Flying High in the H.A.W.X. demo

Tom Clancy games have had a history of high difficulty curves. I draw this experience from the Splinter Cell games. And now Ubisoft's newest Tom Clancy game has hit Xbox Live as a demo, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X..

You play as U.S. Air Force pilot David Crenshaw. The game takes an interesting split between simulator-like fighter game play to high flying arcade dog fights. The feature responsible for this is the ERS (enhance reality system). In game, it's explained as a computer system that keeps the pilot safe by correcting common human error and making flight adjustments. In actual game play, this lets you turn on ERS for a steady behind view (whether 3rd person behind the craft or 1st person in the cockpit) or turn it off for a freed up view as if from another aircraft. The mechanic is that with ERS on, you'll have a steady flying experience. With ERS off, you're free to pull off fantastic aerial stunts in order to better your opponents, with the risk of problems such as stalling and loss of control.

For a Tom Clancy game though, it's much easier then I thought, at least with it's selectable difficulty. On normal, you'll take a fair share of hits before being blown out of the sky. The rest is just keeping your reticule on your target for a lock-on and letting your missiles fly.

The interesting thing is the RPG-esque level up system. As you rank up from completed missions, you unlock new aircraft with different weapon load outs and stats from armor to speed and handling. There were three to unlock on the demo; the standard versatile fighter, a ground bombing specialist (resembling a Harrier), and the anti-air fighter (with a resemblance to the Tomcat).

The missions presented was the standard training mission getting you familiarized with the controls, and a mission giving you a sudden coup d'etat in Rio De Janiro. The action is pretty intense, especially with the ERS off, letting you pull off awesome brake turns (reducing speed dangerously to stall, turning, then throttling up), loops, and the sonic booms that come with all that boosting in speed.

Multiplayer was available in forms of head to head and co-op, but I didn't get the chance to try them.

All in all, H.A.W.X. was a surprise. It got me interested in what the final game will look like, but if it's like the demo, it should be an awesome ride in the sky.