Warhawk early impressions -- say goodbye to your life
by Colin Torretta 
{ Aug 29th 2007 at 5:30PM }
It's worth pointing out though, that as good as Warhawk is so far, our experience was initially tainted just by the difficulty of just downloading the game. True, we did download it right after it was released but it took nine tries for Sony to actually add money to our PlayStation Store wallet. During this time, we ran into multiple PS Store errors and timeouts, saw images fail to load and generally experienced weirdness while trying to navigate the store. It was incredibly frustrating but after about an hour of trying, we finally were able to purchase Warhawk and queue up the 800 MB download.
Once Warhawk finished downloading and installing though, we fired up the game and messed around with the slick and intuitive menu system. This is where you tweak your controls, customize your character, set up clans, and find games. While there are a ton of options here, the layout is pretty straight forward and within no time we had a funky looking purple skinned avatar and had jumped into one of SCEA's official ranked servers.
Part of what makes the gameplay so great is the fantastic job that Incognito has done at balancing all the different aspects of combat. So far it doesn't appear that any one vehicle or weapon is so overpowering as to break the game. Ground troops can shoot down Warhawks with rocket launchers, Warhawks can blast tanks and strafe bases, jeeps can run over ground troops and shoot at Warhawks with their mounted machine guns, and on and on. You aren't invincible in anything but you are deadly in everything.
We will be back with a full review soon, but in the meantime we're gonna go back and play more Warhawk. There is really nothing like this on the PlayStation 3 right now and is a breath of fresh air for game-starved PS3 fans. Though our opinions might change as we get more time with the title, right now we're prepared to call this one of the PlayStation 3's first true 'must-have' games.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mak @ Aug 29th 2007 5:35PM
But hang on, all the Xbots told me that PSN sucked, because it was free.
Justin @ Aug 29th 2007 5:51PM
I had no problem buying downloading or installing the game...
my only problem is not being able to play worth a DAMN!! :-( you guys don't give me a chance...
within 5 seconds...some friggin' warhawk is spraying me with a round of gunfire...i had to get killed at least 20 times in a row without killing anyone.
Zaphod Beeblebrox @ Aug 29th 2007 5:52PM
Wow, this game is so addicting. I gotta go to work or I would be on for hours. Oh well, this game will be popular for a very long time at all hours of the day.
The fast paced mayhem is unmatched in anything I have played ever.
If you have a PS3 or are thinking about getting one, GET THIS GAME. TRUST ME.
#21 @ Aug 29th 2007 5:54PM
taking a break from playing right now!! wheres the ps3fanboy room? i can't find it...
-hater
Kurac @ Aug 29th 2007 5:55PM
I can't wait untill tomorrow after school. :-| Buying this asap! I envy you America. Just this time. :-x
Bobby b @ Aug 29th 2007 5:58PM
Xbox live sucks its Mine has problems finding games in GOW Its a shame that I'm sitting here saying "come on find a game... Yes!, Crap! 5/6 players get in! get in! get in!... Son of a B!tch!"
Kurac @ Aug 29th 2007 5:59PM
Oh and btw, forgot to say. Just 800MB? Are you able to play LAN and just fourplayer split screen? I'm getting the feeling that it's not the entire game. :o
Don @ Aug 29th 2007 6:03PM
I agree with all the positive feedback, this game is sick! I wasn't going to get this game because I had to narrow my list down to a couple of games this year(married and have bills up the ying yang). At 12:01am on the 28th I saw 3/4 of my friends list downloading the game and I caved in, I'm glad I did. This game is phenomenal, best online multiplayer experience I've ever had. A must buy for every PS3 owner. Also Justin, just be patient and persistent with the game. You'll get the hang of it, and when you do, you'll be hooked.
x silence x @ Aug 29th 2007 6:02PM
I'll be picking this game up.
On a side note, Xbox Live is awesome you fool. Once Sony has cross game invites and the other features it will be awesome to! You buddys connection is the problem. Anyways, this game looks to be pretty sweet.
