GC 2008: Tom Clancy's HAWX Hands-On

While the Tom Clancy name is one of the most synonymous in gaming, it's still a brave move for Ubisoft to release two brand new games in the franchise within the space of a year. One of these is HAWX--the company's first jet fighter sim--and from what we've seen so far, it's one of the most stylish and graphically impressive takes on the genre yet. The developer used this year's Leipzig Games Convention to show off more of the game's settings, as well as reveal more information around multiplayer.

The full game will feature 17 levels across 16 different settings, from Mexico to South America, and from Afghanistan to Cape Canaveral. The game will open with a level in Mexico, and in a neat move, you'll be fighting in the air alongside the troops from Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2. Your character is a former US pilot who is now working as a mercenary, and the second mission sees you relocating to the Middle East. It's your job to protect an industrial complex, and your skills are put to the test once the inevitable attack takes place.

While earlier demos of HAWX featured a built-up city environment, the deserts of the second level are no less striking. The team has used actual satellite data from the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Africa to build the game, so the mixture of mountains and deserts in our demo looked very realistic. The game is also an impressive technical achievement, with expansive draw distances and some particularly nice airborne explosions if you take someone out in close proximity.

The demo featured quite a steep difficulty, but it was a good chance for the team to show off some of the advanced systems available to you as a pilot. If a missile is on your tail then you have a number of options available. You can try to avoid it by flying erratically, or you can take a safer option of dropping some flares. You can even get your onboard computer to draw out a route in front of you to help shake the rocket, and it will even do the same if you're trying to hunt a particularly evasive enemy down. The most dangerous but exciting option of avoiding a hit is to turn off the computer, which allows you to perform much more dangerous evasive maneuvers. This can potentially stall the plane too, but the excitement is emphasised by the camera panning out to show both you and the chasing rocket. These balletic airborne dances were something we never tired of seeing, although they were much more difficult to perform than the developers made it look.

Technically, the game is built on an entirely new engine that has allowed the team to capture the expansive viewpoint from the sky. The entire campaign will be playable in co-op, while people will be able to drop in and out, with the enemy AI adapting accordingly. There'll also be some element of voice controls in the final game, although it won't be to the same extent as fellow Clancy game Endwar. The PlayStation3 version will also support trophies, while all versions will have a team dogfight multiplayer mode for up to eight players online.

While the game is looking advanced at this stage, it won't actually launch until early 2009. The developers are thankful for the extra time, though, because it should give them the opportunity to polish the game up even further. HAWX will land on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC simultaneously. We hope to be able to bring you more info on the game soon.