Although Warhawk may have a steep learning curve, the variety and frenzied combat will entice anyone to start playing.
The gameplay is mostly what you would expect from a third person action game you run, jump, climb, shoot and mount vehicles, this would all seem very bog standard when written but you have to experience it for yourself as it is executed seamlessly to provide you with one of the best multiplayer experiences out there.
You can have 32 max people in one match at a time each match is pretty huge but can be scaled down to fit less players and a more centred combat experience, some map versions eliminate such things as air combat and vehicles. You can also get a warhawk only version of each map.
warhawk surprisingly doesnt have much backstory, the basic plot is there is a country/planet/continent called Eucadia (blue team) and the Chernovans (red team) are attacking the Eucadian's for whatever reason, in each expansion each new map added is a step further in the war effort of the Eucadian's.
You get the choice of ground, vehicle and air combat all three offer a much different play-style from the last. The ground combat has many different weapons such as machine guns, rockets sniper rifles, knives etc. but there is some interesting twists such as Binoculars which call in artillery strikes, the wrench which can heal your friendly vehicles but destroy enemy ones and the healing spray which will heal any friendly players within its radius but will quickly kill enemy players. While playing as a ground troop you get to mount some pretty powerful weaponry such as machine turrets, AA batteries and heat seeking missile turrets, also in the Fallen Star expansion pack you get to use the jet-pack with allows you to get a much needed overview of the field of battle and enables you to get to hard to reach places without the need of a Warhawk.
The vehicle combat Has much less weaponry but can be just as fun, there is only three ground vehicles to drive but they each vary greatly from eachother.
First of all you have the Jeep this vehicle seats three people a driver, passenger and a gunner at the back this vehicle is good for getting away and flag capture. Next you have the tank this vehicle is good for attacking and defending bases and can also destroy most vehicles in one hit (except other tanks) this has a driver who controls the main turret it also has one gun hatch at the top where someone can pop out shoot people or repair the tank.
Finally you have the APC (Armoured Personnel Carrier) This bad boy comes with the Broken Mirror expansion pack and has One driver and six passengers, each passenger has a gun hatch, the driver can use a boost to smash vehicles or just go fast, the big feature of this vehicle is the deployable shield which is rather large and allows you to shoot through it but enemies not to shoot it, it also destroys any warhawk that fly into it.
The air combat is the smallest but most intense of all the playstyles It has The warhawk ( I know the nemesis is technically different but they're both the same) The Warhawk is much like the Ground combat it has loads of different weapons and has two flight modes a hover mode and a flight mode. This is the hardest to play but it has the most fun you can use this for dogfights or go into hover mode for a air versus vehicle/troop experience.
Then you get the dropship, this flying fortress comes with the Omega Dawn expansion and features 1 pilot and sic passengers, each passenger gets a missile launcher and the pilot gets chaff and a scary amount of mini guns on the side this also has a flight and hover mode (you need to be in the hover mode to use the miniguns.
The Graphics take no battering due to the intense gameplay, although they do look a bit cartoon-ish at times the graphics are enough to impress anyone. The environments are full of detail such as forests, towns, valleys and expansive oceans. The main thing I liked is the detail in the small towns usually in the middle of the map these offer great cover and are a change from the usual wide open spaces.
The vehicle details are great with every plane looking like a plane and everything resembling what you would expect it to look like, nothing special but they do look good when blown up. The weapons have a surprisingly realistic look with a machine gun cutting people to ribbons with a barrage of bullets, a flamethrower where you can instantly tell that the flames mean death The warhawk weapons look ultra flashy and look very dangerous.
The effects are very realistic and flashy at the same time, with warhawks exploding into a million pieces and tanks pounding the scenery with a massive explosion form a shell. The textures are very good with a few hindrances like the side of mountains but they mostly look good.
The multiplayer is in a lobby system with little lag and it is quick to connect to matches although sometimes the lobby number can be a bit overwhelming when trying to pick the right one. You can filter it to find the ones you want and create your own map with a great deal of customization, there is also a split screen mode where you can play online with your buddy.
In conclusion, Warhawk is a great game with a snappy online service, a practical yet sometimes overwhelming lobby system, the controls, vehicles and graphics each feel just right and although most players will be high above your ranking you can still find a perfect match most of the time.