A lot of you might be too young to remember a classic game by Midway back in the arcade days when kids would line up and pump quarter after quarter into the machines. Midway struck gold with Defender so they took a chance and remade Defender for the new generation and brought it into the 3D world. Does it live up to its name, or falls short and ends up being just another game. Well, read on and find out.
The storyline is simple, the Manti, an alien race is trying to rid the universe of those annoying humans and it is your job to stop them! You will have the ability to chose from a variety of ships to aid you on your quest to rid the world of the Manti. All of these ships vary in size, speed, and power so chose wisely as the Manti evolve with each mission, so be prepared for the worse.
As you finish each mission, you will earm money to buy weapon upgrades. These upgrades vary from missiles to plasma bombs! Before every mission, you will be briefed by your superior as to what you will have to do. The voice of your superior is rough and tough so don't screw up, or you'll get it! The missions vary from rescuing people to just destroying the Manti.
Along with this, there is multiplayer in the game. It includes deathmatch and cooperative modes. The cooperative mode is for you and a friend to play together and duke it out agains the Manti. Somewhat enjoyable multiplayer, it helps give Defender a bit more life.
Graphically, Defender is nothing more than a port. No attempt was made to use the power of the Xbox which is a real shame. The visuals are average... something that you would find appropriate for a PlayStation 2 game, not an Xbox game! The only place that Defender shines in the visual department is in the FMVs. The computer generated movies are just awesome! Too bad all the time spent in making the FMVs wasnt shared with the in-game graphics.
Sound wise, Defender is average. Like most games, audio seems to just be added at the last moment. Voice acting is okay, nothing special worth mentioning. The actors get the job done. In game music is nothing you'll be humming to while you are out and about. You'll forget it, unlike music in Halo that just draws you in. Defender's music will do nothing special. Weapon effects are, once again, average. Bombs rarely sound like bombs, as they are pretty quiet. Overall, you'll think to yourself, "Is this thing on?"
Overall, with more time spent on the visuals and sound, Defender would have been great. Sadly, it ends up being a rental. Only die-hard Defender fans should buy this. I'd still recommend a rental first. If only this game was as addicting as the original. I say this now, leave the classics in the 2D world. Don't bring them to 3D... please!
Report Card:
Gameplay: 6
Graphics: 6
Audio: 6
Replay Value: 6 Overall: 6 out of 10
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