''Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X'' is an

arcade flight An arcade video game is an arcade game that takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. All arcade video games are coin-opera ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by

Ubisoft Bucharest Ubisoft is a French video game publisher headquartered in Montreuil, founded in March 1986 by the Guillemot brothers. Since its establishment, Ubisoft has become one of the largest video game publishers, and it has the largest in-house developm ...

and published by

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

for

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Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

and

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

, and by

Gameloft Gameloft SE is a French video game company based in Paris, founded in December 1999 by Ubisoft co-founder Michel Guillemot. The company operates 18 development studios worldwide, and publishes games for mobile devices, video game consoles, and ...

for

BlackBerry PlayBook The BlackBerry PlayBook is a mini tablet computer that was developed by BlackBerry. It was manufactured by Quanta Computer, an original design manufacturer (ODM).

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

Palm Pre The Palm Pre , styled as palm prē, is a multitasking smartphone that was designed and marketed by Palm with a multi-touch screen and a sliding keyboard. The smartphone was the first to use Palm's Linux-based mobile operating system, webOS. T ...

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

and

Symbian^3 Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system (OS) and computing platform designed for smartphones. It was originally developed as a proprietary software OS for personal digital assistants in 1998 by the Symbian Ltd. consortium. Symbian OS ...

. It was released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America on March 3, 2009, for Windows on March 17, for iOS on December 9, for BlackBerry on January 8, 2010, for Palm Pre on April 2, for Android on September 13, and for Symbian on January 16, 2011. A

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

version was announced, but was ultimately canceled. In September 2010, a sequel titled '' Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X 2'' was released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The Microsoft Windows version was released in November 2010. In November 2018, ''Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X'' was added to the Xbox One's Backwards Compatibility list although only through physical media as it is not available on the Xbox Marketplace. The story of the game takes place during the time of ''

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 ''Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2'' is a tactical shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Paris and Red Storm Entertainment and published by Ubisoft. It was released for Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Po ...

''. ''H.A.W.X'' is set in the near future where private military companies have essentially replaced government-run

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

in many countries.

Gameplay

The basic gameplay mechanics of ''H.A.W.X'' are similar to those of other console-based flight arcade, such as ''

Top Gun ''Top Gun'' is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, with distribution by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., and was inspired ...

'', ''

Ace Combat is an Arcade video game, arcade-style Combat flight simulation game, combat flight simulation video game series by Project Aces, an internal development team of Bandai Namco Entertainment, formerly Namco. Debuting in 1995 with ''Air Combat'' fo ...

'' and ''

After Burner is a rail shooter arcade video game developed and released by Sega in 1987. The player controls an American Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-14 Tomcat fighter jet and must clear each of the game's eighteen unique stages by destroying incoming enemies. Th ...

''. Players take on enemies with over fifty aircraft available to them. Each mission is set amidst real-world locations in environments created with commercial

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

data. A

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

, first-person, and third-person view are selectable, with third-person view giving the player an external view of both their plane and the target. All aircraft in the game are equipped with

guns A gun is a device that propels a projectile using pressure or explosive force. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns or cannons), or gas (e.g. light-gas gun). Solid projectiles may be ...

, a large supply of the Joint Strike Missile (JSM) heat-seekers and a handful of

flares A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala, bengalo in several European countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illuminatio ...

. Most enemy aircraft that appear in the single-player campaign are downed when they are hit by two JSMs. Heavier aircraft such as

strategic bomber A strategic bomber is a medium- to long-range Penetrator (aircraft), penetration bomber aircraft designed to drop large amounts of air-to-ground weaponry onto a distant target for the purposes of debilitating the enemy's capacity to wage war. Unl ...

s are downed with four JSMs. Guns inflict little damage but their supply of bullets is infinite. Each aircraft may also carry one or two additional weapons. For instance, the

A-10 The Fairchild Republic A-10 , also infamously known under the nickname , is a single-seat, twin-turbofan, straight-wing, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force (USAF). In service since 19 ...

attack aircraft may carry

cluster bomb A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehi ...

s that are effective against a column of tanks but cannot be fired against airborne targets. The player may not customize the weapons, but may choose between predefined configurations. The game features an "Enhanced Reality System" (ERS). The ERS includes

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

s, incoming missile detection, an anti-crash system, damage control system, tactical map, information relay, aircraft interception trajectories and weapons trajectory control. The ERS also allows players to issue orders to their squadron and other units. When fully activated, the ERS provides a great deal of assistance to the player, but the system features can be turned off selectively to make the game more difficult and give the player more

maneuverability See also * Maneuver (disambiguation) * Supermaneuverability Supermaneuverability is the capability of fighter aircraft to execute tactical maneuvers that are not possible with purely Supermaneuverability#Aerodynamic maneuverability vs super ...

