I truly can’t remember the last time I’ve even attempted to play a “Flight Simulation” game (possibly Top Gun for the NES?).  Thankfully Tom Clancy‘s HAWX seems to be a solid attempt by Ubisoft to provide a more accessible dogfight experience.  At first glance HAWX is barely indistingusable from any Ace Combat game but perhaps having the Tom Clancy name attached to the property might allow for a deeper story driven experience.

The maneuverability of the planes within the game is absolutely amazing.  I remember how frustrating it was to control planes in other flight simulation games because they adhered a bit too much reality causing me to repeatedly to crash when performing my awesome Maverick-like moves.  Yes, I crashed a few times within the HAWX demo but that was only because I continuously pushed the limits of my plane by flying feet above the ground while taking out the baddies for no reason other than seeing if I could.

I’m hoping the game itself has a bit more variety than the demo because I was already feeling fatique after the 30 or so enemies the demo has you take out during the first mission.  Whether or not there’s a reason the Tom Clancy license was tapped for this game remains to be seen.  But it may provide an interesting story arch if you’re providing air support for the Ghost Recon, GRAW, or Rainbow Six teams.  I was writing this game off as just being another way to milk to Tom Clancy license but after playing the game for a bit I’ve warmed up to it and I’m looking forward to getting a nice and long play session with the final product when it’s released.

Related articles:

• ‘Hawx’ Is ‘Beginning’ Of Combined Tom Clancy Gaming Universe (multiplayerblog.mtv.com)
• Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. Demo Hits Consoles This Week [Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.] (kotaku.com)
• Ubisoft details 2009 fiscal year game line-up (crunchgear.com)

I was checking out Twitter this morning when I came across this article from Planet Xbox360.  I agree with most of the points Ivone Alexandre has written about in the article but there are a few that I feel are a little off point. Yes, last year’s tops games were for the most part sequels but they were as good and in some cases better than their predecessors.    Here’s the sequels that were part the 10 Top Selling games of 2008:

1. Grand Theft Auto 4 – Amazing story, and almost perfect recreation of NYC.
2. Call of Duty: World at War – Not a bad story and the online multi-player is almost as good as COD4.
4. Gears of War 2 – May have surpassed it’s predecessor in story, gameplay, and multi-player.
6. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock – Perhaps the only shameless cash in?
7: Fable II – Peter Molyneux possibly paying off most of the promises he made regarding the first one?
8. Rock Band 2 – Boxed awesome, ’nuff said.
10. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 – Ok, maybe the other shameless cash in.

Ranking Courtesy of NPD

I am quite fearful of the over saturation of the market with humdrum sequels but if they’re quality experiences that only help flesh out the original world like some of the games listed above, why not?  Sequels no longer have to be farmed out to subpar 4th squad developers who’s primary purpose is to reuse assets with as little story as possible stringing together the events of the original game with the new narrative.

2k Marin is NOT some inexperienced 2nd stringer hoping to make it’s name by riding the Bioshock “gravy train.”  They’re a group of extremely competent individuals who have for the most part been under Ted Levine’s tutelage for quite some time and I trust Ted’s choice of handing the reigns over to them.  I look forward to Bioshock 2 for the simple fact that my first visit to Rapture was one of the most amazing experiences of my gaming career, here’s to my return trip hopefully being just as good.