History VideoGame / HAWX

* DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch: The name ''Las Trinidad'' shows a lack of understanding of Spanish literacy from Ubisoft's part. The name should had been ''La Trinidad'' or ''Las Trinidades''.

* [[GoodGunsBadGuns Good Planes Bad Planes]]: Zig-zagged, mostly in part by the fact that the player switches sides at a point in the game. As judging by the suggested planes for various missions, Artemis has a preference for non-American jets, primarily Soviet ones (only one mission in the first half suggests an American jet, the F-4G, and one suggests a Mirage while the rest all suggest Sukhoi and Mikoyan craft), and your enemies tend to be non-aligned militias that use whatever they can get their hands on, generally preferring F-5s. Once you switch back to the US military it's played more straight, as while Artemis jets under NPC control are about 50/50 for continuing to prefer Soviet and Russian craft or going for American ones, the player's suggested planes for the rest of the game all remain Western (only two levels suggest non-American craft, and in both cases they're still Western craft, the Eurofighter and then the Rafale) - however, with the exception of the first mission, the Assistance OFF tutorial, and the epilogue, you're never prevented from flying a plane unless it doesn't have a weapon required for the mission (like free-fall bombs for the third mission), so you can keep flying your Su-27s and the like all through to the end of the game.
** Also subverted where the only attack helicopter available from Artemis throughout the game is the American AH-64 Apache, and it's also largely used by the rebels in the game.

* SeriesContinuityError: ''HAWX 2'' and ''Ghost Recon: Future Soldier'' present the same conflict, but there's a noticeable discrepancy in the details of the coup d'état. ''HAWX 2'' shows that the Loyalist Russian president is a frail-looking guy called "Anton Karskazev" and his replacement is a guy named "Alexandr Treskayev", while in ''Future Soldier'', the former president is a grizzled former Army veteran named "Volodin" while the usurper is "Sergey Makhmudov". However, this could be explained by ''HAWX 2'' being based on the aborted 2010 build of ''Future Soldier'' rather than the final version.

** One of the missions in the first ''H.A.W.X'' consists of defending a space launch first against cargo planes dropping tanks to assault the launch pad, then a combination of ground-attack aircraft and cruise missiles attack the launch pad and vehicle. This is almost identical to a mission in ''VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar'', "The White Bird (Part 1)".

** On defensive, they follow you around and generally stay out of the way until [[BerserkButton someone tries to get a radar lock on you or an AA gun starts firing in your general direction]], at which point they instantly start chasing the offender. Which means that yes, the AI is smart enough to do UsefulNotes/WildWeasel tactics with you as the bait.

* UnexpectedGameplayChange: The sequel introduced UAV missions where you eavedrop on enemy conversations and an AC-130 bombing mission.

After a war in Brazil breaks out between U.S.-friendly Brazil and "Las Trinidad" (an anti-American alliance of South American countries), U.S. involvement within the conflict hurt Artemis's bottom line, causing them to [[FaceHeelTurn backstab]] the U.S, side with Las Trinidad, and [[InvadedStatesOfAmerica launch a full scale invasion of the U.S]]. This, of course, didn't bode well with the patriotic ex-Air Force pilots, who defect back to the U.S. and have their old HAWX squadron reactivated, as a result. Now they must work together with U.S. military forces to beat back the invading PMC military.

The game has the player flying various real-world aircraft on their missions and employs a semi-realistic simulation of aerial combat. Under normal conditions, the game prevents the plane from stalling and limits its maneuverability but this limiter can be disengaged to allow the player to perform all sorts of funky post-stall maneuvers. The other aspects of the game are more arcade-like; planes carry mountains upon mountains of missiles, even on the highest difficulty levels, and there is no need to keep track of fuel or the effects of physics on the human body.

* UsefulNotes/AirForceOne: There's an EscortMission involving it after [[spoiler:Artemis betrays the U.S. and launches a full-scale invasion]], where Crenshaw must escort the President to a secure location, fighting off enemy fighters that try to shoot it down. The mission gets harder toward the end when [[spoiler:Artemis]] brings in radar jammers that make it harder for your aircraft to lock on and stay locked-on.

