squadrons of fighter crafts that surrounded them.
Control over the Warhawk is an intuitive experience, responding to the movements of the PS3 pad accurately in terms of pitch and yaw, whilst a shoulder trigger handles roll motions. Initially movement can seem a little twitchy with the joypad motion feeling light and unfamiliar; however you soon grow accustomed to the technique and manoeuvring the Warhawk with panache and precision. Similar to its predecessor, the Warhawk is a cross between a jet-fighter and attack helicopter, capable of aerobatic dogfights at high speed or hovering above the ground to offer tactical support for ground troops.
With a variety of homing missiles, ion charge cannons and basic artillery fire at your disposal, combat typically involves tagging the enemy for a missile strike or lining up an opponent in the targeting reticule. The action occurring was pretty intense, with particularly neat smoke trails following the myriad of missiles, however it was nothing to particularly stamp the Playstation3 on the map and certainly hard to see where your hard-earned cash has been spent.
The larger problem surrounding the PS3 pad's motion-sensitive functionality is the issue of adaptability; controlling a Warhawk makes sense with the design of the pad, however we're struggling to imagine the PS3 pad rivalling the Wii remote when it comes to wider challenges such as recreating the golf swing or lunging with a sword. It's an extension of the control, but doesn't necessarily make the experience feel dramatically different to what's come before.
Although the demonstration took place entirely in the Warhawk, the E3 trailer revealed on-foot sections along with other vehicles such as tanks, jeeps and other aircraft. Whether or not the game will succeed in these areas remains to be seen, with the action appearing similar to the likes of THQs The Outfit and countless other third-person shooters.
Nothing during the playable demonstration quite managed to replicate the scale or numbers seen in the E3'05 trailer, though the visual quality came reasonably close to matching the pre-rendered trailer with an overall subdued style that focuses on the action.
It's hard to get too excited about Warhawk, beyond being a capable demonstration of the PS3 joypad's possibilities. Without seeing much of the game in action and only the concept at work, we'll hold final judgement until a later date - it's probably not going to have too many people forking out £400 on day one.
