Warhawk is an online game released on August 28th, 2007 for the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system. It was released in the PlayStation store as well as in brick and mortar retail stores. The PS store version is $40 whereas the retail version however costs $20 more and comes with a Bluetooth headset. A disc-only version was released on October 10th, 2007. The game is 720p native but can be upscaled to 1080i. Originally Warhawk had both a campaign mode and an online component but the campaign side was dropped.

Graphics 9/10:
Warhawk’s graphics are average. Yep average. But when you consider the sheer size of the maps it’s quite forgivable. The character models are well done. They all tend to move smoothly and any hiccups in movement are most likely due to lag. The way the characters are designed actually does make it look like the Eucadians are the good guys and the Chernovans are the evil bastards. The various explosions are also quite pretty because who doesn’t just love to stare at an explosion.

Sound: 9/10
Hot damn does this game sound good! From every explosion to the tanks rolling by to cars hitting enemy personnel, it all sounds very pleasing. Music in the game is really only two songs; the title theme music (pops in when you are kickin` some ass) and one where its all frantic (basically its the music you hear when its too late). Most of the time there is no music in Warhawk which is not necessarily a bad thing. Most of the time you are too into the actual game to care about if there is background music. The other sounds are so great that music tends to take you out of the experience because if you’re in a real war zone when does music actually start playing hmm? Now people complain about not being able to hear people when they talk because the voices are scrambled or sounds like static or some other problem. Personally I have never experienced this problem but I’ll give those people the benefit of the doubt.

Game play: 9/10
DAMN!! That’s the first thing I said when I had my first kill. And it’s the one word that describes this whole game. This has to be the single most fun I personal have had on the PS3 online. The game supports up to 32 players online which can make things EXTREMELY hectic. 4 types of basic matches include Death Match (DM), Team Death Match (TDM), Capture the Flag (CTF), and Zones (ZNS). I’ve listed the abbreviations the game uses so no one gets confused. All of them should be pretty self-explanatory to any one who has ever played a game online. But I will explain them:

• DM: this is a basic free-for-all. 1 Kill = 1 point
• TDM: players are split up on 2 teams you can get points for kills but also if you assist in a kill
• CTF: players are split into 2 teams but the objective is to capture the flag from your enemy base and bring it back to your own. Grabbing the flag = 5, capturing= 30, kills = 1
•  ZNS: players are split up into 2 teams and your objective is to capture specific zones that are either neutral or ones that belong to the other team.

There are 4 ways to get around Warhawk: on foot, jeeps, tanks, and of course the Warhawks. On foot you are able to carry 9 weapons: pistol, knife, assault rifle, rocket launcher, mines, binoculars (used for airstrikes), flamethrower, sniper rifle, and grenades. You are also able to man AA guns and homing missile launchers to get rid of the vermin in your skies, as well as mounted machine guns for those pesky ground soldiers. Tired of walking? Jump into a tank and avoid being blown to shreds. Better yet get a buddy too. Yes, the tank seats 2 one to drive and to use the cannon and the other to pop up through the hatch and provide support. If the tank is too slow for you and you’re a speed demon there’s an alternative. Jump into the Jeep, it seats 3 people (one to drive, one for the Machine Gunner, and one to ride shotgun). If you get tired of traveling on the ground then you can jump into the Warhawk. Jump in, get off the ground, switch to flight mode and behold the heart of the game. The air combat is flawless. Move the left stick though you can choose to use SIXAXIS instead to control right stick to barrel roll and do other fancy things to avoid the annoying incoming missiles. The Warhawks have 8 weapons: Swarm Missiles, Homing Missiles, Cluster Bomb, Air Mines, TOW Missiles, Energy weapon, Chaff, and Cloaking. The teams are naturally balanced meaning experienced players and n00bs are on the same team. This eliminates the chance of a total slaughter. There were a lot of complaints of joining, random rank ups, rank resets, and other things. Thankfully Incognito has released a patch fixing most of these problems.

This is the most fun you could have online