We remember: In 2005, hundreds of warships darkened the PS3 sky in the first trailers – perhaps a system seller, we thought at the time. Now the HD air battle has not even become a normal game. Warhawk only offers multiplayer duels and is sold in two ways: the title can either be downloaded onto the PS3 via PlayStation Network or purchased in the usual way in the shop. Then you have to pay a whopping 62 euros, and at least you get a headset for free. The download version has so far only been confirmed for the USA, in this country the USK rating (‘Approved for ages 16 and up’) is still standing in the way – as is well known, Sony has so far hardly offered any content in its online store that has received a higher rating than ‘ages 12 and up’. Given the US price of 40 dollars, we assume a download price of 40 euros if Warhawk makes it into the German online shop.
But on to the gameplay details: In contrast to the PSone game of the same name, the focus in the new Warhawk is not exclusively on air combat. Rather, you are more often on foot and often only use the planes to bridge long distances between the focal points of the huge maps. On the ground, Warhawk is a fast third-person shooter that gives you a rich arsenal of weapons: collect machine guns, rocket launchers or mines, select the gunners using the control pad and let the pieces fly. You can also man anti-aircraft guns or zoom across tropical islands and apocalyptic battlefields in a jeep. Using the control pad of a jet, you roar across the five maps at high altitudes and rain rockets or machine gun salvos on the ant-sized enemies. Conveniently, you can choose between a conventional control variant and the successful Sixaxis method: The motion sensors in the PS3 pad accurately transfer your hand inclinations into the game and ensure an airy, light feeling of flight.
Technically, Warhawk isn’t going to blow your mind, but the visibility benefits significantly from the HD resolution. In our test sessions, the games (including Deathmatch, CTF, Zone Conquest) ran smoothly with up to 32 participants. Conveniently, you are transparent for a short time after respawning and don’t immediately appear on the helpful map – this has been improved compared to an early beta version. We are a little concerned, however, about the rather powerful hand grenades – you win a lot of duels immediately after respawning with metal eggs.
Hearty online action with only a few, but very large maps and cool flying sequences.
Single player
70MultiplayerChartSound
