H.A.W.X 2

Released in November 12 , 2010 , H.A.W.X 2 was expected to blow out of proportions and get much nastier than its predecessor. But unfortunately it failed miserably . The game's DRM was so brilliant that it constantly needed a server ping with Ubisoft Server through Uplay . Which made it absolutely uncrackable for the pirates. U have no other option but to just go and get the orginal copy of the game if u wanted to play this game for real. So I finally got my hands on a original copy of the game and here we are .

So coming back to the game , Wats new ?? Well let me tell u , Dogfights have become much more difficult with the enemy difficult to get a bead on , Landing and takeoff both on ground as well as on Carrier and Air to Air refuelling . The Multi AA missiles and Radar Guided missiles (Long range) and missiles which are able to get track of close flying targets are missing in this which deals a huge blow to the gameplay . I mean you only have the ordinary AA missiles and Machine Gun to go with . Some mission's do provide you with some bombs but they are so poor and retarded that they just piss u of some time.

One thing which has to be appreciated is that the difficulty in the game has been upped a lot . Its no longer easy to get a lock on a enemy and he is not going to fly in a straight line so that you can tail him and get a lock . These guys know how to escape from a lock on after the missile is fired. You cant even imagine how many missiles I waited just by jumping the gun . But they do have their Achilles Heel. If you watch closely they always follow the same pattern . So after the initial surprise it gets easy to predict what they are upto.

So from that Apart ,

1) Landing / Takeoff  :

Landing on a Carrier

                                

Now this is new . I mean we have heard of games where only the video of  plane taking off is shown and the gameplay begins only after the plane is flying at the proper height. Even HAWX 1 was like that . But they have rectified that here . The take off is really easy that anyone can easily execute it without any guidance or practice . But when it comes to landing now thats where the going is to get ugly and challenging. I mean you really need to have a sense of height and timing in ordrer to execute it correctly . Atleast on the ground you have an option of landing with a lot of space. But imagine landing in a carrier . You need to have a good sense of Timing and idea of when to dip the plane and when to make it higher up. God , and whats so frustating is that , they have built the game in such a way that they you will be forced to land in between checkpoints in order to restock up . Bcos the missiles which you carry initailly are so low that and also what with the difficult A.I that you are going to waste atleast 2-3 missiles before you completely finish off an enemy. And when the landing is done on a carrier , Its HELL . And also keep in mind that you are extremely vulnerable during the time you slowly glide to land  . Thank God for the check points that once after your resources and u r severely injured , all you have to do is to die and you can come back again with full life and extra ammo ..Cool huh ..Thats what I did ;-)

2) Air To Air Refuelling : 

Now here is where shit gets serious . This is the most irritating and difficult things in this game . And no practice before u actually do it too. Even with the first time u have to race against a clock to finish the move. Although its exciting and challenging , Thank God that it only comes 2 times in the entire game.

Air to Air Refuel

3) Dogfights :

These are the most easy ones in HAWX 1 and therefore the most satishfying ones. But here this has become even more tougher to comprehend. Its extremely difficult to get a lock on and when you finally do and fire off a missile the enemy escapes by banking hard or by deploying flares . God its so pissing off . I was shouting curses like anything when it started happening at the most crucial times when Time is of essence  in a mission.
But when you finally do get the kill , hell u feel like F**K yeah !!!.. :-D

Dogfight - Head on 

There are about  20 levels in the game which 

Mission 1 – Contact
Mission 2 – Training Day
Mission 3 – The Prisoner
Mission 4 – Interception Course
Mission 5- The Rescue
Mission 6 – Oil City
Mission 7 – Thieves in the Night
Mission 8 – Seek and Destroy
Mission 9 – Desert Fortress
Mission 10 – Blackout
Mission 11 – Final Push
Mission 12 – Trans Caucasus Express
Mission 13 – Behind Enemy Lines
Mission 14 – The Truth
Mission 15 – Getaway
Mission 16 – No Room for Error
Mission 17 – Maelstrom
Mission 18 – Amphibious Assault
Mission 19 – Standoff
Mission 20 – Last Stand


Some off the missions are really challenging and mind blowing in proportions . The one where you have to use night vision to take out the troops on the ground , take out a railway track before the the train crosses the bridge , and the one which i really loved the most was the LAST STAND where you fly the Raptor - F22 right inside a underground tunnel in order to take out a underground bunker.

LAST STAND - Bunker enrty 

The planes which you get to drive include Harrier GR9, F-22 Raptor, A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-16 Fighting Falcon, Eurofighter Typhoon, F-35 Lightning II and Su-47 Berkut.

Another thing which was really irritating was the STALL which occures only in Assistance mode OFF , now starts occuring in normal mode too. God it was really bitching . Thats the only way which we use to get the plane away from the missile at the last moment . Now when you try to execute that the plane stalls and u start falling .

ERS also is availabe only when you want to do a landing and is unavailable to get behind an enemy .Overall the game provided a greater challenge than HAWX 1 . But being a later version of the series the game fails miserably in Graphics , Cutscenes, story and weapons and missiles.Even the DIRECT X 11 version of the game looks like Shit . I don t know why they haven t used that glossy touch to the game. It looks completely grainy at some places.

Overall , not a compulsory Buy . But folks who loved HAWX are definitely going to buy it for sure.

Rating : 7/10

Regards
Ram.