The Story

The year is 2014 and you are David Crenshaw, a gun for hire with private military company Artemis. Your mission is to rid the world of terrorist organisations, armed with one of the most powerful fighter jets the world has ever seen. And he is Tom Clancy and he’s written another novel that’s inspired a game that’s set the cash register ringing, God love him. So you like planes, missiles and dogfighting? You know the rest.

The Experience

Let’s be clear from the off, H.A.W.X. isn’t a game that’s going to run smoothly on a two-year old handset. No, this is for the top boys only and an impressive 95MB of game data will be immediately deposited on your SD card the minute you start to play. That’s an awful lot of data, but it gives you an idea of just how involving H.A.W.X. is. This is no pick-up-and-play shooter – H.A.W.X. requires some investment to master.

There are two control options: you can either use the phone’s accelerometer to control your jet, or make use of the on-screen virtual joystick. The virtual joystick has its advantages, although since multi-touch isn’t supported, you have to release the direction controls to fire on enemies.

Before you get cracking, there’s a detailed tutorial to teach you the whys and wherefores of flying an advanced fighter jet, manoeuvring your plane, locking on to targets and, of course, despatching the bad guys.

Graphically, H.A.W.X. looks the business, it’s on a par with the best Android titles out there. Of course you’d expect that from a title that’s been ‘borrowed’ from the PS3 amongst others.

In between air combat, ground bombing and providing air support for vulnerable troops, there’s enough of a challenge here to keep you coming back for many an hour.

NB: Gameloft titles are only available via Gameloft’s site

The Bottom Line

Brilliant flight/combat sim that’s got bags of panache, a generous helping of playability, and a suitcase full of longevity thrown in

Additional Info

Version reviewed 3.4.3

Gameloft H.A.W.X. page