IGN: Warhawk Hands ON (long read)- High Res. Videos !!!!

[ShadowMagios]

IGN's hand on with the game
This is WARHAWK!!!!!!!

I Did the Reveals Because its a long Article

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In 1996, Singletrac and Sony Computer Entertainment released Warhawk, a visceral flight action game that pitted pilots against various air and ground enemies in six dangerous zones. PlayStation fans were thrilled to hear that Incognito Inc. was bringing the action of the title to the PS3, and were awed to see hundreds of enemy fighters and battlecruisers swarming the skies within the released trailers. At last year's E3, the game was demoed at Sony's press conference as the demonstration of the Sixaxis controller. At the time, the game was promised to have a deep single-player experience following a pilot attempting to liberate his homeland from invaders, as well as a large multiplayer component that supported up to 32 players. However, with the exception of an appearance at last year's TGS, Sony and Incognito kept the game tightly under wraps, spawning numerous rumors on the Web. We recently were invited to a Warhawk event by Sony and Incognito, who wanted to set the record straight on the game, as well as give us a hands-on impression of the title.

After last year's E3 demo, many people assumed that you'd be forced into constantly using the motion sensitivity controls to interact with the various vehicles in the game. Dylan Jobe, the producer/director of Warhawk, made sure that was one of the first rumors that he put to rest. "We're well aware of the fact that, in many respects, Warhawk is an ambassador for the Sixaxis controller. It's very well suited for flying the ship. It's well suited for driving the vehicles on the ground. But one thing I've said before and I'll say it again: we're not going to force use of the Sixaxis controller on the player." Jobe pointed out that there were a number of settings and models that players would be able to use within the game to tailor a player's controls to what works for them.

While it is possible to control the craft using the analog sticks, Jobe pointed out that the motion controls frees a player's thumbs for more active battle maneuvers like weapon selection, missile evasion and targeting. Jobe used this to segue into defense of ground combat, which some people have debated would be eliminated in favor of a flight only title. "The ground combat, from our perspective, is critical to the overarching economy of warfare. Flight gameplay, quite honestly, is more compelling when you're flying over and bombing targets in support of players on the ground. We just didn't want to do flight combat," Jobe said.

Of course, the largest concern that had been raised was the limitation (or even complete) elimination of single player play from the title. After the controller demo at E3, Jobe said, the team evaluated the responses that they'd received about the title to gauge where they were going to take the title. While the multiplayer had received a large amount of buzz from E3, the single player received a very lukewarm reception. This was cemented at TGS later that year, when the multiplayer mode that was presented at that show and received similar feedback. So, according to Jobe, the single player mode had to be cut to ensure that players received a quality title, even as painful as it was to throw away a lot of work on that feature.

As a result, Jobe outlines a multi-step outline of the changes made to the title. "We are focusing on delivering a AAA online experience. We have removed the single player mode from the game. We are retaining the fast pacing that people remember from the original Warhawk, and people have experienced in Warhawk so far. We are keeping the diverse multi-modal gameplay: the big epic war, the fast battlefield that you're experiencing that's very next-gen."

Multi-modal play is a massive key with the new focus on Warhawk's play, as players will be able to transition between aerial, ground and foot combat seamlessly with the push of a button. This warfare will now take place across 25 different maps scattered across five separate worlds, each with their own environmental configurations. For instance, the maps that we battled over during the event would take place on Eucadia, a world populated by various islands with towering cliffs. While our demo was coded to only include Warhawks, jeeps and tanks, the final version of the game will pit Eucadian and Chernovan forces against each other with more than 20 different weapons, two different kinds of aircraft (Warhawk and Nemesis planes), four different ground vehicles and four heavy ground turrets

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While both sides have visually distinctive looks, neither one has a technical advantage over the other. The Eucadian troops have a World War II look about their vehicles as well as their troops, many of whom wear basic fatigues. Chernovans, on the other hand, have a more technical, almost sinister appearance to their troops, with a lot of implants, scars or other external markers on their body. However, Incognito is providing players with a lot of customization options, ranging from various body types on both sides of the war to skin tones and personal decals on a soldier's uniform (over 256 should be included in the final game.) Players will also be able to skin their Warhawks whenever they decide to jump into the ****pit of the vehicle with various textures and decals, so players will get an idea of who's flying in the skies by the distinctive markings on the plane.