* AirStrikeImpossible: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. Operation: Backhand involves Crenshaw having to pilot an airplane through a heavily guarded, captured military base. The sheer number of [=SAMs=] and AA guns Crenshaw would have to avoid would put this mission squarely in this trope... if it weren't for the fact that the ERS plans the route out for you, allowing you to perform the airstrike by simply [[PassThroughTheRings flying through the rings]].

* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: Operation Typhoon has you playing a random U.S. Navy pilot, err [[InsistentTerminology aviator]], that was stationed in Tokyo. You still have all the skills and hardware of Crenshaw, though.

* CameraLockOn: OFF mode keeps the camera glued onto a targeted enemy, avoiding one of the more annoying aspects of both combat flight simulators and a dynamic third-person camera: enemies flying off the camera and away from your view.

** While OFF mode tries to avoid this by keeping its camera pinned to your target and quickly transitioning between targets mid-combat, the initial transition can also be jarring at times, due to the game wanting to be "dynamic" and thus causing your camera to focus on your plane from a front angle first before ''very slowly'' panning over to your targeted enemy. This causes a delay between when you switch and when you can actually fire (since what you can lock onto is determined almost entirely by what's on-screen - you can also usually lock onto targets at angles you can't possibly hit them from with the standard missiles by holding the target-switch button to focus your camera on them), which can be pretty jarring when you're trying to attack something. This also makes switching targets a bit harder. However, the game is smart enough to realize that if you switch in the middle of a heated battle you're ''probably'' preoccupied with something more important than bullet points on the back of the box like dynamic camera shifts, and the view will just immediately change.

*** Radar-guided missiles: In ''Ace Combat'', they are not counted as "missed" until they either run out of propulsion or hit something, meaning you can do things like launch one early at a target out of the maximum lock-on range (the [=PS2=] games) or launch at multiple targets so long as they're all within the circle (PSP and later games). In ''HAWX'', radar-guided missiles are counted as a miss as soon as you switch targets, if you ever lose the normal lock-on, or even as soon as you ''fire'' if you don't have a target in range.
*** Multi-target munitions: In all ''Ace Combat'' games produced until ''[[VideoGame/AceCombatAssaultHorizon Assault Horizon]]'', multi-target weapons not only fire only the amount of missiles equal to however many targets that are locked on, but any missiles still on their racks (ie You only locked on to 2 targets out of, for example, a maximum of 4, so only two missiles were launched) are still available for use. In both ''HAWX'' entries, firing any sort of multi-target munition will trigger a reload timer for ALL the pylons/racks, even if you haven't fired the other missiles.

* DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch: The name ''Las Trinidad'' shows a lack of understanding of Spanish literacy from Ubisoft's part. The name should had been just ''La Trinidad'' or ''Las Trinidades''.

* [[GoodGunsBadGuns Good Planes Bad Planes]]: Zig-zagged, mostly in part by the fact that the player switches sides at a point in the game. As judging by the suggested planes for various missions, Artemis has a preference for non-American jets, primarily Soviet ones (only one mission in the first half suggests an American jet, the F-4G, and one suggests a Mirage while the rest all suggest Sukhoi and Mikoyan craft), and your enemies tend to be non-aligned militias that use whatever they can get their hands on, generally preferring F-5s. Once you switch back to the US military it's played more straight, as Artemis jets under NPC control continue preferring Soviet and Russian craft while the player's suggested planes for the rest of the game all remain Western (only two levels suggest non-American craft, and in both cases they're still Western craft, the Eurofighter and then the Rafale) - however, with the exception of the first mission, the Assistance OFF tutorial, and the epilogue, you're never prevented from flying a plane unless it doesn't have a weapon required for the mission (like free-fall bombs for the third mission), so you can keep flying your Su-27s and the like all through to the end of the game.

* HoldTheLine: One of the mission types is to protect a fixed location for a certain amount of time, until TheCavalry can arrive. These missions typically end up the most frantic, as the enemy will barrage the area with planes, tanks, and other sorts of military equipment.
* HyperspaceArsenal: Just like Ace Combat before it, the planes in HAWX can carry over 100 missiles. Even the supposed "Low Payload" trait still grants the player a whopping 140 JSM's. The hardest difficulty lowers your overall ammo count, but that's still a good 88 JSM's, which was close to the high end for ''end-game'' planes in earlier ''Ace Combat'' games.

