My initial impression of Warhawk was similar to the experience many others have had: What the *%$! is going on? I'm in a plane that appears as if it escaped from Crimson Skies and I'm getting shot at. Now I'm dead. Get in a new plane. Something is shooting at me. Is it another plane? No. A turret? Nope. Some dude hiding behind trees with a rocket launcher? Apparently. I died a lot in the first hour of playing Warhawk and I don't think I managed to kill a single foe. With no tutorials on offer and no electronic manual included in the downloadable version (since addressed by an online manual at the official Warhawk site) I was left floundering for answers to basic questions, like how do I lock my missiles on a freaking target? I had more questions than answers and it required a considerable amount of trial and error until I finally put some pieces together. Once understood, Warhawk delivers a fantastic experience, delivering amazing visuals and open-ended gameplay that I'll be returning to for quite some time.

The lack of a basic tutorial level really hurts Warhawk and will most likely frustrate casual players. While I have no problem with Incognito's decision to abandon the single-player campaign, they should have at least produced a tutorial video or introduced some drone enemies for target practice. Fortunately, I was able to get creative and do this myself by jacking-in a second controller and creating a local LAN game, wherein I sent up my own drone plane and tried using every weapon available on it. This proved successful and before long I had a basic understanding of all of the available weapons, including ground-based turrets.

Once you shed off your noob skin and have basic competence, the entirety of what Warhawk has to offer hits home and you quickly realize this game kicks ass. Finally, the PS3 has something great to play that isn't a port and isn't Super Stardust HD. At its core, Warhawk feels like an alternative-reality version of the Battlefield series, offering players multiple ways in which to engage in combat, whether that be running around on foot while using everything from a sniper-rifle to a flame-thrower, to cruising around in a tank or jeep with mounted turret, or best of all, taking the action to the skies where you can pull off amazing maneuvers by simply flicking the right-thumbstick

Considering how much action is occurring in Warhawk at any given second, I must confess I'm very surprised at the lag-free environment. I've played countless hours and I've yet to see a single enemy lag-warp, a testament to having great servers and tight code. This is of critical importance when your game offers no single-player capability, effectively putting all of your chips on a multiplayer bet. It pays off.

Warhawk doesn't deliver much in the way of game modes we haven't seen countless times before, offering up basic deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture-the-flag and zone control. Zone control is by far the best way to experience Warhawk, as each team will be attempting to take over specific areas, defending those positions and moving on to new horizons in an epic give-and-take. A little freshness is included in how those zones work; specifically, the zones grow in size the longer you control it and if it manages to overlap another of your zones then your team will be bestowed with some nice bonuses, all in the form of new equipment and vehicular spawns.

While aerial combat is Warhawk's strong point and delivers a great experience, ground combat is less stellar, all because the controls feel way too loose and no amount of fiddling with the control scheme or sensitivities had much effect on my inability to properly aim. Hopefully this will be addressed in a future patch, as its the only glaring weakness in an otherwise great game.

Graphically, Warhawk delivers on the promise of the PS3....finally. You'll find no terrain pop-up here, which is simply amazing when one considers how much detail is packed in to each level. It's twice as impressive when you consider that you can go from flying your Warhawk to landing on the ground without ever losing a sense of scale. When the action starts getting hectic, with turrets firing flak, ground troops firing rockets, the skies filled with Warhawks and explosions and debris, well, never once does the game slow down or pause. It's smooth as silk and represents an unparalleled achievement not only for the PS3, but any hardware platform.

It's just too bad Incognito opted out of tutorials, as they've really shot themselves in the foot in terms of attracting a larger base of players. You're going to need the patience of Job to persevere in the early stages, but if you manage it then you're in for one of the best multiplayer experiences available.