Defender

"Not very Popular, however it has very little flaws"

Defender is an arcade classic that after some time went to the atari and is now on the PS2, if you dont know Defender is a combat flight game in witch you fight against some aliens known as Manti.

Gameplay 9/10

The gameplay of Defender is actually fine you can choose various ships all with different strenghts and weaknesses depending on your mission and witch you can upgrade with money you earn by killing manti and rescuing civilians known as colonists. Every ship also has a tractor beam witch you can carry things on as tanks (ground to ground attack), crawlers (ground to air)and of course you can carry the colonists. This adds a little touch of strategy as for every 3 colonists you can build another tank or crawler or if you pue them in another dropzone get items to replenish your weapons and repair your ship. The problem with the gameplay is that you cannot change the view of your ship youll always see a third person view, some people like to play like this but I like hud views. Also some people argue about difficulty, I can tell you the game is incredibly difficult even if you play in rookie mode but I like challenging games so I dont really care about this but if you are one of those who get pissed of if you cannot beat something this game is not for you as loosing is very frequent.

Controls (10/10)

In my opinion controls are fine, they are quite easy to remember and in my case I didnt have any trouble at all, but most people have a hard time at first but eventually youll get used to it.

Graphics (9/10)

The game has pretty good graphics and everything is detailed however you will sometimes find bugs that let you go trought a rock or building, this are not seen often but I have seen 2 or 3.

Sound (10/10)

Some people dont like the music this game has but I liked it it really made you have a good time and sound effects and voices are fine to sometimes I found myself shooting remaining aliens after a mission was over just to hear them go boom.

Multiplayer (9/10)

I dont really play multiplayer but I have played it once or twice and the only thing that I found wrong with it was again the view you would sometimes have a hard time findin the enemy and shooting it down too however it is quite fun as you can choose to play a deathmatch (player vs player) witch contains 4 different maps or cooperative (both players allied in a mission against the manti)this was the best part as there are about 10 missions to choose from and as I said the game is very challenging even at rookie so you will naturally have a good time preparing your strategy as now you can choose 2 ships (one for you and one for your ally)combining the right ships makes it quite easier as you can attack while the other one saves colonist etc.

Replayability: yes

Replayability is good as you will want to do it again with another ship or maybe do it with the same but now with all your upgrades and you still have m,ultiplayer right? however you will want to change difficulty now.

Overall (9/10)

You may at least want to give this game a rent it is really worth it but I recommend buying it because you defenetly wont beat it in a rent

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/03/03, Updated 06/03/03