Comments about Xbots only bring them in here. You know that right?
phattie @ Aug 29th 2007 6:03PM
I'll have to wait till sunday to try this.. anyone interested in a noobs-only game?
steve @ Aug 29th 2007 6:08PM
more and more i'm feeling the pressure to finish bioshock so i can get this...
Titty Pink @ Aug 29th 2007 6:13PM
I didn't have any problem downloading this joint. The only thing I would steal from live is the ability to add friends on the fly and the ability to send voice messages rather than text. You can have all of the movie rentals and shit. Don't really need it.
As far as Warhawk, I think I posted the first review on this website, luckily everyone else feels the same way that I did. Warhawk may not be the reason to BUY a PS3, but if you have one, you really should consider at LEAST doing the $40 download, you won't regret it.
Now Don made a great point by saying that you WILL get owned until you figure things out. SAM operators suck if you're in a Warhawk, and people aren't really using team tactics or communicating yet (CLICK L3 TO TALK,it's not like Resistance of R6), but I got on a team that WAS, and man. We were owning dudes for like 4 hours straight!.
At the end of the day, you guys who aren't on board should break down and get on. I'm telling you, its a blast!
Titty Pink @ Aug 29th 2007 6:13PM
And I suggest you finish whatever game you're playing BEFORE getting Warhawk, because that game will become a distant memory...
GRT @ Aug 29th 2007 6:13PM
Hey, what's the community been like? My XBox Live headset is buried somewhere because I got so sick of listening to 12 year olds screaming expletive's in their cracking voices.
When I beta tested Warhawk, the voice chat wasn't so good. That wasn't really a problem for me, but I was just wondering if it's gotten better.
Why is it so hard to do good voice chat on a console and so easy to do it on a PC? Is it that the PC has CPU cycles to burn on compressing/decompressing audio?
Justin @ Aug 29th 2007 6:14PM
phattie...add me PSN - CarolCity
i'm a supreme n00b in this game....its ridiculous
Justin @ Aug 29th 2007 6:16PM
I hope so @ Don...cuz I couldn't help but laugh last night at how I was gettin owned by people who had only been playing the game for ONE day!!!
sicklesdawg @ Aug 29th 2007 6:20PM
why cant I find Ps3fanboy room? btw this game is addicting once you master it?
Stephen @ Aug 29th 2007 6:23PM
Man, this game is awesome. I have both a Xbox360 and a PS3, and this game alone has convinced me that the tide is really turning towards PS3, and that it's flexing it's muscles.
I am totally addicted to Warhawk!!!
Anyone interested in a cheap 360, with 15 games?
Popfrogs @ Aug 29th 2007 6:24PM
Haha Justin...I know how you feel. I got on last night and the first few rounds were like...wtf!? I got killed over and over.
Just find your niche. Maybe you're a ground-pounding tank driver. Maybe you're the jeep guy that makes the flag runs. Like Battlefield2, you can play a safe niche until you learn the intricacies of vehicles and flying. I know it's called Warhawk, but in reality, it's not about the Warhawks. :)
CGamble20 @ Aug 29th 2007 6:30PM
I havnt bought it yet so I dont really know...but I have heard its extremely hard to get the hang of.
not that its not fun initially, but its a challenge.
My question is, how overblown is that, and how long would you expect an average gamer to adjust to the game.
and is it possible to just sort of roam around by yourself. I always do that on multiplayer games to get a feel for the game. I hate jumping in and then getting slaughtered right away, I wanna be able to run around for a while lol
Titty Pink @ Aug 29th 2007 6:33PM
I hear ya Popfrogs. I like taking the flamethrower and making runs against Air Defense sites. NOTHING takes down a Warhawk faster than a missile site, and those dudes are totally vulnerable to a ground attack. I like to clear the way for the Warhawks to kick that ass. On the other hand, when a skilled Warhawk pilot rolls in on your position and your walking of in a jeep by yourself, its pretty much curtains.
