"The spokesperson for Ubisoft said that this game was gonna be a gamble like Assassin's Creed was because of the huge amount of money invested into the game only to find out if its gonna be awesome or a mediocre game. From what it seems that the rep was saying HAWX is going to cost a lot to make."

Sounds like a load of nonsense to me. That's why developers create prototypes of new games - you aim to demonstrate that the game works and assess how much fun it is to play, before going to the trouble and expense of full production.

Although admittedly, Assassins Creed did feel as if Ubisoft had gone and assembled some great tech, art and animation only to discover years into development that the actual game was very thin.

After the recent run of under-developed and shockingly buggy Tom Clancy games, it'd take a lot to get me enthused about either HAWX or Endwar. Been stung too many times.

kiigan

This looks awesome. I don't usually play flight games but the things I'm hearing about this are information trickles in slowly are just so good. Plus, it looks great, and the ground isn't just a 2d JPEG. I will give this a chance.

karasu is my homeboy

The HUD is a nice little "redesign" (ripoff) from the HUD in Ace Combat.

I'm torn between being glad that they acknowledge good design, and mad because they're obviously trying very hard to beat it.

Although, I will have to buy this purely on the basis that it has planes in it. That's an automatic buy for me. I even bought Aero Elite Combat Academy for the PS2. I quite liked it. Nice stalling and very Area 88-y.

Yes, HAWX is now a buy on my list.

RPharazonius

If this game will work with the Ace Combat Joystick I'm sold!

y2julio

all we need is after burner on live arcade

Silenced

@exoace152: I think you will be pleasntly pleased with Wii's "The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces":

+ Watch video

Shiryu

Who's "he"?

chimlee

I wonder if this will be harder to play than Ace Combat. I find that Ace has too much shit going on on the screen at once. The HUD is way too busy - hopefully HAWX can improve on that.

inn1t

That's strange, I don't see any type of crosshairs or aiming device...

M0mer

I miss playing Crimson Skies. If this could be half as fun as playing that online was, but with a realistic feel I will be satisfied. Ace Combat is a great series but I am not hardcore enough to win full out sim dogfights. Arcade-ish feel is what we need.

exoace152

Very promising!

V.Volker

@Nihon no Purin: XXXTremeXXX

mariogalaxyman

meh. idk. I wish that instead of taking Clancy games to the air, they should take them to the water.....?

mths

Looking good, as usual. Im still hoping for a Wii version. Else, the PC will have to do.

Shiryu

As far as I can tell from these screens, this game might not suck HAWX.

itduzzinmatta

@Sparx: Where'd you hear that at? Every preview I read was on Xbox 360 sites.

This game is looking pretty sweet, not going to lie. It's nice to see the HUD is sharing similarities to EndWar. Looks like Ubi is taking the consolidation of the different universes seriously.

jihadjoe343

@Frequen-Z: And flight simulation games are for a certain crowd only. I do believe this game is meant for a bigger part of the gamer crowd, maybe giving it a less realistic and more "fun" kind of gameplay.

Ashurahori

Looks rather nice. Glad to see the terrain is a more detailed than Ace Combat's since I was always bugged about how most cities were flat save for a few skyscrapers; but those cities look suitably bumpy.

Kiriphii

I'm hoping it'll be an arcadey shooter like they said it would before. I haven't played a flying game that I've truly enjoyed in a long minute.

chaos242

H(igh) A(ltitude) W(arfare) (E)X(perimental Squadron).

Wikipedia FTW

r0xx1t

@Nihon no Purin: apparently the complete name is "High Altitude Warfare Experimental Squadron"...i guess i can live with that, although what the hell is an experimental squadron??

Nihon no Purin

Looks better than Ace Combat games, in terms of looks.

Ashurahori

You've played one flight game you've played them all.

Frequen-Z

@Nihon no Purin:

Xawesome

The X is silent

Ichidou

Experimental.

r0xx1t

360 was crashing? Last I heard of this it was PS3 exclusive. Oh well looks ok so far but probably not something I'll look into too much.

Sparx

i'm sure HAWX will be a forced acronym regardless, but i'm really curious what the X stands for

Nihon no Purin

Very Nice!

SovietEngland

I'm slightly disturbed by the fact that I haven't seen any cockpit view shots... Though it IS early Alpha so this game still have a long way to go.

Bricked

@digipen89: Maybe you should try flying it next time... just say'in :3

okenny :)

If it's true that this is as big a risk as Assassin's Creed then I think Ubisoft will come away burned on this one.

