|
There are a few publishers in the current gaming industry whose titles go almost as far back as videogames go. Konami has Frogger. Namco has Pac-Man and Galaga. Activision has its famous Pitfall. Then we move onto Midway. Midway’s list of classic games is very extensive and they are pulling some of those for 3d updates. We saw Midway bring back its famous Spy Hunter franchise back last year and this year they are bringing back Defender.
The original Defender is a bit too old for my time, but I’ve heard that it’s one of the hardest games ever made. Everything in the new Defender is back with a massive 3D makeover. The game puts emphasis on objectives. You need to accomplish various ones before moving on to the next. At the start, the game gives you a description of your overall objective and then the specific objectives. Most of the missions have you defending a position or escorting a transport ship. And even though the Manti, a group of aliens enslaving humans, are in every level you rarely have to destroy them all.
In the new Defender, you pick up humans and drop them off in a safe-zone. This changes from the original Defender in which you defended the humans so the aliens wouldn’t pick them up. The Manti aren’t very pleased that you are stealing their food source so they attempt to capture the humans as well. You need to capture all humans in a set amount of time. If for any reason the Manti get a human before you do, you need to destroy that Manti and catch the human as he falls. Every human you fail to capture will make the Manti stronger and harder to defeat. In the same hand, the more humans you rescue, the easier the level is and more points are given to you. Later in the game you will be able to buy weapons for your ship or you can buy extra lives. Changing weapons is as simple as pressing a button.
The game features a multiplayer mode, for those with galactic buddies. You can play together in a cooperative mode or fight each other in a death-match. They both work well, but since you can always spot your opponent in death-match, it lacks the tense moments usually found in death-matches.
Defender’s 3D update works very well. The game looks simply awesome. Everything in the game looks very good. You are convinced to think that the environments actually are what they tell you it is. Regardless of how frantic the game becomes, you will always have a smooth frame rate, with practically no slowdown. The ships look very similar to what they looked in the 2D game. Classic gamers will no doubt appreciate this. The textures on them are rather simply, but that is explained through the game’s fast frame rate.
The audio package in Defender aren’t the best nor the worst. They are pretty much average. The voices used in orders or briefings are convincing. The weapons don’t sound realistic. The sound effects used are rather generic and don’t add to the feel of the game. The blaster is ripped right from the original and is noteworthy, it sounds very good. All the other sound effects are decent at best but luckily don’t subtract from the overall game.
The controls are awesome and respond very well to your touch. It’ll take you a while to get used to it but once you do you’ll be prepared for an awesome control scheme. The left joystick moves your ship left or right. The right trigger lets you accelerate while the left trigger brakes and lets you use reverse. The ability to strafe is included and becomes very helpful as you attempt to dodge enemy fire. This isn’t meant to be a simulation so flying is very easy. Rescuing a human is as simple as diving into them, flying back up and dropping them off since you can’t hit the ground.
This Defender is very different than the original. Only a few key details were left. If Midway wanted to they could have renamed this something else and only a few people would have noticed that it was based on the original Defender. The differences between this and the original are really that great. If you have a small liking for mission-based space shooters, pick this one up. This is one of the best space shooters to come out in a while and a perfect addition to any gamer’s library. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Nov 5, 2002
|
