Preview: Tom Clancy's HAWX (iPhone)

2:40 PM on 12.04.2009   |   Dale North

21 comments

HAWX. Yeah, that HAWX. The big, beautiful air combat game with lovely sunsets from the big console. Believe it or not, its still a beautiful air combat with game with lovely sunsets, even on the iPhone.

The Tom Clancy game has been retooled to fit on the iPhone, and I think you'll be impressed when you see it. And play it. It continues where the story left off in Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2. Aside from looking great, it plays great, and has a ton of depth. It definitely holds its own against its console big brother, and even has full voice work and online multiplayer built in.

An iPhone game, folks.

Tom Clancy's HAWX (iPhone)
Developer: Gameloft
Publisher: Gameloft

You'll fly over real locations in HAWX. Real real, as in real maps with correct geodata, in places like Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, Chicago, Washington D.C. and more. When I wasn't shooting down the enemy, I was flying over these cities, low to the ground, trying to see all the landmarks. They're all there. And it wasn't just the ground that looked nice. The planes' models are fantastic for a phone game. They have a nice poly count and even show lighting from the sky. Those with 3GS phones will see extras, like missile trails and white noise static effects. Oh, and I can't forget the lovely orange sunsets. They put you at peace...until you get shot from behind and have to get back to the action.

Damn, son!

This is a pretty big game for an iPhone title. There's 13 missions to play through, and each is pretty involved. I know of dogfights, bombing missions, and protection missions, and I'm sure there's more. You'll fly in one of 25 licensed planes, coming from makers like MIG, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and others. You know, fancy planes like the F-14 and the Stealth Bomber. I was able to flick around and check out the planes in the selection screen. Nice, slick models. Inside, once your mission starts, you'll see that they have their own cockpits too. There's lots of detail piped into this game.

There's two control schemes for HAWX: a thumb pad and the accelerometer. I liked the feeling of tilting the system a bit more, but it didn't feel like my movements were as precise as when I used the virtual controller nub. The throttle is on the left. Swipe for more juice. You'll also swipe left and right to change weapons. The control is really accessible -- I was up and dogfighting in no time. Too bad my test iPhone didn't have the Top Gun score on it, as the game supports the ability to play your own music.

I tried my hand at a couple of missions. I was blown away when the game started talking to me, just like a console title. In one mission, I took to the skies, locking on and taking down planes in Rio. The mission progressed and had me taking out in-water targets. I had no problem zipping around the sky and taking down multiple attackers -- the control is spot-on here. Later I took out ground targets in the late evening sun, blinding lens flares and all. I stop and stared at how lovely it was, but snapped out of it as I got a Lock On warning. Looped back around, took 'em out, and gave myself a thumbs up.

I didn't get to check out the multiplayer (up to 4 players, WiFi or Bluetooth), but I'm sure the deathmatch action is going to great, especially seeing as how great the game controlled.

Big name, high-profile, almost console quality (and definitely PSP or DS quality) release for the iPhone? Thanks, GameLoft.

Tom Clancy's HAWX is slated to be released in December.