Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X.

Posted 4 years ago By - Brian Edey

When it was rumored that Ubisoft was working on a Tom Clancy based flight simulation game I became excited. I love the Tom Clancy universe of games, movies and books. I dive into Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon and Sam Fisher games like a dying man finding a pool of water in the desert. When it was announced that Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. would also touch the world of Ghost Recon and EndWar I was very happy because that is almost a dream to see the games cross each other so we can see the conflict from different sides.

The end result was not exactly as I hoped since the game does not honestly feel like a true Tom Clancy experience with a single heroic character leading the charge with his men against unstoppable odds. But that is not to say the game does not do what it needs to do well, in fact it does the game and storytelling well and while it is not a true “Tom Clancy” game in my mind it is truly part of the “Tom Clancy Universe”.

The story of Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. is nearing our real world reality almost with PMC (Private Military Contractors or Mercenaries like the company Xe (formerly Blackwater) who perform security for governments and companies globally), have taken over and become the army for several countries. Of course being an army for hire comes with some issues especially if that company has questionable ethics which come to play during the game. You will fight worldwide from South America, North America, Japan and the Middle East in a growing series of conflicts where your only choice is to win or die.


Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. is certainly a game where you should have a flight stick or a game pad for the best controls possible. The game recommends an Xbox 360 game pad but does support a wide variety of game pads and controllers which is very nice, but since I enjoy the 360 pad I played the entire game with it and it works very well.

In H.A.W.X. you do not take off or land your plane at all as all missions begin in the air and end in the air and this might disappoint some people with this lack of subtle realism but with the game dropping you in close to the action and ending after you splash the last enemy jet or blowing up the last tank. You also have a huge number of weapons on your plane such ranging from 40 or 50 air to air missiles to well over a 100 all purpose missiles or bombs. There is a wide variety of weapons to go along with the large number of jets you get to fly but you will find that while each plane looks different, in the end they all fly very close to the same way and you can do almost any mission with any weapon package (unless it calls for a specific weapon like free fall bombs). Of course most of what I just mentioned would turn off many gamers but it’s the simplistic aspect of the gameplay which makes this a very appealing game to those gamers who have played similar games such as the Ace Combat series or even the classic Strike Commander. There will always be a place for games like this because sometimes you want to fly without worrying about hundreds of controls.

Co-Op multiplayer is a fun experience if you work as a team and communicate such as have one player flying and protecting their friend while the other one is dropping bombs and taking out hardened targets. What makes the actual game fun is both players do not need to use the same plane type and this adds to the overall experience. For example I was almost always flying a bomber when a friend was covering me (usually poorly lol) with a fighter. The multiplayer full on air combat side of things is well done as well but good players who understand how to control their plane will always dominate and fly circles around everyone else.


Realistic and stunning is a good way to describe the graphics of Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. and if it was not for some issues with Steam not having the Direct X 10 executable on hand when I first started playing I would say the graphics are the best we have seen in any flight simulation type of game. Using high resolution 3D satellite maps of various real world locations the developers have given the player a visual orgy to play through especially during some of the later and more intense missions which take place near dawn/dusk.

Each plane is rendered in amazing detail and looks like it could be coming from a History Channel documentary on modern warplanes. The weapon effects of explosions and smoke trails make for some incredible viewing when you see the mission replayed and makes for some very exciting footage.

My only complaint about the graphics is the underwhelming mission briefings which seem to have been almost rushed and lack the quality of an AAA title. If and when they make an H.A.W.X. 2 I hope they extend the presentation of the game a few steps up for the pre and post mission briefings. If not there are plenty of companies who could come in and do the same gameplay but have a better presentation and H.A.W.X. would be lost in the shuffle.


Ubisoft always seems to demand great audio in its Tom Clancy titles and if you have played the amazing Rainbow Six Vegas or Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter games or even the recent EndWar you know the audio for H.A.W.X. will be of the highest quality. Every voice over has that same over the top jar head Jerry Bruckheimer movie tone. The music is subtle when it needs to be and noticeable the rest of the time which is great and the sound effects are just great especially during intense combat when you can hear missiles and gun fire all around your cockpit. While this is not the best sounding game on record it is certainly one of the better ones this year because it does not try to do anything it shouldn’t and that is what counts.

With an impressive and highly re-playable single player campaign which can be enjoyed with friends for some insane co-operative action and a fun and very aggressive player versus player multiplayer mode the value for the game is much higher than you would expect. The experience and level up system combines with unlocking new planes, skins, weapons and more and extends the game to an insane level of pure value.


For those who want a true Flight Simulation experience look elsewhere because this is a pure action game with sometimes hundreds of missiles and bombs, forgiving flight controls and certainly more bang than simulation. This is a must buy for action fans and those who love to keep unlocking new toys to play with but do not expect a deep simulation experience just a fun one.

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