When I bought this game I was hoping to enjoy another action packed arcade flight simulator like the first HAWX. Sadly I was to be disappointed.
The graphics were sub par, there was a particular point in the game with a particular tunnel that caused me immense grief due to an image not disappearing correctly which affected the gameplay. (Didn't want to spoil the story).
On the topic of gameplay, it was nice to see to see the inclusion of the AC-130 as something abit different, however only having one choice of plane for each campaign mission was quite disheartening. Where did my plane select go–The responsiveness of the controls felt out of wack when compared to the first HAWX, they had a tendency to be sluggish and overshoot. Switching to assist mode off seemed to help abit however. Most dogfights inevitably turned into one big continuous spiral and when the enemy has an unlimited supply of flares it can turn the simplest fight into an ordeal. The weapons have changed abit since the first HAWX, not sure if that is for the best however. In terms of story, it plays out like a typical Tom Clancy novel. Sadly many of the missions are just reskinned HAWX missions, the worst part is that the original HAWX did a much better job and were alot more interesting.
In conclusion, if you want a fun arcade flight sim buy the original HAWX, it does everything right.