The basic premise of WarHawk is certainly nothing new; other massive games in the genre (like Battlefield 2 and Planetside) have been there, done that and collected the shrapnel shards in their collective butts to prove it. However, this is the PlayStation 3's first skirmish into MMOFPS territory, which makes this game all the more interesting. Utilising all that cell-powered goodness under its shiny black hood, you've finally got a proper reason to justify that £400 Blu-Ray player- sorry - games console you recently purchased.

Interestingly, Sony and Incognito have ventured into a new method of getting this game off the shelves and into your PS3. Rather than just being able to walk into your local games store and pick up a copy (on Blu-Ray disc no less), you can also purchase the full game and download it straight to your PS3's hard disc drive via Sony's acclaimed (if slightly bare) PS Network. At the time of writing it is £19.99, which is quite the bargain when you consider the vast majority of games can cost up to double that at launch. This is a nice method of delivery, perfect for the couch potato's out there! I should mention that the Blu-Ray disc copy costs a very respectable £39.99 and it also comes bundled with a PS3 headset, which is the ultimate tool for a game like this where you need to issue orders to your squadron. Either way, it's quite a lot for not a lot of money.

As you've already read, WarHawk is an MMOFPS (Massively Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter). You take control of a standard footsoldier with a wide arsenal of weaponry and vehicles in order to extinguish the opposing team. You'll battle it out in massive outdoor environments in a number of scenarios like your standard deathmatch, team deathmatch and capture the flag. This might sound very standard on paper, but it's the way it's all implemented that makes WarHawk the must have game for everyone with a PS3. You get to control heavily armoured tanks, nimble jeeps and the ultimate fighting machine, the WarHawk - a futuristic, ultra agile, ultra fast jet fighter, armed with chain guns and rocket launchers, which allows you to take part in some simply spectacular dogfights. Whichever vehicle you use to take down the other side is entirely up to you, which is the beauty of this game - you're in control and you alone make the decisions that could see you and your team victorious in battle.

There's really quite a lot of stuff to do in this game; aside from just firing lead at your opposition, you'll also be involved in the teamwork aspect. This means you're going to be rushing enemy bases in order to claim them for your own side, in order to allow your fallen comrades to respawn at said bases. This provides an absolutely massive tactical advantage, as each base you take gives you a stepping-stone onto the next, until finally your entire team has laid siege to the main enemy base. You also get to take control of various gun emplacements around your bases, which are without a doubt the best method of taking down enemy planes and armoured vehicles. There are three main types of gun - the mounted turret that makes mincemeat out of footsoldiers, the massive flak guns and the surface-to-air missile launchers, which ensure that anything with a bit of armour is turned into a flaming wreck. There's a lot to do, and teamwork is the key to success in WarHawk.

So I've touched upon the very basics here and I apologise if it sounds quite lacklustre, but it's really a great game for the price. Every battle pitches you up against different players with different tactics, so it barely ever gets boring. Every time you get into a new fight, you're doing something else to try and gain that advantage to beat your foes. It's really quite an enjoyable game and certainly one you should download if you like playing against other people around the world - however, it suffers from some negative aspects that become apparent rather quickly.

One of the first things you'll notice about WarHawk is its basic appearance. It really doesn't look like a next-gen game; the graphics aren't anything to really write home about, unfortunately. Player and vehicle models are basic in appearance and nothing really stands out in the graphics department, which is a real shame when you consider the tremendous capabilities of the PlayStation 3. The menus share the same fate as well; they're all basic, just showing the minimum required over a backdrop of the sky. I just wish that more developers would take a leaf out Codemasters' book and follow the example of their recent Colin McRae: DiRT, with its beautifully slick menus. But as I've said, the graphics aren't quite underwhelming. Not bad, just not that great unfortunately. However, as has been said many times before, the graphics don't mean much if the gameplay is brilliant and it's true when you think about all those old classics on previous consoles. Fortunately for WarHawk, its gameplay is good enough to be excused for its wholly lacklustre graphics.

Speaking of the gameplay, WarHawk is easily the best multiplayer experience you can have right now on the PS3. It's really quite a brilliantly fun game, and whilst it has an initially steep learning curve, once you master its intricacies it'll play out to be one of the best purchases you've made for your shiny new PS3. Unfortunately this isn't a game you can pick up and immediately master; you've really got to get to grips with the various weapons and vehicles scattered across each map. It takes a while, but once you know when to use a flamethrower and when to use your standard machine gun, WarHawk turns into a superb experience.

