In Warhawk, exclusively on the PlayStation 3, you experience the thrill of white-knuckle aerial combat with hundreds of enemy fighters, bone-crunching armored assaults and high-intensity infantry combat in a massive, all-out war fought both on the ground and in the skies.
Oh and did I mention it’s an online-only multiplayer-only flight-action game for up to 32 players? All about that and more below.
System: PS3
Genre: Flight combat
Retail release dates: August 28th 2007 (USA), September 21st 2007 (EURO)
PlayStation Store download release dates: August 28th 2007 (USA), August 30th 2007 (EURO)
Players: 2-32 online & 2-4 locally (split-screen or LAN)
Developer: Incognito Entertainment
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Origin: America
Your mission in Warhawk? During gameplay, players are tasked with protecting their homeland from the invading Chernovan armada and that’s all the “story” you’ll need. By doing this, you take command of the most advanced war machine in the fleet, the Warhawk, capable of aerobatic dogfights at high speeds or hovering over ground troops providing tactical support, outside of its standard missiles and machine gun with the help of powerups like cluster bombs, energy weapons, guided missiles and more. You can continue the battle on foot with an arsenal of weaponry including pistols, rifles, rocket launchers, flamethrowers, grenades and more. You can also gain access to an array of ground vehicles and lay waste with powerful weapons mounted on jeeps, tanks and specialty transports, so take a friend along for the ride and gun down some foes!
Fight on foot, in ground vehicles, or in the sky, the multimodal design throws players into a deep gameplay experience. Fight in the war as a foot soldier, vehicle driver or ace pilot whenever you want (if there’s room for one more you can literally jump in). Experience an expansive online community, where payers can join in epic multi-modal 32-person online battles, constantly evolving with downloadable content and a variety of online game modes.
You can play these in five huge maps: Archipelago is a group of tropical islands floating high in the air with a giant castle in the middle. The Badlands is a desert canyon area with little civilization and a huge fortress. The Destroyed Capitol map is at the top of skyscrapers in the ruins of the Eucadian capital from the Chernovan invasion. The Island Outpost is a military outpost with bases on each end. It is wanted by both forces, and Eucadia is a mountainous group of islands, linked by bridges, with scattered villages and a large statue overlooking the map.
Watch the Warhawk multiplayer trailer.
So what are Warhawk’s main features?
* Pilot the most advanced Fighter in the Fleet – Fly or hover to engage in intense dogfights with a vast army of enemies, massive flying battleships and enemy ground forces. Player can opt to “steer” the Warhawk in flight using the roll, pitch and yaw motion controls of the Sixaxis wireless controller.
* Fight on Foot, in Ground Vehicles, or in the Sky – Next-generation multimodal design throws players into a fun and diverse gameplay experience. Fight in the war as a foot soldier, vehicle driver or ace pilot – whatever you want.
* Play Warhawk Exclusively Online – Players can engage in huge multi-modal online battles. Through various online gameplay modes such as Team Deathmatch, Territories Mode and Capture the Flag, players can engage in team play or fend for themselves against a barrage of online enemies.
* Discover a Vast and Unique World – Highly customizable soldiers representing Eucadian and Chernovan forces must defend their territory against online enemies throughout hundreds of square miles of high-resolution and fully interactive terrain in a world where old and new technologies merge in epic battle.
* Experience an Expansive Online Community – Join teams or maintain clans in the Warhawk online community. Full stats, rankings, leaderboards, badges, awards and more are supported and reward players for success on the battlefield. Players can stay organized online with user-friendly communication tools.
* A Full Arsenal of Weapons – Whether in the air, on the ground or in a combat vehicle, players have an array of weapons at their disposal, including missiles, rockets, sniper riffles, flame throwers and more.
* Powered by PlayStation 3 – The processing power of PS3 enables Warhawk to feature a wide variety of fluidly moving characters and various combat vehicles, all of which realistically interact with their environments, leading to more chaotic and immersive warfare.
Watch some epic Warhawk combat.
