H.A.W.X.2. actually makes a pretty strong initial impression. While the visuals are still a little iffy – the planes look pretty good, and so do the environments, but the in-engine cutscenes have some pretty awful-looking human characters and major framerate issues – the experience of turning on your engines and taxiing to a runway to begin takeoff procedures is immersive and engaging, especially using Namco's Flight Stick peripheral from Ace Combat 6, which is fully supported here as it was in the last game. I'll give H.A.W.X.2 this: it generally guides you through some daunting new mechanics quite well, and gives a number of options depending on how comfortable you become with the nuances of things like carrier landings.
