I've always liked flying games, since playing basic ones like Red Baron to Flight Simulator. This would be the second real flight game released on the Xbox 360, Ace Combat 6 being the first. I loved that game... But it didn't have the longetivity I expected. When HAWX was accounced I was excited, it promised more depth, more planes, real world locations and "assistance mode".

For the single player mode, there's a well thought out story mode with multiple different objectives to fulfill and a good leveling scheme which allows you to unlock more planes and payloads. However, all the planes seem similar due to the arcade-like feel the game has. The main gripe I have is the speed, although making the game nearly unplayable, I would love to actually feel like I'm flying at Mac 2.

The assistance off mode was what drew me to buying this game after playing the demo, it added something new for once, the idea of this mode is that you can really push your jet to limit, allowing you to pull high-g turns ignoring both the player and the plane's limits. This is great fun, watching a missile come at you, pulling a turn and then turning the tables. The other option is to keep assistance on and using the ERS, which basically maps out the route in which will allow you to intercept, but I honestly don't think that's half as fun.

The multiplayer mode is simple, few modes and few options, but fighting in planes always seems more fun the basic shooters. However, unless you have live it's useless, there's no offline multiplayer which I think would've been a great addition, especially in co-op.