* InterfaceScrew: Any damage causes your screen to go fuzzy, which can be very distracting. This is also what's keeping the anti-aircraft guns from being simple annoyances.
** Features heavily during ''Torchlight'' as well; early on, you're subject to CameraAbuse due to moderate rainfail. It escalates during the latter parts of the mission as Artemis begins jamming your systems, interfering with the [=ERS=] and lock-on.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The game features many cool planes to fly that would not make any sense story-wise. It's handwaved when you're employed by Artemis by saying that they can buy any aircraft from anyone, but when you defect back to the US, that no longer works. The Air Force and Navy missions still give you the same options as the Artemis missions (and possibly more due to the missions taking place later in the game), which leads to the odd sight of the US Military using planes from different branches (like flying Navy missions with the F-15, or Air Force missions with the F/A-18 - the latter is even forced in the first level, even on a NewGamePlus replay), retired planes (like the F-14 and F-117), foreign planes (like the Eurofighter and all the different [=MiG=] and Sukhoi aircraft), armed versions of tech demos (like the Su-47, also foreign, and the F-15 ACTIVE), and concept planes (like the A-12, which was cancelled before any prototype was developed). Even the handwave of the squadron being [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous elite]], and could possibly have access to planes that would be unavailable to the average pilot, would still be a weak explanation story-wise.

* [[GoodGunsBadGuns Good Planes Bad Planes]]: Zig-zagged, mostly in part by the fact that the player switches sides at a point in the game. As judging by the suggested planes for various missions, Artemis has a preference for non-American jets, primarily Soviet ones (only one mission in the first half suggests an American jet, the F-4G, and one suggests a Mirage while the rest all suggest Sukhoi and Mikoyan craft), and your enemies tend to be non-aligned militias that use whatever they can get their hands on, generally preferring F-5s. Once you switch back to the US military it's played more straight, as Artemis jets under NPC control continue preferring Soviet and Russian craft while the player's suggested planes for the rest of the game all remain Western (only two levels suggest non-American craft, and in both cases they're still Western craft, the Eurofighter and then the Rafale) - however, with the exception of the first mission, the Assistance OFF tutorial, and the epilogue, you're never prevented from flying a plane unless it doens't have a weapon required for the mission (like free-fall bombs for the third mission), so you can keep flying your Su-27s and the like all through to the end of the game.

** A few weapons also work differently between the two series, which can lead to wasted ammunition when switching between the two. The biggest example is possibly the radar-guided missiles - in ''Ace Combat'', they are not counted as "missed" until they either run out of propulsion or hit something, meaning you can do things like launch one early at a target out of the maximum lock-on range (the [=PS2=] games) or launch at multiple targets so long as they're all within the circle (PSP and later games). In ''HAWX'', radar-guided missiles are counted as a miss as soon as you switch targets, if you ever lose the normal lock-on, or even as soon as you ''fire'' if you don't have a target in range.

* ShortRangeLongRangeWeapon: Missile ranges aren't as bad as in Ace Combat, but they are still much shorter than in RealLife. Of course, sniping at each other over long distances is much less [[RuleOfFun fun]] than dogfighting, so TropesAreNotBad.

* HighAltitudeBattle: It's an airplane game, [[CaptainObvious after all]]. Special points go to the Rio De Janeiro and Washington D.C missions, where the sheer amount of planes to dogfight with puts this as one of the most triumphant examples of this trope.

* DoABarrelRoll: Thanks to the OFF Mode, the planes can perform so many cool maneuvers to the point that it [[YouFailPhysicsForever defies the laws of physics]]. These maneuvers are both [[RuleOfCool cool to watch and perform]] (many Website/YouTube videos consist of nothing but flying tricks), and actually useful in outmaneuvering your enemy and dodging incoming missiles.

* {{EMP}}: The satellite control center and its generators are protected by [=EMP=]s. The EMP in the game avoids the "temporarily-disabled only" aspect of the trope, but still isn't completely realistic as it causes your plane to [[MadeOfExplodium explode in a spectacular burst]] of [[YouFailPhysicsForever electricity]] instead of simply disabling your plane and causing it to crash.

To date, there is only one other installment in the series, ''H.A.W.X. 2'', which is set more or less concurrently to the events of ''Ghost Recon: Future Soldier'', during a major coup in Russia in 2024 (unrelated to the 2008 coup that was part of the original ''Ghost Recon'' story).