Even if the game is better than AC it hasn't got one iota of the hype Creed got nor does it have the potential Creed had. The market for fighter jet games isn't nearly as big as the market for assassin games.

Nevertheless, this looks ok. I can't say I'm going to pick it up, but still, it looks pretty good for what it is I guess.

I'd still rather have Ace Combat 6 on the PS3 though :(

PlayingKarrde

I am not too interested in HAWX. I never really played Ace Combat games. I rented Ace Combat 6 on the 360. I played it for about 1/2 an hour and lost interest. I might rent HAWX to see if it's any different but if I can drive my plane into the ground 6 times before it blows up it doesn't really feel realistic to me.

digipen89

@jihadjoe343: That did sound strange. I guess rumors have to start some where. Maybe Kotaku readers don't know what a 360 or a PS3 looks like: This is a strange one as I would have dismissed it outright in the past but given the veracity of flame wars these days, maybe the idea that people make statements definitively without basic knowledge of what they're saying has become more plausible. So I don't know... Sparx could have just dropped a megaton piece of information or just cat poop.

okenny :)

Looks pretty, but its a hell of a gamble to put money on a flight sim.

bakakensai

@RPharazonius: They have openly admited that they want to make a better game then the one that set the bar, Ace Combat. namely, Ace Combat 6 on the 360. As a plane loving typer person, I hope they suceed, because Project Aces has been over a decade without competition...

Shiryu

Hey be happy they didn't spell it "H.A.W.X.Z."

Cchrist

@owen good: hate to be a stickler dude, but you migth want to consider some editing for this one. There's no mention of the fact that a reader attended this event before you refer to the reader with a pronoun. So I had absolutely no idea who "he" was until I kept reading.

3inst3in

Did Tom Clancy write a novel about air combat at all? Or did they just throw the name on there to boost sales? I mean the game looks interesting enough I was just wondering if the whole Tom Clancy thing was a marketing plox

GodzillaVsJapan

I'm very excited about this game. I love Ace Combat (I still haven't picked up 6.. I'll get to it) and this looks like it could provide something new and different in terms of gameplay. Also, I just have to add that the scenery looks absolutely great. One of the quirks I had in Ace Combat 6 screens was how some of the buildings were just flat things painted on and there were just a few skyscrapers, which kind of really threw the realism way off for me.

cL9

@kiigan: You say it sounds like nonsense, then you back up how it's completely possible.

Besides, it could simply mean, it's not a guaranteed seller like other games in the portfolio, but they're still pouring top $ into it like it is. That's all that has to mean. Not that, "We have no idea if the game we're making is crap or not." That's how I took it, atleast.

karasu is my homeboy

@digipen89:"I can drive my plane into the ground 6 times"

You're doing it wrong!

[blogs.mysanantonio.com]

Shiryu

@digipen89: Stop playing on easy then!

Cchrist

I have to say, my skepticism towards H.A.W.X is slowly eroding, eroooding, eeeerroooding. Uhum, yeah. I'm starting to look forward to it.

OkayOctane

The controls of such games always get a bit irritating (unless played with real controllers)hope it turns out well.

Oh and will it have some dramatic JAG style story too?

Reetesh

@3inst3in: gah, shit. editing error, accidentally deleted first reference.

Owen Good

@GodzillaVsJapan:
The Tom Clancy name has been a "marketing plox" for a while now. I'm pretty sure this doesn't have any basis in his novels.

Blah8

@kiigan: Did you even PLAY GRAW2?

Cchrist

it looks ok, but nothing will ever come CLOSE to ace combat 5.

enchantedduck

@GodzillaVsJapan: Marketing. Ubi can slap Tom Clancy on any game since they own the rights for it now.

Cchrist

At least it seems to look better than Blazing Angels.

artofwar420

Looks good, but can they really top the gameplay of Ace Combat with that? well i dunno, especially since ubi's flight games (blasing angels) were very mediocre.

neojam

Well at least the ground isn't just a pasted google earth image.

lenandude

Ace Combat 6 did for jets what Crimson Skies did for propellers to me. Here's to hoping HAWX kicks high altitude ass.

Gunhaver

Looks like ace combat, but hopefully the planes will handle more like the MS flight sims. I prefer those, honestly.