. The Ace Edge flight stick and throttle control, designed for the limited edition '' Ace Combat 6'' package, is fully compatible with the game on both Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360.

Multiplayer

Players are able to complete campaign missions in co-op mode. There is also a

deathmatch Deathmatch commonly refers to: * A particularly brutal type of hardcore wrestling * Deathmatch (video games), a free-for-all video game mode Death Match may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media *'' Tom Clancy's Net Force Explorers: D ...

mode where players can challenge each other. Winning players are rewarded with

experience point An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Experien ...

s to unlock more weapons. The planes that are available in multiplayer mode are determined by the current level of the player.

Synopsis

Background

The game is set above the skies of a near-future world, which is increasingly dependent on private military companies with elite

mercenaries A mercenary is a private individual who joins an War, armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rath ...

, who have a relaxed view of the law. As these non-governmental organizations gain power, global conflict erupts with one powerful PMC attacking the United States. The game is set in the same universe as ''

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter ''Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter'' is a 2006 tactical shooter video game developed and published by Ubisoft. It was released for the Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows. As in previous '' Ghost Recon'' games, playe ...

'', and Captain Scott Mitchell, the Ghost leader, is featured in several of the missions. Plot elements are also carried over from other ''Tom Clancy'' games, such as the missile defense system found in ''

Tom Clancy's EndWar ''Tom Clancy's EndWar'' is a strategy video game Strategy video game is a major Video game genres, video game genre that focuses on analyzing and strategizing over direct quick reaction in order to secure success. Although many types of vid ...

''. During an interview with G4, ''H.A.W.X''s lead designer Thomas Simon revealed that the game takes place between ''

'' and ''Tom Clancy's EndWar''.

Plot

The player assumes the role of Major David Crenshaw, a

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

pilot and squadron leader of an elite unit called H.A.W.X ("High Altitude Warfare eXperimental squadron"). The game begins in 2014 with Crenshaw providing air support for the Ghost Recon team carrying out covert operations in

Ciudad Juárez Ciudad Juárez ( , ; "Juárez City"), commonly referred to as just Juárez (Lipan language, Lipan: ''Tsé Táhú'ayá''), is the most populous city in the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Mexican state of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua. It was k ...

, Mexico. After the mission, the Air Force deactivates the H.A.W.X program and Crenshaw is recruited into Artemis Global Security, a private military corporation. Over the next six years, Crenshaw and his squadron fly missions for Artemis and its clients, such as defending valuable facilities and attacking insurgent bases. In 2021, Artemis signs a lucrative defense contract with

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

that makes it one of the most powerful PMCs in the world. As expected, Las Trinidad, an anti-U.S. alliance PMC, launches an invasion on

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. But with the help of Crenshaw and his squadron, Artemis and the Brazilian forces are able to repel the invasion. In the wake of the conflict, the United States sends its forces to intervene, thereby subverting Artemis' role and causing its

stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...

to drop. In response, Artemis takes up a profitable contract with Las Trinidad and launches a surprise attack on the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

carrier strike group in the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south. Considered the most important natura ...

. Unwilling to turn against their own country, Crenshaw and his squadron destroy the Artemis fleet and their fighter escort. After the battle, the U.S. sends Crenshaw and an Air Force bomber squadron on a retaliatory mission to bomb the Artemis Operations Center in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

. However, Artemis knocks out the U.S. communications and intelligence satellites and launches a massive preemptive invasion of the United States, capturing numerous major U.S. cities and military bases. H.A.W.X and the U.S. forces defend

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

. Crenshaw and his squadron then assist the American counterattack against Artemis in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and

Naval Station Norfolk Naval Station Norfolk is a United States Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia, that is the headquarters and home port of the U.S. Navy's Fleet Forces Command. The installation occupies about of waterfront space and of pier and wharf space of the Ham ...

