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Playing though HAWX this past March, several things occurred to me…
1.) The story has some interesting ideas in the first third or so of the game: I’m fascinated with the PMC concept and the world the game establishes could’ve scrapped the crazy US Invasion (spoilers!) threads and made an incredibly interesting narrative. Alas, it didn’t.
2.) The missions, while similar in some ways, cleverly play with mechanics (ERS system at Norfolk – fly through the gates to avoid AA fire and SAMs) and story trappings (air force one, the space shuttle) to create tension by playing off of subconscious attachment we have to something like, say, the White House or Cape Canaveral.
3.) This game is essentially Macross minus the Macross. If they haven’t already implemented these sorts of game play elements before, Japanese Developers would be well served by watching what did and didn’t work in this title for future Macross (or as most Americans know it – Robotech) titles. The OFF system, mixed with the swarms of AA Missiles, screams Macross… if only there was a snowball’s chance in either getting another (better then okay?) Robotech game or (non-import) Macross games here in the states…