Gaming Target - Xbox: Defender

Written by Nick Doukas on January 14, 2003

Full Review: УBut mom, if you take away our cartoons, we'll grow up with no sense of humor, and be robots.Ф УReally? What kind of robots?Ф

I remember Defender. In fact, I remember a point in time when arcade games were vastly superior to their home console versions (many times, there was no console version), and if you wanted your vid fix, you needed to get your butt to the local arcade. Defender was one of the all time great arcade games, and I spent many an hour plunking quarters into the machine, when I should have been at school (or, at the very least, doing some homework). How does this benefit you, the reader? Well, if I had gone to school, I might be a doctor or a lawyer right now. Therefore, I could be telling you about your terminal illness, or requesting that the bailiff shoot you for trying to bust your leg chains and flee the courtroom. Instead, I'm stuck in a state of arrested adolescence reviewing a videogame for you. No imminent death or incarceration, just a simple little videogame overview. Isn't that great? I thought so. Anyway, the 10,000 dollar question is: does Defender stand the test of time and emerge as a great next generation game in it's current iteration? Well, the short answer is yesЕand the long answer is noЕ.with an explanation. Read on to see how it all breaks down.

Defender is a straight-forward action shooter. While you do have a fair amount of freedom, your ship (of which there are several classes) maneuvers more like an attack chopper (well it sort of does, if you ignore a lot of the laws of physics) than a jet fighter, and will need to be handled accordingly. Since this is an update of the classic coin-op (which was a 2D side scroller) taken into full 3D, many of the УarcadeФ elements are carried over. Fans of the original will recognize the enemies (specifically the Lander) and many of the sound effects are aped from the classic version. Tasks such as defending against wave after wave of Manti warriors, or rescuing colonists and returning them to a central drop zone, are obvious homage's to the original game.

You'll control your ship using the left analog stick, with which you have solid control over turn, pitch and yaw. The right stick manages a set of aerial acrobatics, which includes a 360-degree loop, as well as a quick change of direction, all managed with an unmistakable flair. The A button will fire your weapon, the X and B buttons allow you to strafe left and right, and the Y button cycles armaments. The directional pad will target colonists for evacuation, as well as enemies for extermination. The R trigger controls forward thrust and L covers reverse, and special weapons are accessed using the white button. The Heads Up Display shows you the currently selected weapon, ammunition remaining, the status of your ship's health, and a radar which indicates the position of colonists, landers and other relative craft. The levels are mission based, with tasks ranging from systematically destroying enemy forces, to protecting colonists from capture. If a human is allowed to remain in enemy hands long enough to be assimilated, the lander that absorbs him mutates into a more ferocious nemesis, so you'll spend a lot of time racing to the rescue. The aerial combat is well done, and flying into battle against a group of big green and yellow bugs is a lot of fun. In an interesting variation, you'll also be given the opportunity to position ground forces to support your aerial assault. The missions are tied together with surprisingly solid CG cut scenes that depict mankind's struggles against the alien forces, and several multi-player modes are included as well, which fleshes out the game beyond the story mode.

Graphically Defender looks great. The game features solid textures and detailed ship models, and the explosions and other environmental effects drench the screen in colorful detail. Enemies are robust and feature excellent animations, and the backgrounds are simple enough so as not to distract you from the task at hand. The sound effects are well done and the music is interesting, once again maintaining an arcade feel that harkens back to the original game, yet still maintains a more modern credibility with the inclusion of tracks by KMFDM and Trigger. Defender includes some DVD extras, including a Уmaking of Ф special, and some archival footage that details the game's history.

Unfortunately, Defender does get old pretty fast. Since it's pretty tongue in cheek to begin with, there's just not a lot of depth to the game. To be fair, it does what it set out to do admirably, but once the nostalgia factor wears off, you're left with a fairly standard, though admittedly very well done, retro shooter with a fresh new 3D coat of paint. Kind of like an Egg Mcmuffin; good while you're downing it, and you probably wouldn't say no to another, but not something you'd eagerly line up for. Even if you're a die-hard fan of the original, put a hold on that muffin and rent it first.