In the beginning just kinda lay low. Don't jump in a Warhawk with little experience because you'll surely die. Go into some Dogfight missions to learn some Warhawk skills, then take them to the more diverse battlefields. If you DO decide to jump into a Warhawk early, just defend your territory. If you try to advance odds are you're gonna get rolled.
Hey don't think because you're getting owned alot the game isn't fun. The kills you DO get become REALLY gratifying. Remember, they're new to the game just like you.
Funny how the THX logo doesn't make the sound in the beginning, but the sound in game is JUST RIDICULOUS! Warhawks taking off, explosions all around...this game is sick top to bottom, and as you get better at it, it really grows on you.
Stephen @ Aug 29th 2007 6:42PM
@8 Xbox live is horendous. It's $65 a year, and uses peer-peer networks, with no central servers, so it's laggy as hell.
Thanks, but no thanks. Every time I try to play online on XBL, It's a traumatic experience on my 8Mbit DSL line.
On the same DSL line, everything I play on PSN is lightning fast, infact, I can't even remember it glitching.
Once cross game messaging and invites are here, PSN will seriously rule over XBL.
Frank @ Aug 29th 2007 6:38PM
1...2...3...4 comments from Playstation 3 users bashing XBOX out of NOWHERE. Nowhere was any comparisons done between consoles. Nowhere was a single positive 360 comment made from a commenter. And then you all whine because they come to your site and make comments? Try really hard and figure out why...
Andy @ Aug 29th 2007 6:38PM
I can't wait!!! Its finally available at my local store but I can't go till after dinner.
Any good Canadian clans?
RazielDune @ Aug 29th 2007 8:24PM
I CAN'T STOP PLAYING!!! HALP
Titty Pink @ Aug 29th 2007 6:48PM
@CGamble
I've mostly played team deathmatch, but I'll give you my take, hopefully this helps.
There are 2 basic diffrent types of levels, ALL or Majority Air, meaning you can't walk/drive everywhere, and mixed levels with Warhawks, jeeps, tanks, etc. Each team starts with a couple of spawn points. Each spawn point has multiple vehicles, so there may be 6 Warhawks, 3 tanks, 2 jeeps (depending on the level). If there isn't a vehicle, there are Air Defense points to man (flak cannon or surface to air missiles), so there's usually SOMETHING you can get your hands on. Now there are multiple unclaimed flag points that become your spawn points once you take them over (like territories). You can always see which spawn points teams own on the map. Most spawn points have Warhawks of tanks, but some only have ground equipment. You want to take over as many spawn points as possible because YOU CAN BE SPAWN CAMPED. It's not exactly easy, but its possible. I remember just hanging out with a Warhawk pawning dudes as they spawned, but only because they tried to stand and fight with a pistol. You can't do that for long though, because eventually an enemy Warhawk (or tank, or dude w/ a rocket launcher) will come to challenge you. You want to get spawn points close to the enemy bases so you can take them over.
So as you can see, even a deathmatch game has elements outside of just killing. There IS a strategy to it. As far as your survivability, odds are that SOMEONE will try to take over the base you spawn at eventually, but they will be in small numbers, so you can get your practice there. Its when you try to advance the fight deep into enemy territory without any practice when you get owned. So don't expect you to spawn...5 seconds die and repeat, unless, as I said before, you immediately jump into a Warhawk and mindlessly try to fly deep into enemy territory. You can see very clearly on the map where the enemy warhawks and bases are. In the beginning, avoid them, unless you have coordinated support. You'll be ok dude, trust me. I'm a family dude w/ kids and a government job. I play maybe and hour a day at best, and I STILL loved getting my ass handed to me in the beginning. Now you know much more than I did. Use that philosophy and you'll be straight...
Titty Pink @ Aug 29th 2007 7:03PM
And the flying reminds me of Crimson Skies on Xbox, but faster, and your aircraft is more survivable to attacks. The right stick allows you to do some funky maneuvers, and you can pop chaff to avoid missiles that are locked on. The majority flying levels remind me a lot of Crimson Skies...
