Gaming Target - Game Boy: Defender

Written by Tim McGrew on December 13, 2002

Review: The only thing worth defending in regards to this game is your wallet.

With the Game Boy Advance library continuing to grow and its sales topping the charts from time to time, it's no wonder that developers constantly release games for it. In fact, its incredibly easy to develop for environment is perfect for small developers wishing to stake a claim to a piece of the proverbial profit pie. But, because GBA is an easy platform to developer for, developers throw their hat into the mix with absolutely terrible remakes that please no one and only anger the gamers who originally gave a damn about these games years ago. Unfortunately, Defender fits that description perfectly.

This is the third game from Outlook Entertainment who is well known for their NFL Blitz adaptation on theаGame BoyаAdvance. Like NFL Blitz on the GBA, Defender is horrible. No, horrible is just too easy of a word to describe it Ц it's enough to make you want to stick a fork through your eyes so you can't see it ever again. I try to be as objective as possible with these reviews, but when a game such as this arrives in the mail, graces my desk, and begs for me to actually put my time into finishing it in order to give an honest and fair review, I can't. My objectivity goes out the window and all that's left is bitterness and in this case, it's all warranted.

Getting down to the nitty-gritty, Defender has three modes of play known as Classic, XG, and XGP. Classic is what any fan of Defender would expect where the essential goal is to stop alien invaders from stealing people off the planet and morphing them into other aliens. The graphics are the same as in the Midway Classics version of the title released earlier on the GBA right down to the animations, but the package overall features both poor controls and terrible AI. In fact, it's almost like a total rape of the once classic title released so long ago on the Atari 2600.

The second mode is XG where the original game from Classic mode is given a face lift with a new static background, a new sprite for the ship, and new sprites for the enemies. I'm not sure if the developers were trying to demonstrate the power of the GBA with this one, but they failed miserably and created just another terrible remake to a port of a game that's already unbearable to any gamer.

The final mode of the game, and obviously the one mode developers also spent the most time in, is XGP mode where the game has received both game play and graphical tweaks to its predecessor. No longer does your ship stop and reverse on a dime, but rather it now has a small animation turning the ship around. Although this is more realistic, it leaves your ship wide open to attacks and pauses the action terribly. What's worse is that most of the time your deaths will be the result of an enemy that can move far faster than you smashing into your ship in these unavoidable accident like explosions. It also doesn't help that the same 2D backgrounds can be seen on every level and that power ups for your ship are few and far between. It's frustrating and there is absolutely no saving grace in this game in any capacity.

One thing worth mentioning is the 2-player mode for XGP that requires a second cart and another friend willing to bear this horrible feat with you. Let's just say that if you get punched in the face for making somebody buy this game, you deserve it. It's as bad as GBA games get and it's upsetting that this much shovel ware is released on a daily basis.