With the redesigned focus on multiplayer, Incognito has taken a number of steps to beef up the online experience, locking down the maximum number of players in a particular game to 32 while providing full VOIP integration for the game. They also designed a massive rewards and ranking system designed around a player's particular performance in the game. The various badges, medals, ribbons and ranks that a player receives after a round ties into the extensive stat system, which will promise over 2500 separate stats to be tracked. We got a sneak peek at this based on one round of combat. For instance, a player would receive a number of ribbons based on things like how many enemies they killed or how well they supported their teammates. They'd also be nominated for badges if they managed to successfully use a particular weapon, such as a pistol or a grenade against the enemy a number of times in a row. All of this tied into the final stats at the end, which would be added up for that players account and eventually reward that player with a badge of honor or other statistical merit that could be shown off to other players online.

Another facet of the multiplayer is the "On Demand Split Screen" feature, which will allow another player to join someone next to them on a couch without needing another monitor. By picking up a second Sixaxis and hitting start, Warhawk will seamlessly partition the screen, giving both pilots or soldiers the ability to take on opposing fighters, and restore the normal view if one player drops out of combat. However, perhaps one of the most impressive facets of the game is the server model for Warhawk. Instead of solely relying on Sony servers to host matches, anyone with a PS3 and a copy of Warhawk will be able to create a server for the game, or even establish a dedicated server for clans that are password protected. This will also come with comprehensive stats, so clan leaders can find out things like how many miles a particular player drove or flew during a session, or how many times someone was killed with a particular weapon by a certain enemy.

As far as game modes, Warhawk will support the classic standbys of Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. However, Incognito wanted to bring something new to the multiplayer arena, which is how they decided upon Zone Combat. Based off of the 3,000 year old game of Go, where players place stones on a grid that defines their territory while preventing their opponent's territorial expansion. Jobe said, "We wanted a fresh and unique ruleset, and we wanted to promote home base combat: why should you defend your home base, why should you go attack the other team's home base?" However, they also wanted a faster paced, non-cerebral aspect to the game. Players will find miniature "bases" or nodes that can be captured throughout the game. There's a point bonus for collecting these territorial hotspots, and if they manage to link them to their primary base, they'll gain additional bonuses, like new spawn points, equipment or vehicular support. This will lead to fierce battles over key bridges and zones as players attempt to recapture and hold onto strategic nodes during a match. "As the war evolves, you can hit Select, bring up your mini-map, and see this constantly changing organic landscape," Jobe remarked. While you can't completely eliminate an enemy side by capturing every single node or attacking an opponent's primary base, such a lopsided territorial advantage will hamper aerial and ground support for that side's troops.

According to Jobe, the team had a large task in front of them when it came to making the title. They needed to essentially create three games in one: an incredibly robust flight action game, ground combat title and 3rd person shooter all in one. The engine they created also needed the space for scalable content, particularly to take advantage of the PlayStation Network and any downloadable features in future updates. As a result, the team attempted to take advantage of Cell-specific technology that presented macro and micro gameplay. Jobe's explanation of this varied level to gameplay was flying a Warhawk around the massive battlefields without running into the fog of war(at every 50 feet at speeds of Mach 2) before suddenly descending into a city and emerging on foot without any lag and still deliver an incredible gameplay experience. Using the Cell and the RSX in tandem with the game software, the developers were also able to use a mixed rendering technique for the levels, soldiers and the overall game world. These techniques will be available in the upcoming PSN title, Calling All Cars, which will be using a modified version of the Warhawk engine.

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Once Jobe finished with his presentation, we were unleashed upon the pre-alpha build of the game, which feels like a fast paced version of Battlefield 1942 with the art style of Timesplitters. Each soldier initially started out with a pistol, two grenades and a combat knife, but numerous weapons were scattered around the cities and hills of the Eucadian landscape. Some of these arms were rather straightforward: for instance, the machine guns, sniper rifles and flamethrowers are pretty standard for a multiplayer match. There were some new twists to weapons, though, such as rocket launchers that could be locked onto tanks or Warhawks, which fired aggressive homing missiles. Proximity mines could be laid down that take out large numbers of foot soldiers or significantly injure ground vehicles. However, the most impressive ground weapon had to be the pair of binoculars, which would deliver a laser strike from the heavens to instantly kill the target. You had to paint the intended victim for a few seconds for the weapon to arm, which also revealed exactly where you happened to be to an opponent, but that was an easy way to knock out tanks or turret emplacements. Only the lucky were able to down Warhawks with this fearsome item.

Speaking of turrets, players could take aim behind one of the .50 cal emplacements scattered across the battlefield and riddle vehicles with bullets. While it was one of the weaker turrets on the field, it's definitely better than nothing when you're facing down a tank and you only have a pistol in your possession. The other three turrets are definitely more powerful, and while they're large targets for tanks or Warhawks, they're easily able to dispatch most vehicles that line up in their sights. The first one is a flak gun, which fired four explosive shells into the air or could be used against ground troops from a distance. The second one was the auto cannon, which literally poured bullets into its intended target. Finally, players could jump into the ****pit of a missile turret and fire heat seeking missiles at vehicles.