. As the U.S. gains the upper hand with the help of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, Artemis, which had acquired several

tactical nuclear weapon A tactical nuclear weapon (TNW) or non-strategic nuclear weapon (NSNW) is a nuclear weapon that is designed to be used on a battlefield in military situations, mostly with friendly forces in proximity and perhaps even on contested friendly territ ...

s, issues an ultimatum to the President: surrender in 24 hours or watch the U.S. be destroyed. H.A.W.X. squadron, a Ghost Recon team and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

manage to restore the Space, Land, Air Missile Shield (see: ''

'') and helps the Army Ranger battalion to capture a decommissioned U.S. Army base in the

Nevada Desert Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the List of U.S. stat ...

and recover the warheads. However, in a last-ditch effort, Artemis smuggles one warhead into

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and prepares to detonate it. With only one minute left before detonation, Crenshaw destroys the nuke and concludes the war. The three days of conflict between the U.S. and Artemis has caused over 40,000 casualties. In response, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

forces all PMCs to disarm and either take on small scale support and logistical roles or be terminated. Several weeks later, Artemis is completely wiped out. Crenshaw kills the Artemis' CEO by destroying his hideout in a

black operation A covert operation or undercover operation is a military or police operation involving a covert agent or troops acting under an assumed cover to conceal the identity of the party responsible. US law Under US law, the Central Intelligence Ag ...

Development

''H.A.W.X'' was announced on July 15, 2008, at the annual E3 2008 developers conference. Prior to this, Ubisoft issued a press release about the game under its working title ''Tom Clancy's Air Combat''. A demo of the game for the Xbox 360 was released on February 11, 2009; for the PlayStation 3 on February 27, 2009; and for Microsoft Windows on March 2, 2009. ''Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X'' uses a new

high-resolution Image resolution is the level of detail of an image. The term applies to digital images, film images, and other types of images. "Higher resolution" means more image detail. Image resolution can be measured in various ways. Resolution quantifies ...

image program and

GeoEye GeoEye Inc. (formerly Orbital Imaging Corporation, or ORBIMAGE) was an American commercial satellite imagery company based in Herndon, Virginia. GeoEye was merged into the DigitalGlobe corporation on January 29, 2013. The company was founded i ...

's commercial Earth-imaging

Ikonos IKONOS was a commercial Earth observation satellite, and was the first to collect publicly available high-resolution imagery at 1- and 4-meter resolution. It collected multispectral (MS) and panchromatic (PAN) imagery. The capability to observe ...

satellite system. The ''H.A.W.X'' development team worked closely with GeoEye so that satellite images could be used in the game's nineteen-level environment; "High-resolution satellite imaging is moving from the black world of intelligence to the white world of commerce, and ''Tom Clancy's HAWX'' will bring that reality to gamers", said GeoEye VP, Mark Brender.

Reception

''H.A.W.X'' has received mixed to positive reviews. The satellite mapping has been largely praised due to its increased authenticity, although it has also been criticized as pixelation becomes very obvious during low-level flying. ''

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...

''s Matt Miller praised the game for its "big thrills". Other reviewers criticized the game as "stale".

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

's Nate Ahearn wrote "The co-op is fun, but the lacking multiplayer is a bummer," and ''

X-Play ''Xplay'' (previously ''GameSpot TV'', ''Extended Play'', and ''X-Play'') was a television program about video games. The program, known for its reviews and comedy skits, aired on G4 in the United States and has aired on '' G4 Canada'' in Canada ...

''s Jake Gaskill stated "Versus multiplayer is confusingly shallow".

Zero Punctuation ''Zero Punctuation'' is a series of video game reviews created by English comedy writer and video game journalist Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw. From its inception in 2007, episodes were published weekly by internet magazine '' The Escapist''. Episod ...

, known for its harsh review style, gave it a rare positive review, with reviewer Ben Croshaw criticising the story but complimenting the gameplay.

Sequel

On May 5, 2010, Ubisoft announced that a sequel, '' Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X 2'', was being developed for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and PC. The game was released on September 3, 2010, for Xbox 360, on September 10 for PlayStation 3, and on November 12 for Wii and PC.

References