It's been a few weeks now since I got my PS3 and overall I've been pretty satisfied with it. To start with I initially got two games to play on the system: Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Warhawk. Marvel Ultimate Alliance was on sale for half-off at Best Buy and it didn't look all that bad so I figured it was worth it to have an additional game around. The game itself is pretty decent, though I've only put a little bit of time into it so far. But I'm not here to talk about the value of a half-off game because for the price you pay for it, it doesn't have to be great to be worth the money you've put into it. Online only games such as Warhawk, however, are a completely different story.
Perhaps the best way to think of Warhawk is like a suped-up Call of Duty except futuristic and with the ability to fly around in addition to running and driving. Overall it is a very well done game and feels well-tuned. The graphics are clean and crisp with very few hiccups in frame-rate (to date I think I've only noticed it once). The controls took a little getting used to but were pretty easy to learn and don't feel clunky at all now that I've played the game a bit. The sound on the game is also fantastic; I usually have the title music playing in my head for hours after I've been done playing the game. Despite all the really good aspects of this game (and there are many), there is also a certain limitation to it that makes me begin to wonder if it was really worth the $60 I paid for it: Warhawk is an online-only game.
This isn't the first game that I've played that is an network/online-only game, World of Warcraft play resides only on the internet as well, but also requires a $15/month fee for me to continue playing. Warhawk on the other-hand is a one-time fee of $60, or $40 if you download it from the Playstation Store and don't want the Bluetooth headset that comes with the retail version. The difference between the online experience of World of Warcraft and that of Warhawk, however, is that in World of Warcraft you can choose to play with others or play solo. Warhawk, however, is not an online RPG like World of Warcraft is, and I really wasn't looking for another one to play. So for online games it has been a nice change of pace for me. Warhawk's greatest strength, however, is also what limits its lasting appeal for me.
First I want to get something straight: I really like Warhawk; it's incredibly fun to play even if I suck at it right now. Despite this I can't help but to acknowledge that Warhawk has it's downfalls. What sticks out to me, as the game's greatest downfall is that there is no story line and there really isn't much of a back-story either. There isn't a good side and a bad side, righteous or evil, just two opposing sides at war. The game is a network/online-only, multiplayer-only videogame with no option to play it otherwise. Story line is what usually really gets me into games and video games that don't have any story line are games that I don't usually play for too long, though it doesn't mean I won't enjoy them while I do.
Since I got the game a few weeks ago, I haven't been playing it as much as I would like to because I've allowed myself to get sucked into WoW again, but I still like to make time to play Warhawk, even if it's just a little bit. Here in lies what to me is one of Warhawk's greatest strengths: not having a complicated story line. You see, as much as I prefer games that have a story line, there are advantages to the ones that don't. If I stop playing an engrossing RPG for a while (for instance: how I play Baten Kaitos in chunks, and still haven't finished) it's hard for me to just pick up the controller and start playing again because I know I'll be completely lost as to where I was. With a game like Warhawk, however, I can go without playing the game for a month and pick up the controller and not have to worry about where I left off. I don't have to worry about what I was doing when I last played so I don't have to spend a good chunk of time backtracking to figure it out. Right now if I picked up the controller for Baten Kaitos I would be completely lost, a problem that Warhawk by nature doesn't have.
Overall I'm still pleased with Warhawk, but feel it's just barely worth the $60 I paid for it. If it didn't have a rechargeable Bluetooth headset that came with the retail version I don't feel that it would really be worth the price. It wouldn't have been all that difficult for the creators of the game to put in some bonus mini-games; perhaps a different one depending on how high you can get your rank. I think this is what bothers me the most about Warhawk: the developers were so close to making a fantastic game, and just settled for really good. A little bit more effort would have added a lot more playability to the game. I'm going to continue to play and enjoy Warhawk, but my hope is that they will expand on the game they already have with additional maps and additional vehicles, and with any luck, at no extra charge.
Perhaps the best way to think of Warhawk is like a suped-up Call of Duty except futuristic and with the ability to fly around in addition to running and driving. Overall it is a very well done game and feels well-tuned. The graphics are clean and crisp with very few hiccups in frame-rate (to date I think I've only noticed it once). The controls took a little getting used to but were pretty easy to learn and don't feel clunky at all now that I've played the game a bit. The sound on the game is also fantastic; I usually have the title music playing in my head for hours after I've been done playing the game. Despite all the really good aspects of this game (and there are many), there is also a certain limitation to it that makes me begin to wonder if it was really worth the $60 I paid for it: Warhawk is an online-only game.
This isn't the first game that I've played that is an network/online-only game, World of Warcraft play resides only on the internet as well, but also requires a $15/month fee for me to continue playing. Warhawk on the other-hand is a one-time fee of $60, or $40 if you download it from the Playstation Store and don't want the Bluetooth headset that comes with the retail version. The difference between the online experience of World of Warcraft and that of Warhawk, however, is that in World of Warcraft you can choose to play with others or play solo. Warhawk, however, is not an online RPG like World of Warcraft is, and I really wasn't looking for another one to play. So for online games it has been a nice change of pace for me. Warhawk's greatest strength, however, is also what limits its lasting appeal for me.
First I want to get something straight: I really like Warhawk; it's incredibly fun to play even if I suck at it right now. Despite this I can't help but to acknowledge that Warhawk has it's downfalls. What sticks out to me, as the game's greatest downfall is that there is no story line and there really isn't much of a back-story either. There isn't a good side and a bad side, righteous or evil, just two opposing sides at war. The game is a network/online-only, multiplayer-only videogame with no option to play it otherwise. Story line is what usually really gets me into games and video games that don't have any story line are games that I don't usually play for too long, though it doesn't mean I won't enjoy them while I do.
Since I got the game a few weeks ago, I haven't been playing it as much as I would like to because I've allowed myself to get sucked into WoW again, but I still like to make time to play Warhawk, even if it's just a little bit. Here in lies what to me is one of Warhawk's greatest strengths: not having a complicated story line. You see, as much as I prefer games that have a story line, there are advantages to the ones that don't. If I stop playing an engrossing RPG for a while (for instance: how I play Baten Kaitos in chunks, and still haven't finished) it's hard for me to just pick up the controller and start playing again because I know I'll be completely lost as to where I was. With a game like Warhawk, however, I can go without playing the game for a month and pick up the controller and not have to worry about where I left off. I don't have to worry about what I was doing when I last played so I don't have to spend a good chunk of time backtracking to figure it out. Right now if I picked up the controller for Baten Kaitos I would be completely lost, a problem that Warhawk by nature doesn't have.
Overall I'm still pleased with Warhawk, but feel it's just barely worth the $60 I paid for it. If it didn't have a rechargeable Bluetooth headset that came with the retail version I don't feel that it would really be worth the price. It wouldn't have been all that difficult for the creators of the game to put in some bonus mini-games; perhaps a different one depending on how high you can get your rank. I think this is what bothers me the most about Warhawk: the developers were so close to making a fantastic game, and just settled for really good. A little bit more effort would have added a lot more playability to the game. I'm going to continue to play and enjoy Warhawk, but my hope is that they will expand on the game they already have with additional maps and additional vehicles, and with any luck, at no extra charge.