Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. Preview

We think this is a A-10 Thunderbolt, but we don't know because we're rubbish at spotting planes.

In any case, this gentle introduction also gave us a relatively low-stress environment in which we could re-acquaint ourselves with the game's controls. As you'd expect, movement and camera control are mapped to the analogue sticks, while the face buttons control target selection, the triggers for your missiles and cannon, and ERS - the optional guidance system that assists you when chasing enemy aircraft or fleeing incoming missiles. Acceleration and braking are governed by the lower shoulder buttons/triggers, and double-tapping either one of these will catapult you into the much-discussed "Assistance off-mode". Here the camera switches to an external viewpoint some distance away from your plane, remaining relatively still while your aircraft continues to tear through the sky. From this perspective the game relaxes its restrictions on your movement, allowing you to (theoretically) pull off a wide array of skilful manoeuvres but with an increased risk of crashing and burning.

Outside of tutorials, it doesn't seem that players will ever be forced to use the assistance-off mode - and indeed a few our fellow journalists seemed to leave it alone during co-op flights. In our case, we found that temporarily jumping to the cinematic view made it far easier to zip out of the way of in-bound missiles. It also seemed to speed up the rate at which we could shoot down enemy craft - perhaps because it was easier to keep track of where everyone was. We haven't yet managed to pull off any of the more complicated textbook moves, but we certainly can see that this would be possible with a bit of practice - and there's a lot of satisfaction to be had from even the simpler actions, like looping around to get behind a hostile fighter.

Fooling around and attempting to show-off was perfectly possible in the Middle East mission, but things began to get a bit more hectic for our next assignment in Rio de Janeiro. Here the objective was to protect the city from Artemis forces - a similar task to the previous level, but one that significantly upped the challenge factor. For a start, the opposing side made far more of an effort to fight back, and since Artemis seemed determined to attack on as many fronts as possible, there were also a large number of warships to take out in addition to the land and air forces. Given that we were all sitting next to each other, it was fairly easy for our quartet to handle the chaos by agreeing to go after different target groups. In the end we were able to take out the villains without too much hassle, but there was an enjoyable tense atmosphere thanks to the constant radio bawling from NPC characters trapped in the city. We've also got to give a quick thumbs up to the scenery in this level: flying into a big stone Jesus has never been so much fun.

Don't ask us to defend the President. If you do, he'll probably die in a big explosion.

The third stage proved to be a more low-key affair - a stealth mission that saw us navigating a field of radars in an effort to take-out the communications array at Artemis' Caribbean HQ. The laser-grid-dome indicators again made an appearance here, lending a slightly more interesting look and feel to what could otherwise be a fairly bland-looking level. As it turns out, it was actually quite nice to have a slower-paced mission, but we still had far more fun with the following stage: the defence of Air Force One.

More than any of the other missions, this was the moment that really highlighted the need for team work. Destroying the initial wave of attackers proved to be no problem, but as new waves approached from different directions it was all too easy to be drawn away from the President's jet. Our lack of focus resulted in the Leader of the Free World taking a prolonged dirt nap on a good three or four occasions before we finally saved his arse. Let's not forget that we were all sitting within spitting distance of each other - and yet we still failed miserably on our first attempt. Make no mistake: co-op play online will require the use of headsets, and some genuine teamwork.

When will you get to play it for yourselves? HAWX is due for release in the first quarter of this year and before then the long-awaited demo should make an appearance. We've not heard a confirmed date for this from Ubisoft, but as soon as we hear we'll let you know. Until then, why not pass the time by deciding what your call-sign will be? If you can't think of one, just steal the name of your favourite Gladiators star. That's what we did, and our co-pilots now refer to us as "Ulrika".

HAWX will be released in the first quarter of this year on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360