As we said earlier, the game was only coded with the Warhawk, jeep and tank, but each one controls differently, adding to the strategy of the game. Jeeps are nimble vehicles that can hold three separate soldiers: one driver, one player riding shotgun and a third on the rear mounted .50 cal turret. These machines can outrun most tanks at a loss of armor, and most direct hits from a tank shell will turn the jeep into scrap metal. Tanks, on the other hand, can only hold two drivers: a primary driver that controls the machine and tank turret, and a turret slot for secondary support. A player packing a rocket launcher in the turret can easily double the firepower of the vehicle and take a significant amount of firepower before it's destroyed.

Warhawks, on the other hand, are a mix between the two in terms of armor and maneuverability. Not only can the planes hover over an area, providing significant ground support with its machine guns and missiles, it can also take off to the skies and engage in dogfights and bombing runs. Numerous weapon pickups are scattered amongst the clouds, such as cluster bombs, homing missiles, and swarm missiles that fire loads of weaker powered tracking munitions into a target. Warhawks do happen to have some of the cooler arms in the game, such as lightning guns that fire bolts of electricity into other planes, cloaking devices and aerial mines to destroy enemy planes that get fly too close behind a jet. The planes also have TOW missiles, which players can control via close circuit camera into their targets. Unfortunately, you have to hover to use the TOW missile, which makes the Warhawk extremely vulnerable to anything from a missile and a tank shell to mundane weaponry like flamethrowers and grenades.

While the Sixaxis controls are still a long ways away from being calibrated, we were able to get a sense of just how tightly the game will play. No, we weren't moving around in exaggerated arcs to swoop through the skies like the demo last year, but we were able to turn and bank with a serious level of adjustment to the controls. It's at the point now where minor variations in degrees will send the jet careening off in one direction, so you really have to be on top of the throttle and the controller to perform dogfights. The controls also work decently within the jeep and the tank, although it was a bit better to control the tank due to the lack of outright speed that the machine commanded. Motion control will not, however, be used to control the soldiers when you're on foot -- it simply didn't work well and was scrapped by the development team.

Warhawk will wind up taking to the skies and the ground sometime this September, although at this point, Incognito and SCE aren't sure if the game will be available solely as a downloadable title, a store bought disc, or a combination of the two. We'll have more on Warhawk soon, but for now, check out these movies of Dogfighting and Capture the Flag in action.

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Link

Link to IGN's Warhawk Video Page:
Link

I hope you like it ^_^

PS: Do you want me to make it just one big reveal, OR keep it neat with 3 separate ones?

[Poison]

NICE!!!! D/L'ing the videos right now, thanks for the heads up.

[MrFenwick]

Sweet.... 25 maps to start out on... Mmmm....

*watches videos*

[PhillyPhreak]

"25 different maps scattered across five separate worlds." Beautiful. *drools*

Another facet of the multiplayer is the "On Demand Split Screen" feature, which will allow another player to join someone next to them on a couch without needing another monitor. By picking up a second Sixaxis and hitting start, Warhawk will seamlessly partition the screen, giving both pilots or soldiers the ability to take on opposing fighters, and restore the normal view if one player drops out of combat. However, perhaps one of the most impressive facets of the game is the server model for Warhawk. Instead of solely relying on Sony servers to host matches, anyone with a PS3 and a copy of Warhawk will be able to create a server for the game, or even establish a dedicated server for clans that are password protected.

This game will freakin own.

[ConsoleCrusader]

Nice stuff my friend downloading the insider HD videos right now, gotta love it this can prove more and more that we might be seeing a demo for this on Thursday.

[BlindSight]

NICE!

Just what I was looking for to hold me over until Harrisons announcements at GDC tomorrow.

[MrFenwick]

Mmmmm.... gotta love that warfair fun. Weapons are pretty cool. I love the binoculars! Special Laser beam attack!

[ShadowMagios]

I dont have insider for ign , ..... yet is there some way for me to see it?

[Riskbreaker]

from the context of the article, i think warhawk might be sold on disk instead over the psn as we thought. hopefully they dont charge that much

[EvoLutioNight]

Very nice. It looks good and has plenty of content. I'll buy

[MrFenwick]

Yeah, no offical anouncement has been made regarding the distribution of the game yet. It might be too big for a download.