* AcePilot: The eponymous squadron is made up of these, but they're not the only ones. The US Navy and Japanese pilots are also pretty damn good in Operation Typhoon. Ace pilots are also semi-frequent enemies, being more agile than normal {{Mooks}} (though they still die from the same amount of damage). However there are no named Aces.
* UsefulNotes/AirForceOne: There's an EscortMission involving it after [[spoiler: Artemis betrays the U.S. and launches a full-scale invasion]], where Crenshaw must escort the President to a secure location, fighting off enemy fighters that try to shoot it down. The mission gets harder toward the end when [[spoiler:Artemis]] brings in radar jammers that make it harder for your aircraft to lock on and stay locked-on.

* {{Anticlimax}}: the PlayableEpilogue, gameplay-wise. It consist of an easy trench run around Adrian Dewinter's weakly defended hideout before destroying his residence (which takes only one missile to destroy). It's mostly meant to tie up the loose ends of the plot.
* AppealToForce: Artemis manages to control ''all'' of America's nukes, actually, and naturally uses that to blackmail the U.S. into complying with its demands. The final mission involves you trying to prevent them from carrying out their threat.

* CameraScrew: All damage on your vehicle causes a fuzz on your screen, even the weak anti-aircraft guns (it's pretty much the only thing keeping them from being simple annoyances). This fuzzing could cause you to crash or get hit again if you're in the middle of a heated battle.
** The OFF mode transition can also be jarring at times, due to the game wanting to be "dynamic" and thus causing your camera to focus on your plane from a front angle first before ''very slowly'' panning over to your targeted enemy. This causes a delay between when you switch and when you can actually fire, which can be pretty jarring when you're trying to attack something. This also makes switching targets a bit harder. However, the game is smart enough to realize that if you switch in the middle of a heated battle you're ''probably'' preoccupied with something more important than bullet points on the back of the box like dynamic camera shifts, and the view will just immediately change.

** The ContinuityNod to ''[=EndWar=]'' also helps make the plot stretch the SuspensionOfDisbelief less. Read the discussion in the Fridge section for more details.

* DamnYouMuscleMemory: Ace Combat and HAWX on consoles have almost the exact same controls... except for the teensy fact that the missile and gun buttons are switched. The PC version, however, allows you to change controls... but it also has an issue where, in spite of the customizable controls, it is primarily designed with a 360 controller in mind and is as such hard-coded to count button #1 as your "confirm" button and button #2 as your "back" one, regardless of your bindings or which physical buttons those actually are - unless you're using an actual 360 controller or something that exactly emulates one, you could end up with the ''top'' face button as the "confirm" button.

* [[GoodGunsBadGuns Good Planes Bad Planes]]: Zig-zagged, mostly in part by the fact that the player switches sides at a point in the game. As judging by the suggested planes for various missions, Artemis has a preference for non-American jets, primarily Soviet ones (only one mission in the first half suggests an American jet, the F-4G, and one suggests a Mirage while the rest all suggest Sukhoi and Mikoyan craft), and your enemies tend to be non-aligned militias that use whatever they can get their hands on, generally preferring F-5s. Once you switch back to the US military it's played more straight, as Artemis jets under NPC control continue preferring Soviet and Russian craft while the player's suggested planes for the rest of the game all remain Western (only two levels suggest non-American craft, and in both cases they're the Eurofighter and then the Rafale) - however, with the exception of the first mission, the Assistance OFF tutorial, and the epilogue, you're never prevented from flying a plane unless it doens't have a weapon required for the mission (like free-fall bombs for the third mission), so you can keep flying your Su-27s and the like all through to the end of the game.

* AcePilot: The eponymous squadron is made up of these, but they're not the only ones. The US Navy and Japanese pilots are also pretty damn good in Operation Typhoon. Ace pilots are also semi-frequent enemies, being more agile than normal {{Mooks}} (though they still die from the same amount of damage).

* DamnYouMuscleMemory: Ace Combat and HAWX on consoles have almost the exact same controls... except for the teensy fact that the missile and gun buttons are switched. The PC version, however, allows you to change controls... but it also has an issue where it seems hard-coded to count button #1 as your confirm button in menus and button #2 as your back button regardless of what they're bound to in gameplay - an Xinput-style controller that's not actually a 360 controller, for instance, could end up with the ''top'' face button as "confirm".

