Hero Hawk is a top-down action game similar to Sega's Crack Down, in which the player must infiltrate enemy strongholds and plant bombs at certain locations. Each mission is divided into interconnected rooms, which each contain various hazards, enemy soldiers, item containers, and of course bomb markers. When all bombs on a stage have been planted, the boss area opens up, and the player must defeat the boss to complete the mission.

There are a large variety of items that can be found within missions. Food will refill the player's life, grenades will grant an extra screen-clearing bomb, ammunition will let the player shoot faster, boots will increase walking speed, and the ever-useful SuperVision console will let the player access a map of the stage, which indicates which rooms still need bombs placed. However, if the player takes too many hits and dies, all power-ups are lost. There are only a limited number of continues.