Popfrogs @ Aug 29th 2007 6:54PM
@CGamble:
If you wanna just mess around, create your own server and start playing by yourself. Even if people join you can still get the hang of a few things.
Also you can join high limit but empty servers. I saw a few with 2 out of 24 last night. They may not stay empty for long, but while they are, you can get some practice in and get a feel for the levels.
One thing I had to figure out was that the square key lets you climb ladders. Just another friendly tip. :)
Kxpuc @ Aug 29th 2007 6:54PM
i think the problems with the transactions and downloads were depending on your region and how heavy they were getting hit there but i've had quite a few people say they had the game downloaded and installed in less then a hour and with 1 attempt
JW @ Aug 29th 2007 7:01PM
I queued up the download before I left for work. Got back from work. Installed Warhawk. Went online and joined a room. Game frooze. Rebooted the system and tried again. Joined another room. Game frooze.
Redownloaded the game. Tried again. Joined another room. Game frooze.
This game sucks.
Don @ Aug 29th 2007 7:07PM
I was getting my ass handed to me for the first couple of games. That was until I switched up my controls on certain things, I'm really bad at using the inverted controls. The only inverted control that I kept was the up/down for flying in warhawks. Also, I learned a couple of important fundementals such as how to lock on when using the different missles, that you can lock onto 8 different targets with those one swarm missles, how to powerslide, and how to double tap the R2 button to get the hell out of dodge. It's such an adrenaline rush trying to outmaneuver a missle that's locked onto you. Here's a great guide that somebody came up with on the Playstation forums. Hope this helps some of you.
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=warhawk&thread.id=287
Titty Pink @ Aug 29th 2007 7:08PM
Man, never heard of it freezing. I downloaded it at around 9:00 am yesterday, was playing by about 10. I played last night around 11pm til 2am, no problems. Got on again around 9am today to 2pm, no problems. I expect the serviers to get taxed more as the game is released in stores. Either way I'm sure they'll get shit running correctly, especially seeing all of the positive feedback from the gameplay itself...
Dante @ Aug 29th 2007 7:31PM
ok...i wasnt sure if i was gonna get this game bc of the way it looked...i read the positive reviews so i bought..downloaded it this morning without a problem...very quick dl...its the best game ever besides GRAW2 (GRAW2 IS MUCH BETTER LOOKING THAN THE DEMO.....and much more fun at that) get warhawk....i swear to god you'll love
Draco @ Aug 29th 2007 8:28PM
I went and bought the game from Bestbuy (sold out online but had 4 copies left in store) for $39.99 CDN, best 40$ I spent so far, just lost 3 hours, and I'm getting the hang of the game, one thing I did was turn on the sixaxis controls, I was having a hell of a time controlling the plane with the analog, but now I have a hard time driving tanks and jeeps.
I never really played FPS/3rdPS so that probably has something to do with my noobness, but I've been keeping my kill/death ratio at like 0.8 which isn't even par I realize, but not bad for a few hrs of gaming.
I like how after you kill 3 guys the music really starts to pump. maybe it was a fluke, but after wiping out a tower I really got excited and the music started to play, then I died.
joey2joey @ Aug 29th 2007 8:43PM
@6. And what does that have to do with warhawk?
@10. To late, I am already kicking @$$
The game is just more proof that xbox live is a waist of 70$ a year. Also the graphics are great. The infantry control is similar to that of Mercienaries: playground of destruction. And yes, theres blood, pretty good blood efects. if you have a ps3 GET THIS GAME NOW!!!
joey2joey @ Aug 29th 2007 8:43PM
@13. its better. A good part about it is you press L3 to talk so you do not get backround noises and white noise like you did in RSV
OrganicShadow @ Aug 29th 2007 9:17PM
Not to shit on the thread here guys but there are reports of mass freezerings going on now. I can't play ONLINE for more than 3 minutes without my PS3 freezing up(think it's just the game because the HDD and Wifi lights are still blinking).
