First off I know StarHawk has been out for a little while, but as StarHawk is like an MMO it relies heavily on its online play and that is always bound to be patched and in turn become a better game overtime.
LightBox are a very active game developer, who listen to their community and use the feedback well, making balancing tweaks to make sure the game is always enjoyable.
That said you still want a fairly decent game out of box.
However, seeing as a new update has just been released which proves that StarHawk is a game that will be growing with its players, it feels like the right time to get this review out there.
As a Firefly fan, I will come right out and say I love the settings for StarHawk, cowboy space operas just works for me.
The environments can be a little bland as you seem to be on mostly desert planets or stations, but there is somewhat of a colour pallet so its not just greys and browns.
Somewhat bland environments are not a major negative towards StarHawk thanks to the Build & Battle (B&B) System which forms the core of StarHawk's gameplay.
For those who don't know B&B is a somewhat unique system (I must say somewhat as Section 8 does have a similar mechanic) that allows gamers to alter the battle field, by dropping down various items such as bunkers, walls and sniper towers.
The singleplayer campaign comes in around 6 hours, with a fairly decent story, with the animated cutscenes doing a good enough job of transiting you between battles. Some will see singleplayer as little more then a training ground before the real battle of multiplayer battles, it will keep you busy however the main beauty of StarHawk is online.
Building costs you Rift which is a type of in game energy that is one of the main focuses of the single player story but in a gameplay sense it is what lets you drop new structures or vehicles into the field.
StarHawks learning curve is not too steep, just don't just expect to pick it up and be going wing to wing with anyone in aerial dog fights. But with a little bit of practise you should be pulling of impressive manoeuvres in no time, and with a selection of control options you should be able to find the one that's right for you.
StarHawk has a nice assortment of different vehicles and weapons, shotguns, snipers, jeeps, jetpacks and of cause the Hawks - a sort of mech/plane hybrid (transformer style).
With the usual suspects of online modes, if you are hoping for a unique mode for this game the best you're going to get is Capture the Flag. With B&B CTF is one of the more fun modes, with you sometimes spending more time making you flag unattainable instead of getting the opposing teams flags.
StarHawk could be seen as a castle defence game on top a third person shooter. That however is not a bad thing as its blast to play. Get yourself a good team and you can work wonders with the B&B system, setting up spawn points close to enemy camps or dropping armoured bunkers in the opponent's base.
With LightBox already proving they are in it for the long haul, this is one game worth checking out if you're bored of the same-o same-o feel of some online shooters.