Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2 is one of the weaker links in the great chain that is the Tom Clancy franchise. That's not because H.A.W.X. 2 is a bad game; far from it, actually. The fact of the matter is, this flight combat game simply can't stack up to the likes of Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, and Ghost Recon. Fortunately, H.A.W.X. 2 compares favorably to most other games of its type, even if it's not the best. There are a ton of pacing issues in the Campaign, and the control issues that plagued the first game have been largely ignored. Still, if flight combat is your thing, H.A.W.X. 2 is worth your time. As far as your money goes, that's a slightly different story.

H.A.W.X. 2 occasionally looks decent, but more often than not, it's not terribly easy on the eyes. There are some brief but noticeable instances of texture pop-in and some of the in-game cutscenes look slightly unfinished. One cutscene late in the Campaign features a panoramic view of an aircraft carrier. As a plane is catapulted towards the edge of the carrier, it slows to a near standstill, then (almost comically) rides a physically impossible parabola off the screen. I had to restart the mission just to see it again.

The faceless pilots who cruise the skies as airborne freedom defenders aren't fleshed out in any way by the game's slightly sub-par script, but to be fair, it was even more difficult to connect with any of the silent protagonists in every single Call of Duty game. The voice acting isn't anything to write home about, but it gets the job done without committing any serious offenses. The soundtrack, on the other hand, is phenomenal. This has become something of a tradition for the entire Tom Clancy stable, and H.A.W.X. 2 proudly continues it. Every time a battle takes an intense turn, the game leans back on the same hectic track, but it's exactly the kind of music you'd expect to hear while you're pulling out of stalls and evading enemy attacks.

Are you sick of the tired, cliché-ridden geopolitical stories involving coups staged by Russian Ultranationalist groups? If you are, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2 will have you rolling your eyes from the start. I personally found the story interesting later in the Campaign. Not because it's compelling or well-told, but because it establishes a concrete but subtle sense of continuity with the rest of the Tom Clancy universe. H.A.W.X. established the obligatory connection with Ghost Recon, and H.A.W.X. 2 does the same with a more unlikely franchise: Splinter Cell. Your key Russian contact Drachev (callsign Wolfhound) is a splinter cell operating under Voron, the same agency who employed Kestrel until his ill-fated cooperative mission with Third Echelon's Archer. Wolfhound hints at the existence of Megiddo, the Illuminati-esque group that played more than a small role in the events of Splinter Cell: Conviction. This kind of stuff might amount to fanservice, but it's more welcome here than in most other crossover attempts.

H.A.W.X. 2 is flight combat at its second best. You'll soar above battlegrounds, destroying designated targets with surgical precision. The mission design in games based on flight combat tends to lean on the conservative side of things, but H.A.W.X. 2 shows a little audacity in its attempt to mix things up. I say "audacity" because it isn't original at all. This game takes Call of Duty 4's AC-130 gunship sequence, crafts a number of different scenarios around that type of gameplay, and draws each level out way too long. The levels aren't hellishly boring, but they do prove that you can indeed have too much of a good thing. On the plus side of things, the aerial combat is solid, if flawed. When the game throws watercooler moments at you in brief bursts, it's at its best. This includes the interesting precision bomb mechanics, and to a lesser extent, the exposition-heavy spying sequences.

If you've handled a virtual million-dollar aircraft from the safety of your home console, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2 doesn't take too much getting used to. Everything you'd expect out of a flight combat game is here, for the most part. However, every plane controls rather stiffly; these machines cut through the air with almost no resistance, and movement lacks the sense of heaviness that usually imparts a sense of realism (false as it may be in the end). The only thing I can imagine gamers really struggling with is Assistance Off mode, but then again, I suspect everyone will struggle with it in key situations.

Regardless of which setting you choose, the difficulty level ramps up nicely as the Campaign progresses, and it culminates in a rather difficult final mission. Part of the challenge in H.A.W.X. 2 lies in the fact that you can occasionally be your own worst enemy. In several other flight combat games, you are encouraged to fly hundreds of feet from the ground at high speeds, bombing everything in sight. In this game, you might attempt to do the same, only to have the unforgiving hand of gravity reach up and yank your plane to the ground. I don't claim to be an expert in aeronautics, but this effect doesn't look convincing in H.A.W.X. 2.

Ubisoft's uPlay system returns in H.A.W.X. 2, offering comparatively tangible reasons to return to the game after you've beaten it. However, your mileage will vary with H.A.W.X. 2; a little bit of the game tends to go a rather long way. If Achievements are your thing, know that H.A.W.X. 2 doesn't offer any Gamerscore-related incentives to play on any difficulty setting other than the lowest. In fact, most of them are multiplayer-focused, which I don't really think is a good thing.

Innovation is difficult to achieve, perhaps more so in the flight combat genre than anywhere else. Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. featured a unique mechanic that skimped on the realism and emphasized unrealistic and dangerous tactics. I'm referring, of course, to Assistance Off mode. This game-changing mechanic allows players to zoom the camera out to an almost arcade-style viewpoint. In Assistance Off mode, you can perform insane acrobatic movements whose collective g-force yield would probably reduce a pilot to a quantum singularity. Okay, so I'm exaggerating. Still, I'm not sure how many pilots would endorse a tactic that involves purposefully triggering a stall in an effort to get at an opponent's six. The worst part of Assistance Off mode is that it almost never gives you a good visual on your targets. The good thing is, with the exception of the tutorial, the game never forces you to use it.

H.A.W.X. 2 features four-player cooperative play for the Campaign, as well as an eight-player suite consisting of a few competitive game types. None of these modes stand out in any particular way, but they pad out the rest of the package quite nicely. A persistance system that features a steady flow of rewards is always the best way to get gamers to come back, and Ubisoft Romania has implemented a solid framework for H.A.W.X. 2. Now, it's up to the community to see if it will succeed. Right now, it feels like more of a niche than anything, but if enough people get involved, it might just lift off. If the controls were tighter, it would be a serious contender. As it stands, though, Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation is still at the top in that (and perhaps every other) department.

This is a solid entry for a solid franchise that is still shy of greatness. The campaign is unfocused, the controls still need some work, and it's a tad derivative. However, H.A.W.X. 2 doesn't fall prey to any serious technical or design blunders. If you love the Tom Clancy universe and appreciate a decent aerial throwdown, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. might be up your alley. Just know that there are prettier and more graceful birds in the sky.