LAN is fine. Split screen fine. Online? Nope. Freezes after a few minutes. I'm not alone either, and this kinda sucks seeing as I can't even finish a game and get my profile and ranking started.
Hopefully Incognito will come forward and at least acknowledge that there is a problem.
wh1ttle @ Aug 29th 2007 9:43PM
30th august 2:30 amSTILL NO WARHAWK ON EU STORE!!!!!!!seriously, it takes the ****you americans dont know how lucky you are
allmodcons @ Aug 29th 2007 11:21PM
This game is excellent. Definitely well balanced ala rock/paper/scissors. I have Bioshock and the COD4 MP demo on my 360 but I keep on 'Hawking instead.
Mouser @ Aug 29th 2007 10:37PM
I'm surprised to hear that the download is only 800MB. Aren't PS3 exclusives supposed to take advantage of their 50GB media and have half a billion maps or something? I was sort of bummed to learn that there are only five maps, and that my bluray disc will be largely empty (I ordered my copy from Amazon because I wanted the headset and haven't received it yet...). I hope they're planning on releasing more maps as a downloadable extra. Still, the response to this game sounds amazing; I can't wait to get my hands on my own copy.
PhillyVu @ Aug 29th 2007 11:23PM
@39 Mouser,
Just wanted to let you know that on the Warhawk beta forums, the developers stated that Warhawk will be an ever changing game. New customization will be available, probably maps and weapons. Hopefully new vehicles.
Their goal is to give a great game now, and then start putting in newer features and maps. Like Halo 2 with the map packs.
Great game. Taking a break to play more tomorrow.
gerg @ Aug 30th 2007 12:36AM
hey guys i plan on getting warhawk this weekend. anyone want to play a noobs only game? psn id is prometheus_5.
blk_ball @ Aug 30th 2007 12:49AM
Trying to play this and Metroid Prime 3 has been crazy!! They are both sooo amazing that I'm having to constantly fight with yself over which one to play. I'm stuck in Metroid, so it looks like it's going to be Warhawk till I find the guide!!!
Mike Candelaria @ Aug 30th 2007 1:17AM
just got the game i am also super noob my
PSN - somekindarobot
so add me for the nuubs only games
GRANTED @ Aug 30th 2007 1:16AM
help--i cant stop pwning ppl in the air. the warhawk (the plane itself) flies so well. mastering the intricacies of the rolls and climbs is so much fun, though attacking ground targets takes a lot of practice. ive barely been on foot at all--in 7 hours of play time.
god where is my life
markham808 @ Aug 30th 2007 1:21AM
Is it just my BestBuy in Canada or is Warhawk + Bluetooth Headset 40$ everywhere else too?
adam @ Aug 30th 2007 3:36AM
it is a little hard at first, but it doesnt take too long to get the hang of it really. i picked it up today and played for about an hour before worked and got completely spanked by everybody. it was really frustrating.
but when i got off work and started playing again, it clicked pretty quickly. i get it now. i love it. best PS3 game i've purchased. and it probably will be the best until Metal Gear 4 comes out. im also super stoked for Hot Shots Golf 5.
adam @ Aug 30th 2007 3:50AM
i'm having trouble with my headset. anyone else having problems? how do i get it to work in the game? its why i spent the extra $20!
Adam Pflug @ Aug 30th 2007 4:18AM
@Justin: "I was gettin owned by people who had only been playing the game for ONE day!!!" Dont forget that many people (myself included) played for weeks in the beta and have plenty of experience :)
@48/Adam: You need to set it up in the PS3 settings under accessories.
Brian Spence @ Aug 30th 2007 8:03AM
@48, we were having problems with the headset too. Once you join the game, you have to hit the large button on the side of your headset to get it to connect to the game. Then you have to hold down the L3 button to talk. You'll know it's working because you'll hear a little beep like noise every time you press and release the L3 button.