So you can see the game’s graphics look good, gameplay is smooth thanks to very easy controls (download the Warhawk manual here) a steady framerate and well balanced man and vehicle combat, with even the optional (but fun with the Warhawk only) motion controls. Also, since broadband internet is required for the free online multiplayer modes, there’s no lag. There’s never a lack of players online, so you won’t miss bots. Menus are easy to navigate, so you can find your game of choice. Everything put together creates a very accessible game for newbies to play together with die-hards, just don’t expect all your team mates to be nice, online anonymity creates selfish pricks. With that said, you should know more about the game different modes. As pointed out at the start of this page, there’s no single player (it was removed during development to get the multiplayer right) and so we’ve got four very polished multiplayer modes…
Deathmatch: No rules and shoot to kill. A deathmatch is a great way to get a feel for how all aspects of Warhawk play. You can choose your spawn point at any accessible area on the map. Beware, fallen enemies will be back for revenge within seconds.
Team Deathmatch: Similar to Deathmatch, except with a teamwork. You are randomly assigned to either represent the Eucadian or Chernovan team and begin at your respective bases. Together, with your teammates, you hunt down and kill members of the opposite team. There is an added, optional objective of capturing neutral bases; it would be strategically wise to hold these bases for your team to make more spawn points available. Capture these bases by standing within the base until the Capture Meter completely fills. The team with the most points when time expires wins.
Capture The Flag: Also known as CTF, it’s primary objective is to infiltrate enemy territory, capture the enemy’s flag and rush it back to your own home base while staying alive. In this mode you must expand friendly territory, to spawn closer to the enemy flag where the action is or to support your teammates. To score, you must touch your own flag with the enemy’s flag. If your team’s flag was also captured, it must be returned to the base before you can score. The person who possesses the flag will be visible by all and has the flag icon next to his or her name. With a delicate balance of both defense and offense, this mode requires a much more coordinated team effort than individual skill.
Zone Mode: Control zones for as long as possible so that your team’s zones may “expand” and join together to form larger zones that yield many more points. And pushing the boundaries of your own zone further out results in more spawn points and more vehicles. The bigger your zone, the longer it takes for the opposing team to recapture it and take it over. The winning team is determined by the number of points earned within the allotted time.
Throughout these modes you can win in-game points and awards, which you’ll received when playing on ranked servers. Higher ranks provide more customization options for characters and planes. Players on ranked servers can earn medals, badges, and ribbons. Medals are the hardest to earn and require more time (except when you stab and kill someone with a knife for the first time). Badges can be won more easily, for example the first level (Bandit) can be earned in a single game. Ribbons are the easiest to earn, with the possibility of several awarded per game. Warhawk keeps track of the number of medals, badges, and ribbons earned, as well the dates they were obtained.
As a conclusion Warhawk may “only” features multiplayer game modes via online, LAN, and split-screen. But that’s all you’ll want from the game, since it’s so perfectly balanced. Before you look at the scores, know that getting the game couldn’t be easier, while you’ve got he option to get it at retail as a stand-alone or Warhawk bundle with a wireless Jabra BT125 Bluetooth headset, you can simply go to the online PlayStation Store to buy and download it for instant playtime.
While after launch the game had some server issues, the developers fixed this shortly after and have since been working on new Warhawk patches to improve and expand the game for the increasing number of players. Now let’s rate this game on its fun-basis.
FUN FACTOR – 8.5
Flying the Warhawk to the skies and engaging in hectic dogfights is worth the $40 price of admission alone. Online gamers and adrenaline junkies will eat this up. If you want some cooperation in the team modes, a headset Warhawk bundle is required.
Graphics – 7.5
The draw distance goes all the way to the end of each map giving an immense scale. With big explosions everywhere you get a real sense of warfare.The character models aren’t that detailed and look unrealistic, but the wild environments make up for it.
Audio – 8.5
Christopher Lennertz and Timothy Wynn worked on Warhawk’s soundtrack (available on iTunes), which was performed by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. They recorded over 100 minutes of music in a 6-day period for the game. The team at Incognito made the game so that music is triggered by the amount of enemy fire near the player. To quote: “If a certain threshold of enemy gunfire is met, the combat music starts to play.” Simple, but together with the recognizable weapons sound effects, they are effective in making a huge battle more epic.
Ingenuity – 8.5
As a beginner flying the Warhawk will seem daunting (darn “missile lock”!), but as long as you keep moving unpredictably, do barrel rolls and hit the afterburner you won’t get shot out of the sky so you can get used to controlling your very own Warhawk.
Replay Value – 9.0
Figure out for yourself how much you’re into flying and war combat multiplayer-focussed games, because if you’re in doubt the price might be too high. Of course once you get hooked, expect to play for dozens to possibly hundreds of hours.