[Classified]

WOW! Just finished watching all the new videos, and reading the text. I can say, that I'm impressed. Very much so. I'm glad this title is coming to the PS3. I liked reading this part...

Warhawk will wind up taking to the skies and the ground sometime this September, although at this point, Incognito and SCE aren't sure if the game will be available solely as a downloadable title, a store bought disc, or a combination of the two. We'll have more on Warhawk soon, but for now, check out these movies of Dogfighting and Capture the Flag in action.

That means that it could possibly be store bought and downloadable, which is nice. Though, SCE hasn't decided yet... unfortunately. I would really like to know what the final saying is going to be on this.

[Phaeochromoctyoma]

its a bit disappointing that they scrapped single player but i guess you win some you lose some...

do you guys think it'll be balanced though? using the warhawk seems to be the best way to gain supremacy. isn't that how real war works? best way to win is by having air supremacy...

[ravenswinus]

I'm a bit ticked about WarHawk not having a single player mode. I'm not a big fan of online gaming and this was the title I looked forward to the most.

Oh well. I'm sure the next Ace Combat will fill my dog-fighting need.

[Panda Bear Shenyu]

Nerdgasm much? .

[Loudninja]

I still wanted single player , man

[EddieDZ]

very cool...its going to be a title to watch out for for sure!!.... they even state at the last page on the last paragraph that sony is still unsure whether this title will be release as a download only, disc, or a combination of both.. im hoping disc because they can fit WAY!!!!!! more on a BD disc then a downloadable game.. i wont be happy downloading a 5GB game LOL!!!. however im hoping they have downloadable content too!

[Nunalho]

Nice find, good read.

I hope this game turns out to be good, its concept it incredible.

Plus rep for you.

[Qbanj69]

VF5 for not having multiplayer... and now warhawk for not having single player...

when will they get it right!?

how disappointing.

[Loudninja]

It just feels stupid to me , I mena thye took out single player,so when I bu the game i can only played mutiplayer , no playing on my own to get the feel, i have to jump right into a stupid ass game

[Classified]

very cool...its going to be a title to watch out for for sure!!.... they even state at the last page on the last paragraph that sony is still unsure whether this title will be release as a download only, disc, or a combination of both.. im hoping disc because they can fit WAY!!!!!! more on a BD disc then a downloadable game.. i wont be happy downloading a 5GB game LOL!!!. however im hoping they have downloadable content too!

I agree with you on that. I want them to bring their guns out on this game, push the graphics as far as they can go, and all kinds of amazing stuff. Like you said, Blu-Ray allows more space for games, which means a whole lot of extra things like vehicles, planes, more textures, and much much more. 5GB would probably be limiting this game and probably make the developers sacrifice a lot of cool things. Blu-Ray is just better in my eyes, just because it frees up your hard drive for other things, and it is always there.. because there might be a chance your Hard Drive acts up or something. I wouldn't want a game like this being lost forever. O.o

Anyways, I also liked hearing "pre-alpha build". I went.. OMG at that one. If they can achieve that greatness on a pre-alpha build, then imagine what they can do with a final build. Oh, and I also love the split-screen multiplayer thingy ma-bob too, I don't play multiplayer games, and I don't know if multiplayer games have that, but I thought it was something cool they are doing with it. There's a lot of good things that this game has. I'm definitely excited.

[Panda Bear Shenyu]

It just feels stupid to me , I mena thye took out single player,so when I bu the game i can only played mutiplayer , no playing on my own to get the feel, i have to jump right into a stupid ass game

I've found a solution to your endless bitching about Warhawk and how crappy it is: Don't Buy The Game. What a novel idea.

[Loudninja]

Ugh, that why I am starting to hate this site, you cannot say nothing without getting bash

[badz_ps3]

AND I QUOTE:

"...at this point, Incognito and SCE aren't sure if the game will be available solely as a downloadable title, a store bought disc, or a combination of the two."

thank you.. that is all (my point finally realized)

[ShadowMagios]

I've found a solution to your endless bitching about Warhawk and how crappy it is: Don't Buy The Game. What a novel idea.

ooooooo U cussed . ima tell mommy on you now, PBS!!

Ps: if they DONT go with Blu-ray, they are idiots! Idiots! Baka! Baka! i say Baka!


Edit:

Ugh, that why I am starting to hate this site, you cannot say nothing without getting bash

People get emotional, its human nature. Also you did kinda set yourself up for that one.

PSS: Wount they have match-making, if so you shouldn't get owned.
PSSS: Cant they add a single player game thru PN??
PSSS: Single player gives you that pick up an play, story driven experience but On the other hand Human Oponents are more fun/hard, Trash-Talking.