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Adrian Dewinter and presumably the other Artemis executives.

* DamnYouMuscleMemory: Ace Combat and HAWX on consoles have almost the exact same controls... except for the teensy fact that the missile and gun buttons are switched. The PC version, however, allows you to change controls... but that just brings up this trope again in the menus, since .

** The OFF mode transition can also be jarring at times, due to the game wanting to be "dynamic" and thus causing your camera to focus on your plane from a front angle first before ''very slowly'' panning over to your targeted enemy. This causes a delay between when you switch and when you can actually fire, which can be pretty jarring when you're trying to attack something. This also makes switching targets a bit harder. However, the game is smart enough to realize that if you switch in the middle of a heated battle you're ''probably'' a bit more preoccupied with something other than dynamic camera shifts, and the view will just immediately change.

* CodeName: You only know your wingmen by their call sign. Strangely, your own call sign is rather underused, with most people calling you by your real name.

* CoolPlane: The cover and cinematic intro feature the extremely cool [[UsefulNotes/GaulsWithGrenades Dassault Rafale]]. In game, you can fly over ''50'' different aircraft from around the world. DLC increases that number to ''[[UpToEleven over 60]]''. This game probably has the highest number of cool planes in any one game. There's even an internet tool to help you manage all these planes and find the one you want to fly. You can find it [[http://hawx.max-worlds.net/ here]].

** The second installment even has this on its box: Fight in the same conflict depicted in ''Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier''. Although this caused some issues when ''Future Soldier'' came out two years later with a very different plot, though it nevertheless tried to keep the inter-continuity by having HAWX flight bail you out of a tight spot late in the game.

* DamnYouMuscleMemory: Ace Combat and HAWX on consoles have almost the exact same controls... except for the teensy fact that the missile and gun buttons are switched. The PC version, however, allows you to change controls, but then that brings up the issue where, unless you're using a 360 controller, your circle/B button is now the "confirm" button in menus.
** A few weapons also work differently between the two series, which can lead to wasted ammunition when switching between the two. The biggest example is possibly the radar-guided missiles - in ''Ace Combat'', they are not counted as "missed" until they either run out of propulsion or hit something, meaning you can do things like launch one early at a target out of the maximum lock-on range (the [=PS2=] games) or launch at multiple targets so long as they're all within the circle (PSP and later games). In ''HAWX'', radar-guided missiles are counted as a miss as soon as you switch targets, or even as soon as you ''fire'' if you don't have a target in range.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Artemis is more than willing to invade the U.S., assassinate the president, and detonate nukes simply because the U.S.'s involvement in a war cost them a few points on the stock market.
** This is because they are being hired by a terrorist group as their main assault force in a world where most warfare is outsourced.

* FogOfWar: If your opponent is using radar jammers, your radar and Tac-Map will be obscured in an effect that's very similar to this trope in RealTimeStrategy games. This is especially apparent during Operation Iron Arrow, where the only area that's visible (and defensible, as your missiles don't work in the "fog") is the area surrounding your [=AWAC=]s plane. Luckily, this area gets progressively bigger the more jammers you destroy.
* FollowTheLeader: To ''Ace Combat''.
** ''HAWX 2'' has some overt inspiration from ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare''. There's a AC-130 gunnery mission, the bad guys are ultranationalist Russians and the plot keeps switching between the POV of several pilots from different nations.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The game features many cool planes to fly that would not make any sense story-wise. It's handwaved when you're employed by Artemis by saying that they can buy any aircraft from anyone, but when you defect back to the US, that no longer works. The Air Force and Navy missions still give you the same options as the Artemis missions (and possibly more due to the missions taking place later in the game), which leads to the odd sight of the US Military using planes from different branches (like flying Navy missions with the F-15, or Air Force missions with the F/A-18 - the latter is even forced in the first level, even on a NewGamePlus replay), retired planes (like the F-14 and F-117), foreign planes (like the Eurofighter and all the different [=MiG=] and Sukhoi aircraft), armed versions of tech demos (like the Su-47, also foreign, and the F-15 ACTIVE), and concept planes (like the A-12, which was cancelled before any prototype was developed). Even the handwave of the squadron being [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous elite]], and could possibly have access to planes that would be unavailable to the average pilot would still be a weak explanation story-wise.

