Is Warhawk really that good?

Just got Warhawk a week ago. I've been playing it around 2 hours a day since then, so I have some impressions to post. I say impressions since this appears to be the deep kind of game I'll still be learning more about a year from now.


Game modes:

CTF - standard capture the flag
Zones - earn points for holding strategic points
Dogfight - only warhawks; air battle
Team deathmatch - kill your enemies for points
Deathmatch - kill everyone for points

There's nothing surprising or unusual here, but they're all nicely implemented. On TDM, you still can earn points for capturing nodes; this way you are rewarded for helping the team as well as killing your opponents. CTF has a timer on returning the flag, so just fragging the carrier then touching the flag isn't enough.


Graphics:

Average presentation on menus and stuff, nice solid in-game graphics. Some details were thought of, like if you hit a wall with the tank gun, it moves up to avoid penetrating the wall. Vehicle explosions launch a shower of pieces; it's cool when you peg a Hawk from the ground and the pieces rain down around you.


Sound:
Excellent sound design. Weapons and vehicles sound solid, and vehicle explosions thunder, and the subsequent raining pieces make a good clatter.


Gameplay:
Awesome, as usual. For those of you who don't know, Incognito used to be Singletrac in the PSOne days. They made Warhawk, JetMoto (1 and 2), and Twisted Metal (1, 2). Then they became Incognito Entertainment (or Incog for short) and made Twisted Metal: Black, War of the Monsters and Downhill Domination for PS2. All of these games had good to excellent presentations and awesome gameplay. As a side note, David Jaffe (the guy behind God of War and Calling All Cars) used to work for Incog, and is now forming a new studio with Scott Campbell, the head of Incog. So if any game on the PS3 has a hot pedigree, it's Warhawk.

Now the BIG BIG question: Does the motion control work? YES! Warhawk's use of Sony's motion sensing controllers is a huge success. Gliding around in a warhawk is lots of fun. You move the cursor with the left stick, bank/pitch with the tilt, and the right stick does extra pitch/bank (if you need it) and barrel rolls. You steer tanks and jeeps with the tilt. The right stick also aims with the tank at the same time as the tilt does the steering; this allows a lot of freedom to move and fire in different directions.

I'll write more later. This time, I think I really will. I know I've said that before and not gotten back to it, but I'll be playing Warhawk for quite some time.

If you have a PS3 and like competitive gaming, definitely get this.