Warhawk is a great online game that has it's minor flaws.
In this game, teamwork is a must. But, half the time you play, barely anyone has a headset. This ruins the game in my opinion but, you will get used to it. You'll end up honking your horn or landing in front of them to get their attention. But, with capture the flag and zones game modes, teamwork is necessary to defend the zones or flags and attacking the zones or flags.
Speaking of game modes, there are several to choose from. You have:
- Deathmatch
- Team Deathmatch
- Zones
- Capture the Flag
Deathmatches is your typical free for all match. There are 2 types of deathmatch however. You can a full blown warfare style, where you can be on foot, ground vehicle or warhawk. Then you have the dogfight which pretty self-explanatory, you spawn in a warhawk and you fly around destroying your enemies. You just can't land. This one is the match where you won't find many clan members. Team Deathmatch is exactly the same thing, but with teams. This is where clans and teamwork come in handy.
Zones is a game of territory control. There are flag posts all around the map and the idea is to capture these areas. The more you capture, the more points your team receives. What I found interesting is that if one area is completely controlled by one team, an area that is close to it, will take longer to capture and only be captured to a certain level. Yeah, levels, there are 3 of them. They pretty much stand for the time needed to capture the point. Now, there will always be one area on each side of the map that can't be captured by the other team. This is their headquarters. This is the type of match where teamwork is necessary to capture and defend areas.
The last type of match is capture the flag. For those who play online shooters know about capture the flag. But this match is where you find some players you can call either cheap or brilliant. The problem with this capture the flag system is that the flag can be dropped and picked up again by the same person. Thus giving them 2 points per pick up. I've heard of people doing this and getting well over 9000 points in a single match which is impossible unless using this trick. But this mostly done on the smaller maps and it's usually a higher ranked player playing lower ranked players. But capture the flag in my opinion is the best match to play to have fun with. But it is usually the one that clans use to battle on, since it's so back and forth. What I like about this mode, is that it requires much strategy to play. If one team has the other team's flag and the other team vice-versa. It doesn't allow you to capture the flag. For those interested to gain rank, this is the best match to do so.
Vehicles are the main source of travel in this game. You have jeeps, tanks, and the Warhawk/Nemesis. The Jeep is the faster of the 2 ground vehicles and can carry 3 people, a driver, passenger, and gunner. There is a machine gun mounted on the back. This is a good vehicle to use in capture the flag. The only problem with this vehicle is that it's easily destroyed. A single mine will destroy this vehicle which makes jeeps a pain to travel in sometimes during a capture the flag matches. But jeep can also make great traps and kamikaze weapons. Slap a mine on the hood of a jeep and if an enemy gets in it, the jeep will explode with him in it, or you can drive it into a group of enemies or enemy tank and it will kill them along with you, but it will clear a path for your team.
The tank in my opinion is the most over-powered vehicle in the game and also puzzles me sometimes. Tanks only have the cannon as a weapon, but it can carry 2 people, a driver and for those interested roof gunner that pop out and shoot. This would be a good combo if the player on the roof has a rocket launcher allowing for defence against planes. The tank can kill can troop with a single shot, or they can be ran over. I wouldn't suggest the second option, since the tank is a slow vehicle. What I found puzzling about the tank is it's effectiveness against vehicles. A single cannon shot can destroy a warhawk, yet it takes 2 to destroy a jeep. Now, I find that a tad strange. But it makes the tank a great anti-aircraft weapon if turrets are offline. The tank is also very resilient able to withstand several rocket shots and gunfire before being destroyed.
The warhawk/nemesis is the "troop" of the air. There are several weapons available for these vehicles. There are 3 types of missiles, 2 ground attack weapons, and 2 air defence items. Warhawks are awfully weak and will be destroyed after 2 homing missiles, or a single tank shot. But it makes up for this in speed. These planes all have a rechargeable nitro boosts, which helps evade missiles. A good feature is the missile dodge system. A message will appear when fired at and will give you a limited time to evade the missile(s). The warhawk also has the most powerful weapon in the game at their disposal if found and used. This being the TOW missile. This is a remote controlled missile that packs quite a bang when it connects. It is mostly used for ground forces since it will kill almost everything in a single hit.
Then last but not least you have your own 2 feet for transportation. There are 8 weapons at your disposal. Each with pros and cons. You always have a knife and a handgun with infinite ammo. The knife is a instant kill i it connects, but when two people are attacking each other with a knife, it is unknown who will win. The pistol is extremely weak and should only be used as a last resort. It doesn't even cause damage to vehicles. The most common weapon is the rifle which can be used for usual firefights. There are 2 long range weapons, the sniper rifle and the binoculars. The sniper rifle is a one hit kill usually and the binoculars are a laser sight which calls in a artillery strike when held in the same spot for long enough. I have to admit, that the sniper rifle can be a good close range weapon if you have good aim. The binoculars have a cool down time of about 45 seconds. But it makes the weapon fair. Then you have the explosive weaponry. There are 4 weapons in this section, the flamethrower, rocket launcher, mines and grenades. Like any other FPS, the grenades are attached to the L1 button making them easier to use. You can have a limit of 6 and it can cause a range of damage from, almost none to instant death. It matters on proximity to the grenade. The rocket launcher is your typical RPG that fires a homing missile if the fire button is held till the ding sound. It's a great weapon to use against warhawks and tanks when on foot, but it can also make a great anti-infantry weapon if your aim is good. The mines are the best defence weapon in the game, but the radius of the mine is ridiculous. A mine can kill a troop instantly from 10 feet away. It makes no sense, but it's a great weapon to use in capture the flag to protect the flag. Although, mines can be pre-detonated by gunfire which is useful. Then you have the most over-powered troop weapon, the flamethrower. It's both a great anti-infantry and close combat anti-vehicle weapon. It will kill and enemy troop in a few seconds with constant fire. But, it shouldn't be able to affect the tank like it does. A flamethrower can take out the tank in a few seconds.
Now, like Resistance: Fall of Man, this game features, ribbons, and medals. But this game also had badges. There are ribbons and badges for most things, like kill so many enemies with a certain weapons, or capturing a flag or zone. The medals require a certain amount of a certain thing to receive the medal. Like to receive the Supreme Sacrifice medal, you have to have over 500 deaths and a 5 death streak.
In conclusion this game is a great online game but it does have its flaws. Plus it has it's expansion which added a new level and a new vehicle. But that really didn't add much in way of gameplay. I give it 8.5.
Pros: great online, variety of gameplay, just plain fun
Cons: some weapons are overpowered, certain aspects can be exploited.