Gungnir

@Ashurahori:

looks like a PS2 game. and whats up with the bloom? can we stop blooming everything? it makes everything look worse if not done right IMO.

or maybe its because of how much flight simulator X i play that it looks bad.

mentalboy11

ace combat rip off ? or atleast inspired . But i done really care becuase i love flying games :)

Mobius_1923

I have an Air Force flight suit for my job, nobody will be able to prove I'm not actually a pilot (until they see my rank that is :( ). Where is this HAWX patch they speak of?

Xer0Ph0kus

Tom Clancy titles this year look extremely promising.

.endejas.

This wasn't even on my radar until now, it's looking very nice.

Pornosaur

I hope the game dosent try to take itself too seriously because then the fun goes away from a flying game and I believe thats what going on with this game. Thats why to me, Warhawk seems alot more fun (slash is a blast) or Crimson Skys on the orignal xbox. They were just fun, not trying to be real, other wise, you will just die with 3 shots and thats lame, plus do you just keep starting in the air? (that takes away from the realistic point) where in Warhawk, just find a damn place and jump in

illegalprelude

The second big image is lifelike enough, that I immediately recognized Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

guibom

Hey, Ubisoft. How's it about you put a third of the money you're putting on this gamble into some Wii games that look like actual effort was put into them? k thx bye.

PeterPanDude

@kiigan: I don't know about it being a mess. I played GRAW2 on the 360 and it was extremely enjoyable. I remembering encountering a bug that locked me in the squad selection screen but it was a very good game. It did have bugs but the enjoyment almost guarantees I'll be picking up GRAW3. Who knows, with Rainbow, GRAW, and Cell, HAWX, and End Wars, maybe they can finally space these games out appropriately. Save the two new IPs, Ubi has an impressive list of Tom Clancy games.

okenny :)

I love the "Ace Combat" series, but I'm more than happy to see some competition crop up. I loves me some G.R.A.W. 2 and the fact that there is overlap (both in back story and in game) makes me quite curious to see how this turns out.

Parsifal

@karasu is my homeboy:

Not really - I was poking fun at AC. No one with any sense throws large amounts of money at a new piece of IP if they aren't fairly sure the game is decent. Of course, trying to sell any original IP carries risks, which they've offset somewhat by slapping an incongruous Tom Clancy sticker on the box.

kiigan

@Cchrist:

I did, and I can safely say GRAW2 was a bug ridden mess. Hell it even had many of the bugs from the first GRAW which never got fixed.

kiigan

Sure looks good. Starting to get abit bored of ace combat's "futuristic" elements anyways, to not mention the cutscenes...

valero

@mentalboy11: FSX stock looks like ass. Bloom is added if you enable the DX10 preview. IMO, FSX only looks good with payware, Ground Environment, ActiveSkyX, Ultimate Terrrain, Flight Environment, X graphics etc.

sovietspartan

Looking sweet. I hope it becomes a bit more aracadey for fast action. Drop in multiplayer and whatnot.

PsycheE

I'm looking forward to this actually.

Even if it ends up being an Ace Combat clone, I can't STAND the inane Japanese-y plots. Id rather protect Rio than some place called 'Gracemeria'.

Snake726

Looks decent. Too bad the name is stupid as hell.

Forced acronym + 'X' for street cred = lame

kylenalepa

Well to each their own etc. Personally I'm done with Ubisoft stuff until they start giving their games that extra bit of development time needed to iron out class A bugs and significant design flaws.

I do wonder how many times people can be stung with poor quality annually churned out sequels before they start voting with their wallets. The most recent versions of Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, and Splinter Cell all had some shocking bugs on day one of release.

kiigan

That looks really spectacular, I wonder if it'll run smoothly with so many details on screen. Because it's Ubi, and Bugs is their second name. But Fun is the third :)

justpictures.net.tc

The sky crawlers on the wii looks cooler imo.

ninjikiran

The aircraft look flat to me but, the images are off screen so, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. I'm definitely looking forward to this one, though.

Eclectified

Looks beautiful! Can't wait to see the final version.

pepepepito

the map looks cheap... mostly a flat surface with a few boxes on it ...(buildings)

Shad0X

This is getting too arcade for my taste :(

Developers! Stop making every game 3rd person!

How can I imagine I am a bad-ass fighter pilot when I look as if I am paragliding behind the fucking plane???

OR MAYBE that is a new technologic pilot camera that paraglides behind the plane for a better combat view. Meeh still not working for me :(

KroKan

@KroKan:
third person cameras give you a better sense of your position and orientation in your environment. One might argue that third person is more immersive because you are taking in more and filling in fewer blanks

Bootyology

@Ashurahori: looks better? nah, too soon to tell.

rainofwalrus