I know, I know, it's H@wX 2 but in a moment of weakness for some eye candy and something new to try with a new stick, I saw this on sale on Steam and I went for it.
Geoeye is the tech used for mapping and the *incredible* ground seen in games such as Ace Combat 6 and the Hawx games (aka Tom Clancy's HUD Hell).

The game is a fun arcade flight game, better than the first but LOOK at the scenery! It really is the opposite of a sim, in that a sim typically has an ultra detailed aircraft and cockpit but lego scenery, as the cockpit is really pretty useless here. Still, I'm blown away by the environment.

Those are beautiful. Thanks for posting them. Maybe someday the engine will be used for a non-arcade title.

Those truely are gorgeous. Though I'm surprised you say it's better than the first. I loved the first, and found the demo of the second dissapointing. However; if ya think it's better I may have to give it a second look!

Gorgeous pics indeed. Are these guys on the carrier animated?

+1

Gosh, still the Eurofighter Cockpit is entirely BS...

Just got and finished the first HAWX. Liked the graphics, but I'd rather play ANY Ace combat...
Kind of liked it. No, ok I liked it.

Just...
Just some mission almost made no sense at all.

And it also mis-trained me. After finishing HAwx I started again playing some F4:AF... Man I messed it up. :P

Gorgeous scenery.

I'm the opposite, I liked the first, but not the 2nd.

Agreed, I love some AC6 for arcade flying. AC6 even had better cockpits.
I've enjoyed it so far, partially due to the variety of other missions. The AC-130 (seems mandatory in some games now) was fun, the UAV missions were pretty fun. I haven't seen any mention of the ridiculous r/c plane view the first game had, but I had that on 360 so maybe the pc version is different? Or it could be hidden in there, I don't know. I hated that. So far no tunnel missions and even a few landings and take offs, although not difficult to do.
Characters on the carrier are indeed animated, it was pretty nicely done, both day and night.

Is that the PC version? That is some beautiful scenery, but then again maybe they can afford to do so because each "theatre" is limited to only a few hundred square miles?

Correct pc version, DX10. Also runs in DX11, which I assume would look even better but my card doesn't support it.
Areas aren't that large considering these are jet fighters, I think AC6 missions on console were actually larger. The game runs like a champ though, surely adding sim elements and a larger area are still realistically possible, if someone had the budget to do so. I assume it's not cheap although the game itself isn't complex.