The one aspect that perhaps takes the longest to master is the WarHawk itself. I've been playing quite a lot over the past few days and I still find it difficult to outrun those pesky missiles that keep blowing me out of the sky. It's still quite fun to fly around though, which in itself are quite easy thanks to the simplified control system.

The biggest problem that WarHawk suffers from is its lack of any sort of single player mode. There really isn't one and whilst other games in the genre will provide AI bots to fill in for real people when you just want to show the computer who's boss, WarHawk doesn't. I suppose it's really a Marmite issue - personally it doesn't bother me too much as I prefer playing against real people, but others around the world don't seem to like the lack of single player. I guess it really depends on each individual, but I find it's better to play against real people and pick up on some of the advanced skill and tactics they use, then use what I've learned on others.

I also think it would have been better if players could choose a 'class' of footsoldier, as seen in other games. In WarHawk you start off with the two same basic weapons; your pistol, and your knife. Should you die, you respawn with the exact same weapons. This itself isn't really a bad thing, but I can't help but feel that it would have provided a bit more depth if you could choose a different type of infantry and spawn with different tools and weapons. I'm thinking perhaps of being able to play a mechanic and repair your team's damaged vehicles and turrets, or even a support soldier armed with more grenades and a more powerful but less accurate machine gun. The number of times I've left the relatively safe confines of my tank and found that I've got no weapons is countless. It's all the more annoying when you're on foot in the middle of a gunfight between a few of your team members and the opposition and you've got to run around trying to find weapon pickups because you've only got your pistol in your inventory.

Unfortunately, the sound in WarHawk is as grim as its graphics. There's nothing of real interest here, it all sounds fairly generic and doesn't seem to have any of the special effects you might be accustomed to in other games. Whilst vehicles and weapons have their individual sounds, after a while it just gets to the point where you feel you should mute the sound coming out of the game and just play some music in the background. The only real reason you'd want to have some sound is to hear other players speaking, if only for a tactical advantage.

The control system is good though; for a game like this you would immediately think of using some form of mouse and keyboard combination, but you'll quickly get accustomed to using the PS3's controller. There are some slight niggles though, which would not have been a problem had you be able to change some of the controls in-game, but unfortunately you can't, so you're stuck with the sometimes annoying default button configuration. My biggest gripe with the controls are the accelerate and decelerate buttons used in vehicles, which are mapped to the rear triggers on the SIXAXIS controller. Whilst this doesn't sound like a major problem, it really does prove to be one, as those triggers are curved, which means your fingers will quite often slip off them. It's also quite difficult to hold down one of the triggers whilst simultaneously using both thumb sticks for movement and then having to press one of the other two shoulder buttons to fire or lock-on a missile. It's all the more impossible when you need to change your currently equipped weapon from your missiles to some chaffs to avoid being blown up by a missile. Aside from this minor issue, the controls are generally well laid out and maximise the use of the limited number of buttons found on your typical control pad.

Despite its average graphics, average sound and occasionally limited and annoying control system, I found WarHawk to be a thoroughly enjoyable gaming experience. Although I feel that this game is quite probably one of the best games to hit the PS3 in recent months, I do think that it was rushed out of the developer's doors - and it certainly shows. I would definitely recommend WarHawk to anyone who's into this sort of game, but if you're not then I can see you quickly getting frustrated and proceeding to throw your PS3 out of the nearest window - but don't do it, because it cost you a fortune!!

It's also not a game with much depth unfortunately - some added features would have made a solid enhancement to the already excellent gameplay. It also doesn't help its case that the game ships with only a handful of different maps, which will undoubtedly eventually become tiresome. With games like these, there needs to be a good number of maps on offer to keep the gameplay varied enough. I last heard that new downloadable content wouldn't be released until sometime in 2008, although how true these rumours are is yet to be established. Either way, developers Incognito need to start getting some new maps and perhaps even some new vehicles out into the maps.

The option to download WarHawk is an excellent example of Sony's ingenuity and hopefully it'll pave the way for more games being delivered this way. I'm personally hoping the boys over at Microsoft are taking notes, as it would be a brilliant use of their Marketplace for the Xbox 360. That aside, it's well priced, easily obtainable and a very good game despite its flaws. So much so that I'd recommend it to anyone who's into this sort of game. But hey, even if you don't get along with it, it's a small price to pay to justify the purchase of your £400 Blu-Ray player - sorry - games console (yeah, I know I used that joke already) to your other half/parents/friends.

Reviewed by Harmz Singh for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).