Due out this fall, H.A.W.X. 2 looks like a perfect fit for fans of aerial combat. The question is, are there still enough of those fans around to support a big series like this?
I'm mildly interested in the next H.A.W.X. game, but it seems to be still struggling to find itself. The first title essentially slapped training wheels on a fighter jet. This one seems to rip them off, but it still doesn't seem to be solving how to draw a huge casual audience into a hugely narrow genre. Flight sims and air combat sims aren't made anymore for a reason.
Don't get me wrong, I love those games, especially the old Microprose fighters. But I loved them because it was they sold the experience of learning what all of the buttons in a cockpit did, testing out all of the deadly gadgetry. Stripping all of that away and packing it into a console controller results in a game that bores me to sleep.
Maybe they should ship H.A.W.X. 2 with a 60 button controller, yoke and pedals.