Warhawk Review

Kreel chokes on a chicken bone...

Warhawk puts you in the pilot's seat of an experimental combat aircraft known as........ Warhawk of course. Strange and evil military bases have been cropping up all over in an attempt to take over the world. Their leader is known only as 'Kreel'. Kreel's forces have strange new weapons and powers and seem to be able to materialize in an area almost overnight.

Kreel's power comes from the use of a new radioactive material: Red Mercury. Your missions are only complete when you manage to capture enough canisters of the substance.

You are the last hope of the planetary defense forces. You and your hover-jet-fighter-thing: "WarHawk is designed to eventually become the primary assault craft of the Unified International Forces. It is a heavily armed, heavily armored low altitude attack vehicle intended for high contact near-ground combat. It combines a VIOL hovering ability with amazing maneuverability and the latest in omnipurpose weaponry."

This ultra-maneuverable jet has quite a few controls to get used to, but the response is smooth and the automatic hovering ability makes it fairly easy to pilot. It takes several games before beginners can make more complex maneuvers, but they will be able to fly it adequately in a short time.

The graphics in Warhawk are gorgeous. The enemies look great, and move smoothly. The weapons fire can't be beat. The missals trace through the sky, leaving 3D trails of gas to mark their passage. The 'swarm missiles' are actually beautiful to watch as they zero in on a target. The 'set' designer is to be applauded for many of the levels. For the Volcano level, I will personally buy him or her a beer.

Unfortunately, the later levels are disappointing. The 'Gauntlet of Pain' is irritating and well named. It forces you down an endless series of identical looking corridors. It's just boring, especially when compared to some of the previous levels. The final level is fairly average for the game, but interesting because of the extreme height of the central tower. The final boss is difficult to defeat, however, he (it?) is actually kind of goofy: a big skull with skinny arms. The final incarnation of Kreel, who has been mainlining his Red Mercury.

Warhawk is an excellent game. It has much of the complexity of a flight simulator, but it simplifies the controls and ads the playablilty of a shooter. The smooth, addictive action will keep you hooked to this game until you manage to solve it. Unfortunately, once you have accomplished this, you are left only with a deep hunger for more. Savor this game! Don't use the cheat codes if you can help it.