When
the news broke that the Tom Clancy name was being put to a flight game
for consoles, I envisioned a game that brought the authenticity and some
of the complexity of a PC flight sim to consoles.
Well,
that didn’t happen. The first HAWX game was a decent enough game, but
too arcadey for the Clancy brand. And there was also no sense of speed,
even when flying low.
There
were good points though. The controls worked well, graphics were good
and the satellite imaging in particular was well received. There was
also a nice cross-over with Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2. In one
mission during the latter, you call in an airstrike. In HAWX, you play
as the jets providing cover for the Ghosts and delivering that strike.
An inspired idea that nicely tied things together.
Nevertheless,
the game overall was just a bit flat, so it was to the surprise of
everyone when a sequel was announced. Again, we had a cross-over with
Ghost Recon – this time the long delayed Ghost Recon Future Soldier. But
the gap between the two games was so long that any semblance of them
existing in the same universe was lost.
HAWX
2 added take off and landings and upped the action. But we were still
lacking any sense of flying Mach 2 with our hair on fire.
HAWX should have been a great series, but was sadly lacking and I doubt we will see any further entries.
* * *
So
where next for the Tom Clancy brand? Ghost Recon Future Soldier was
well-received and I expect we’ll see more. Rainbow Six Patriots is on
the way, though I it may now be a next-gen title. But first up on the
list is Splinter Cell Blacklist. And I for one, cannot wait.
But
will we see any new additions to the Clancy franchise in the future.
Well now that Ubisoft has bought the rights to slap his name on anything
we could well see “Tom Clancy’s Crash Bandicoot” or “Tom Clancy’s Smash
Court Tennis”, but hopefully they’ll show a little restraint and stick
to flashbangs, night-vision, sneaking around and snapping necks.
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