* [[GoodGunsBadGuns Good Planes Bad Planes]]: Mostly [[AvertedTrope averted]]. Enemies, being PrivateMilitaryContractors that bought aircraft from all over the world, can fly any country's plane to attack you. Likewise, you can choose any plane you want, too, regardless of nationality. The enemy does seem to send a lot of Mikoyan and Sukhoi jets after you, though, while FMV's of planes representing the player tend to use the F-22.

If this is all starting to sound familiar to you, chances are you have played ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' before, and you would be right. The gameplay is almost identical to that of the ''Ace Combat'' games and there is a degree of overlap between the fanbases of the two. On the other hand, both ''H.A.W.X.'' games are all multiplatform, including PC releases, whereas with the exception of ''VideoGame/AceCombatAssaultHorizon'' every installment in ''Ace Combat'' has been exclusive to a single platform.

To date, there is only one other installment in the series, ''H.A.W.X. 2''. Which is set before and during the events of ''Ghost Recon: Future Soldier''.

* AcePilot: The eponymous squadron is made up of these, but they're not the only ones. The US Navy and Japanese pilots are also pretty damn good in Operation Typhoon. Ace pilots are also frequent enemies, being more agile than normal {{Mooks}} (though they still die from the same amount of damage).

** AluminumChristmasTrees: It ''is'', in fact, very possible to get a plane to "drift" in a manner similar to what's capable in OFF mode, though not nearly so tightly, not at all so controlled, and with so much sudden change in g-force that it will likely black out the pilot in seconds. It will also likely stall the plane, cause a flat-spin (exceedingly dangerous), and is more or less prohibited by any rational air force in the world. But still...possible.

** The second installment even has this on its box: Fight in the same conflict depicted in ''Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier''. In turn, ''Future Soldier'' features the HAWX squadron in one mission, though it caused some issues when ''Future Soldier'' came out two years later with a very different plot.

* DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch: The name ''Las Trinidad'' shows a lack of understanding of spanish literacy from Ubisoft's part. The name should had been just ''La Trinidad'' or ''Las Trinidades''.

To date, there is only one other installment in the series, ''H.A.W.X. 2''. Which set before and during the events of ''Ghost Recon: Future Soldier''.

To date, there is only one other installment in the series, ''H.A.W.X. 2''.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: For the first half of the game, Las Trinidad, an anti-U.S South/Central American Union are your primary enemies. Then they hire Artemis out from under the American government and use them to attack the United States. Despite this, as soon as you fight off Artemis in the Magellan Straits, Las Trinidad vanishes from the plot completely as Artemis continues the fight entirely on their own.

* CanonImmigrant: ''H.A.W.X.'' contains a handful of references to other games in the Tom Clancy brand, including ''Ghost Recon'', ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'', and ''VideoGame/EndWar''.
** The ContinuityNod to ''[=EndWar=]'' also helps make the plot stretch the SuspensionOfDisbelief less. Read the discussion in the Fridge section for more details.
** The second installment even has this on its box: Fight in the same conflict depicted in ''Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier''. In turn, ''Future Soldier'' features the HAWX squadron in one mission, though it caused some issues when ''Future Soldier'' came out two years later with a very different plot.

* CoolPlane: The cover and cinematic intro feature the extremely cool [[GaulsWithGrenades Dassault Rafale]]. In game, you can fly over ''50'' different aircraft from around the world. DLC increases that number to ''[[UpToEleven over 60]]''. This game probably has the highest number of cool planes in any one game. There's even an internet tool to help you manage all these planes and find the one you want to fly. You can find it [[http://hawx.max-worlds.net/ here]].

* WashingtonDCInvasion: One of the [[AwesomeMoments highlights]] of the game.

If this is all starting to sound familiar to you, chances are you have played ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' before, and you would be right. The gameplay is almost identical to that of the ''Ace Combat'' games and there is a degree of overlap between the fanbases of the two. On the other hand, ''H.A.W.X.'' has been ported to the PC whereas ''Ace Combat'' remained a console-exclusive until ''Assault Horizon Enhanced Edition''.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: For the first half of the game, Las Trinidad, an anti-U.S South/Central American Union are your primary enemies. Then they hire Artemis out from under the American government and use them to attack the United States. Despite this, as soon as you fight off Artemis in the Magellan Straits, they vanish from the plot completely.

