From the very get-go, you can choose to either: play alone with AI support, open your game to anyone willing to join, create a private session, or search for available open games. This is very easy to set up. Unfortunately, there is no option to leave your game perpetually open to friends or other joiners, but it really is a breeze to kick off the campaign as a co-op excursion. Once you've designated your session as co-op, you can either wait for a wingman or start without them. In a nice touch: voice chat is available even in the loading screen, which not only allows you to talk with your wingman between missions, but it also eliminates the need for a Live Party. Don't get me wrong...Live Party is extremely useful, but at this current point in time, it can be hit-or-miss, often booting players at random.
My favorite function of H.A.W.X. co-op is the fact that each player can choose their own level of difficulty. All this does is essentially make your plane weaker and limits your weapons, so it's not an actual gameplay change, but the higher your difficulty level, the more XP (eXPerience, for the uninitiated) points to be had. XP is gained in all modes and is used to unlock planes and weapon sets in sequence, very much like the Call of Duty titles and Rainbow Six Vegas 2.
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I've complained about the demo being too simple and arcadey, and the full version delivers on that complaint. Thankfully, the ability to choose individual levels of difficulty, the full drop-in/drop-out support, and the more XP-productive campaign make the co-op experience not only interesting and unique...but favorable to the single-player experience. To us, that's a good thing. The game stands out as a good title; it absolutely shines as a co-op game.
Verdict
Co-Op Score
The Co-Op Experience: Pick up a wingman - or pick up 3 as you dog fight it out with your buddies.Tom Clancy’s HAWX is the first air combat game set in the world-renowned Tom Clancy’s video game universe. Cutting-edge technology, devastating firepower, and intense dogfights bestow this new title a deserving place in the prestigious Tom Clancy franchise. Soon, flying at Mach 3 becomes a right, not a privilege.
Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience along with an average score for the game overall. For an explanation of our scores please check our Review Score Explanation Guide.