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"Warhawk (PS3)"

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This thread has been linked to the game 'Warhawk'.
Wed 03/10/07 at 10:54
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985
For a console, releasing a game which has no single player mode is an unusual step. But then Warhawk has come a long way since its beginnings as a showcase demo for Sony’s Sixaxis controller. It now comes as either a download from the Sony Store or a retail boxed Blu-ray disc.

The game revolves around the usual 1st/3rd person shooter concepts, kill or be killed. As it has no single player there is no attempt to shoehorn a story in there, it just isn’t needed. All you need to know is that you have a bunch of pretty destructive ground and air weapons at your disposal and you need to blow things up.

As with most other multiplayer games of it’s kind, Warhawk boasts many different game types from deathmatch to capture the flag and other team games. Working together is helped by the use of a Bluetooth headset, which is included in the retail box. But even if you download the game, you can use pretty much any phone headset to talk to your team-mates.

But it’s the Nodes mode that has the best gameplay. In this game you start out with a base and, as a team, you need to capture bases before the enemy do, also capturing theirs. The number of soldiers you have in each area will determine how far that area grows and you’ll gain points for getting more land. It turns into a frantic battle to grow your boundaries and beat the enemy before they can do the same.

Graphically, the game is pretty nice, though a bit dark at times. It seems to be aiming for the usual ‘dark near future’ approach with ruined buildings and rusting warehouses. It does give a nice texture to the environments, which are also nicely varied in design across the 5 maps. But it’s the attention to detail that really makes the game stand out. Not just on the buildings, but in how the people and vehicles are animated. Explosions burst in the air with glowing colour and the physics ensure that you’ll see troops flying through the air in various comedy acrobatic displays when they get too close to anything exploding.

Controls are very responsive, but some vehicles, such as the Warhawks, take a bit of getting used to. I was surprised that the Sixaxis control worked fairly well for these. Using the left and right triggers for going up and down is a bit frustrating, but you can pretty much set up the game to control your vehicles how you want, separating land and air controls and then having an entirely different setup for ground troops if you want.

The lack of single player does have its downfalls, you don’t empathise with your character as much and playing the game for the first time can be daunting. I ended up setting up a newbie match (server name: newbies_r_us) which saw myself and two other new people getting used to the game. But even with this you need at least a few hours to get used to the controls, weapons and strategy that will see you through a more crowded game.

As an online package and a showcase game for the PS3, Warhawk is pretty spectacular. But because it has no single player it won’t sell as well as other games on the system, which is a shame, as if you’re online and own a PS3 you really need this game in your collection. Coming out at the same time as Halo 3, this is the PS3 owners answer to all those Frag matches, and a pretty fun experience it is too.

8/10
There have been no replies to this thread yet.
Wed 03/10/07 at 10:54
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985
For a console, releasing a game which has no single player mode is an unusual step. But then Warhawk has come a long way since its beginnings as a showcase demo for Sony’s Sixaxis controller. It now comes as either a download from the Sony Store or a retail boxed Blu-ray disc.

The game revolves around the usual 1st/3rd person shooter concepts, kill or be killed. As it has no single player there is no attempt to shoehorn a story in there, it just isn’t needed. All you need to know is that you have a bunch of pretty destructive ground and air weapons at your disposal and you need to blow things up.

As with most other multiplayer games of it’s kind, Warhawk boasts many different game types from deathmatch to capture the flag and other team games. Working together is helped by the use of a Bluetooth headset, which is included in the retail box. But even if you download the game, you can use pretty much any phone headset to talk to your team-mates.

But it’s the Nodes mode that has the best gameplay. In this game you start out with a base and, as a team, you need to capture bases before the enemy do, also capturing theirs. The number of soldiers you have in each area will determine how far that area grows and you’ll gain points for getting more land. It turns into a frantic battle to grow your boundaries and beat the enemy before they can do the same.

Graphically, the game is pretty nice, though a bit dark at times. It seems to be aiming for the usual ‘dark near future’ approach with ruined buildings and rusting warehouses. It does give a nice texture to the environments, which are also nicely varied in design across the 5 maps. But it’s the attention to detail that really makes the game stand out. Not just on the buildings, but in how the people and vehicles are animated. Explosions burst in the air with glowing colour and the physics ensure that you’ll see troops flying through the air in various comedy acrobatic displays when they get too close to anything exploding.

Controls are very responsive, but some vehicles, such as the Warhawks, take a bit of getting used to. I was surprised that the Sixaxis control worked fairly well for these. Using the left and right triggers for going up and down is a bit frustrating, but you can pretty much set up the game to control your vehicles how you want, separating land and air controls and then having an entirely different setup for ground troops if you want.

The lack of single player does have its downfalls, you don’t empathise with your character as much and playing the game for the first time can be daunting. I ended up setting up a newbie match (server name: newbies_r_us) which saw myself and two other new people getting used to the game. But even with this you need at least a few hours to get used to the controls, weapons and strategy that will see you through a more crowded game.

As an online package and a showcase game for the PS3, Warhawk is pretty spectacular. But because it has no single player it won’t sell as well as other games on the system, which is a shame, as if you’re online and own a PS3 you really need this game in your collection. Coming out at the same time as Halo 3, this is the PS3 owners answer to all those Frag matches, and a pretty fun experience it is too.

8/10

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