* LightningBruiser: The best planes (like the [[CoolPlane F-22 Raptor]] and the [[RareVehicles Su-47 Berkut]]) are like this.

* MightyGlacier: The ground support planes, particularly the A-10 Thunderbolt II, tend to be like this.

* MissileLockOn

* CameraLockOn: OFF mode keeps the camera glued onto a targeted enemy, avoiding one of the more annoying aspects of combat flight simulators: enemies flying off the camera and away from your view.

** The OFF mode transition can also be jarring at times, due to the game wanting to be "dynamic" and thus causing your camera to focus on your plane first before ''very slowly'' panning over to your targeted enemy. This causes a delay between when you switch and when you can actually fire, which can be pretty jarring when you're trying to attack something. This also makes switching targets a bit harder. However, the game is smart enough to realize that if you switch in the middle of a heated battle, the view will just immediately change.

* DamnYouMuscleMemory: Ace Combat and HAWX on consoles have almost the exact same controls... except for the teensy fact that the missile and gun buttons are switched. The PC version, however, allows you to change controls, but then that brings up the issue where your circle/B button is now the "confirm" button in menus.

* FragileSpeedster: Most of the air superiority fighters are like this.

* FunWithAcronyms: The eponymous squadron.

** Features heavily during ''Torchlight'' as well; early on, you're subject to CameraAbuse due to moderate rainfail. It escalates during the latter parts of the mission as Artemis begins jamming your systems, interfering with the [=ERS=] and lock-on

* EarlyBirdCameo: The SLAM system prominently featured in ''EndWar'' make its debut in this game. The Ghost's XA-20 Razorback jet from the same game is also available as a VIP download.

* KillSat: Different in most respects as the particular kill sat in question is actually on the side of the good guys (for [[ContinuityPorn more information]], play [=EndWar=]), and must be repaired and reactivated after Artemis used an EMP to disable it for their invasion.

** A few weapons also work differently between the two series, which can lead to wasted ammunition when switching between the two. The biggest example is possibly the radar-guided missiles - in ''Ace Combat'', they are not counted as "missed" until they either run out of propulsion or hit something, meaning you can do things like launch one early at a target out of the maximum lock-on range or redirect them to another target if a teammate steals your intended kill. In ''HAWX'', radar-guided missiles are counted as a miss as soon as you switch targets, or even as soon as you ''fire'' if you don't have a target in range.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The game features many cool planes to fly that would not make any sense story-wise. It's handwaved when you're employed by Artemis by saying that they can buy any aircraft from anyone, but when you defect back to the US, that HandWave no longer works. The Air Force and Navy missions still give you the same options as the Artemis missions (and possibly more due to the missions taking place later in the game), which leads to the odd sight of the US Military using planes from different branches (like flying Navy missions with the F-15, or Air Force missions with the F/A-18), retired planes (like the F-14 and F-117), foreign planes (like the Eurofighter and all the different [=MiG=] and Sukhoi aircraft), armed versions of tech demos (like the Su-47, also foreign, and the F-15 ACTIVE), and concept planes (like the A-12, which was cancelled before any prototype was developed). Even the handwave of the squadron being [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous elite]], and could possibly have access to planes that would be unavailable to the average pilot would still be a weak explanation story-wise.

** The game's arcade nature also means that the planes feel like weird mixes between spaceships and flying cars that shoot magic. For one there is apparently no gravity and aerodynamics modeling: diving/climbing doesn't increase/decrease your speed so most real-life maneuvers lose all significance. Stalling is not dependent on aerodynamics but instead purely on speed. Angles of attack, sideslip and lift are complete non issues. Missiles just work: forget about ground-clutter, radar modes, TVM pixel hunting, Rpi, or engagement aspects. G-forces are not simulated and turning off the assistance mode grants your plane an exemption from the laws of physics. It is basically a classic shooter with gravity disabled and autoaim turned on.

* UniversalDriversLicense: HandWaved by you being in an "elite", experimental squadron, but it's still pretty ridiculous to be able to fly many different planes (including [[RareVehicles rare or non-existent ones]]) with ease.