Seeing is believing. (Too) many years ago, I
would spend my school-free weekend nights in the arcades…. playing various
games and trying my best to get rid of every cent I earned at my part time jobs.
One of the beastly games that needed my tokens was Defender (later, the more
comprehensive sister game "Stargate"). The original Williams game was fresh and
lots of fun. The sounds beckoned you to play– calling to you from across the
room. It had unique sound effects and fast-paced, white knuckle game play. Many
games came later that tried to mirror the thrill, but Defender stood alone as
the best of that genre. When I found the game was being released with a 2002
makeover, I was thrilled (again). Maybe I should have left my memories
unchallenged.
The new version of Defender by 7 Studios
is somewhat of a disappointment. I could say harsher things, but that would be
my frustrations talking– not fair and unbiased reviewing. My feeling was that
the original was so good, something new must be
totally awesome!! My feeling was wrong, in the case of this Gameboy Advance
release. I am sure the other platforms may have gotten it right, but this one
left me missing the promised thrills.
Defender is a side-scroller in which you pilot a
ship in an attempt to rescue stranded humans that call to you from the ground.
You must defend the human race and your ship from the alien invasion. If
all of the humans are abducted by the alien onslaught, the game is over– and
you fail. It makes for tense and manic game play. At least it did 20+ years ago.
What’s left in the current GBA incarnation is a tense, annoying test of your
thumb strength and ability to remain calm in times of utter frustration and
disappointment.
Defender allows to you to play a few different
modes. One is (thankfully!) the Classic mode, while the other two are XG and XGP.
Sadly, none of these salvaged my bad feelings for the experience.
Classic mode allows you to play just like
the original arcade version. The sounds and graphics are identical, and amazing.
It never fails to amaze this "old" gamer when something so small can reproduce
what used to take large cabinets and expensive monitors. Now, the whole game
fits in one little cartridge! The only problem is, given the tiny screen and
"ugly" controls, it is very hard to play it on the little GBA. I wasn’t kidding
about the thumb-issues. After a few minutes of play, I had to take a break, and
that hasn’t happened since I first played the original Soccer for the
Sega Genesis (ouch!). The Defender craft moves so fast, and the action is so
furious that it is hard to do well with the small GBA buttons and screen.
Sitting still and/or moving slow results in dead humans, which is not a good
thing.
The next one I tried was the XG mode
(saving the best for last, I thought). To sum it up in a brief sentence, the XG
mode is nothing more than the Classic with better graphics. Yippee. Same pains
and irritations– only things looked prettier. The ship has better
detail, and the moving graphics in general looked nicer. The backgrounds are
oddly just painted or photographed stationary dioramas. They reminded me of the
backgrounds you buy by the foot for your aquarium at the pet store. This was
actually a bad thing when it came time to distinguish between objects as things
got intense. Dark and light areas are confusing when ships are attacking and
shots are fired.
The big draw of this release is the XGP
mode. This mode offers five extended missions on various celestial objects
instead of only Earth. That was refreshing, but the background remained that
annoying fish-display material that really bothered me for some reason. XGP
allows you to select from several ships, instead of being stuck with the
Defender ship, only. You can select what fits your playing style. Fast and weak,
or slower and stronger… with everything in between. Five ships in all. I tried
all of them, but never really found a favorite. They each had their benefits,
but I mostly stuck with the Defender– out of respect.
The humans on the ground look nice, and the alien
ships are good looking. Everything moves too fast, though. That’s the nature of
the game, but again, on this small screen and with these controls, it was a
challenge. If you go slow enough to focus and play smart, your humans are killed
too easily. Thus, I found myself playing more fast and loose than I prefer,
which killed my enjoyment, as well as a lot of humans! I do not like to play out
of control. The object, as stated, is to rescue humans from alien abductors (the
Manti). If you are flying around like an out of control pilot trying not to die,
there is no room for surveying the action and studying the otherwise useful
radar screens. It’s either self-preservation or saving humans…. but
doing both was a pain.
The Manti have more than just flying attack ships
as in the earlier incarnation. They now have bombers, Baiters and ground-based
"Infectors" to name a few. The game feels like a juiced-up Missile Command with
all the ground to air attacks going on. That added to the challenge, but also
the frustration (did I mention the sore thumbs??). With the chaos of the game,
there isn’t time to appreciate or study the attacking ships, but they’re
effective. If nothing else, they keep you so busy that their comrades use that
distraction to steal away some humans.
The sound, with headphones, was very good. The
graphics are mixed, as the backgrounds were so odd looking behind the moving
ships. It takes a good grasp of the various control buttons to maximize the
play. Your left and right buttons control radar and smart bombs (valuable!),
respectively. Once they are mastered, playing becomes less exhausting, though
never comfortable. I love being challenged by a game, but not by things that
should not be a challenge– like the controls and poor design. Maybe this game
should not be on a small platform such as the GBA. There are some fun features
of this version, and I did find myself returning to it often. It just falls
short in ease of play and does not translate well to this size. It feels almost
claustrophobic.
Gameplay: 5.0
The Classic and XG versions were not much fun at all, but the XGP helped
redeem the experience. The controls are just down-right difficult to use for
these games. The screen and action do not mesh well together. There is not
enough "room" to see what is coming and/or where you need to be headed. Flying
the Classic Defender ship was annoying, as it required holding down the right
button to get moving. In XGP, you need only push the direction button in
direction you want to go. Duh. But… try holding down the radar (left)
button while also shooting at an invader and having the smart bomb ready (right
button) AND moving towards a screaming human. Good luck.
Graphics: 5.0
Aside from the annoying backgrounds, the graphics were decent. The ships
come and go so fast, you can’t really appreciate what they look like. Sit still
for a second, and you’ll get a REAL close-up look… then you’ll die. The
Classic version is identical to the original arcade version. That was nice. The
humans in the XGP mode move well, and are easy to spot. Saving them, however, is
something different.
Sound: 6.5
The best thing about the game is the sound. Using headphones, you get a good
feel for everything. It was great to hear the haunting sounds of the Classic
game, as well as the modern enhancements in the XGP version.
Difficulty: Medium
The game was tricky, and not in a good way. Though the premise and
assignment is easy enough, the process of carrying out the missions is daunting.
The buttons on the small GBA unit just do not lend themselves well to the
demands of the game.
Concept: 6.5
Nothing new here, though Defender itself is a name that carries enough
history to deserve an "original" tip of the hat. They managed to take a classic
and enhance it, though to varied degrees of success. Making more aliens to
combat was a nice touch.
Multiplayer: 6
They have provided a means to connect
with another GBA and play one on one or having a friend as an ally. Of course,
this requires both players to have the game.
Overall: 5.5
Mixed feeling all over. As "The" side-action flight scrolling game, Defender
is traditional no matter which mode you play in. I just don’t feel it translates
well to the small and limited play of the GBA. There are too many "button" needs
to limit yourself to such a tiny panel of controls. You really need to stand
back and SEE what’s going on. You must have very quick fingers to survive for
long. It was literally painful to play it at first. So many buttons, such fast
action and too many attackers. If you have a superb grasp (no pun intended) of
the articulation required for this game you will do well. However, if you can
not multi-task in a challenging handheld firefight, then you may want to look
elsewhere for your "save the human race" fix.
