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The Warhawk franchise hits the PS3. Warhawk has had quite a storied development cycle. From rumors that development was going poorly to Sony cutting the singleplayer mode and then deciding to release the game (at least in part) through their online store. The game has now been released, and though we’ll never know how the singleplayer portion would have ended up, we do now that the 32-player multiplayer mode is a lot fun.
Warhawk includes a number of gameplay modes including deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag and zones mode. Deathmatch has you competing against all of the other players, team deathmatch has you competing against the other team and capture the flag places two flags that the other team has to well, capture. Zones mode lets you create zones around your base in order to earn points. Warhawk includes five maps, each of which has a small, medium, large and dogfight variation. The first three changes the size of the maps while the dogfight variation includes plenty of warhawks for you to fit in. The game has support for up to 32 players, and even lets various players get online from the same machine.
The gameplay in Warhawk is to the point. You spawn in one of your team’s spawn points with nothing more than a simple pistol and some grenades. But you’ll be able to get stronger weapons like sniper rifles, flamethrowers, assault rifles and rocket launchers. There are also a number of vehicles including jeeps, tanks and of course, the warhawk. The game doesn’t skimp on the vehicles or warhawks for that matter, so it isn’t surprising to see a large number of people fighting it off in the air. Thanks to homing missiles and the like, ground troops can engage in combat against the warhawks, which have a fairly easy time defeating tanks and so forth. The variety of the maps and the great balance make Warhawk incredibly fun to play and there always seems to be a lot of people to play against.
The game rewards you with additional clothes for your character for playing well. You’ll earn ribbons for doing particular tasks in a specific round such as no friendly fire, etc but you’ll also earn medals for longer-term tasks like capturing 100 flags and such.
Warhawk’s graphics are great. The various vehicles are all quite detailed and look great when they’re being blown up. The environments aren’t extremely detailed or varied, but are nonetheless very vast and allow the game’s enormous multiplayer matches to go on smoothly. What Warhawk lacks in artistic flair, it makes up in technicalities. The game runs at a very smooth framerate, even when playing in 720p or 1080i. The draw distance is insane and literally lets you see the entire map if you’re high enough. The explosions all look great and have the proper oomph.
The game’s sound effects dominate the audio package. Thankfully, the explosions and weapon sounds all sound authentic and bring the action to life.
Warhawk is available as download on the PlayStation Store or as a full-fledged Blu-ray retail disc. The former is available for $39.99 while the latter retails for $59.99. The additional $20 gets you a manual, disc, wireless voice headset, and some behind-the-scenes videos. Sony does make a manual available online if you wish to browse the manual and buy the downloadable version.
Warhawk provides one of the most compelling online experiences on the PlayStation 3. The visceral, fast-paced and often chaotic action fits the game perfectly. A solid addition to anyone’s PS3 library—and a must-buy for those looking for a great online game. -- Adam Nunez, PGNx Media
---- Sep 16, 2007
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