Defend the outposts! the Manti are coming!I often heard about Defender the classic as a kid, but I never actually got to it till I was about 16. I also managed to get a hold of this game. Defender for the GameCube. This game was quite a steal. To me it was worth far more than the 2.99 that I payed for it. (I would probably be blessed to get it now for under $15, with gamecube going extinct and all. Since I was little, I always enjoyed the concept of a flying game. (Bosconian was the closest thing that I had to flying) I played this game and loved a lot of things about it. It combines both flying and space. What more could I ask for? And to think I paid $3 for it...
Graphics: The graphics are really good. Especially when you get to the moon! That was pretty sweet! The enemy design looked both warped and alien...but nothing bug like that I was expecting. However, everyone seems to still think that they are bugs. I just do not see that. What I do see is an awesome game with some sweet battles. One thing that I liked as far as the graphics are concerned was the space battle that took place outside the moon of one of the planets. That was the best moment of the game! The weapons that you were able to use as well as the fighter plane design were both completely awesome. I really feel that this was a great gem for graphics. You get to see all kinds of alien evironments from lava to desert to ice to the moon and eventually the earth. And each one was very well designed. There were some pretty awesome boss battles that were very tough. One of them seemed almost like a centipede, and you had to shoot various segments off from his body, until he was completely destroyed. There was also one beast that looked like a floating, hovering dragon.
Sound: The sound is another A+ department on this game. Everything from the voice acting to the sound effects and the music was very well done. I love it when they do a good job like this. They really picked the perfect voice to do the main commander, who is a veteran manti hunter. His voice sounded gruff, a bit raspy, and tough, yet not so much that he sounded like a mean bully. The sounds for your various shots were well done from the machine guns to the bazookas and missiles. Every weapon sounded real and true. There was one sound that I did not like, and that was the yell when the manti would mutate one of the people you were supposed to rescue. But other than that, I cannot recall any sounds that I truly hated. There was some pretty good music throughout, but most of that got drowned out by the battle sounds, so I really cannot remember too much about that. (By the way, I am doing this by memory of the game from a couple years ago.)
Addictiveness: You better know this game was addictive! I love flying and I love space; and this game had them both! The combat was awesome, the storyline engaging, the game play unique, and the graphics and sound were awesome. What more could a game need to be addicting? Oh, did I mention that the majority of this game took place on other planets in the solar system and their moons? No? well, it did, and that was one of the awesome thing about it--getting to explore new locations while fighting crazy bug alien creatures. The addictiveness gets a 10 without even thinking about it.
Story: The story is very good and nothing that I had expected at all. Apparently, the manti swarm have taken over the earth, and humankind has retreated to live in the space colonies among other planets. All throughout, your job is to fight the manti with everything you have, while you get briefed on every mission by either the commander or sometimes the battleship Memory. At one point, you rescue the commander, which was pretty awesome. But all along the journey, your goal is to eventually get back to earth and go home. I'm not allowed to spoil anything, but I will say that the end was sad, and disappointing. There were so many twists and turns in the story, and they really did a good job writing it, I would have given it a 10 but for the ending that left me feeling awful. So they forced my hand to give it an 8.
Depth: The game is fairly deep. You perfrom missions on various planets, and are scored on your performance. You get points for how many lives you had left, how many people you rescued, and all the enemies that you killed.I think that you also get one for time, but I am not sure on that point. There are a lot of levels in here, and they were all pretty difficult for me. So I would give the depth a 10.
Difficulty: The difficulty gets a 9, and you probably know why. It was not impossible, but it was a tough game for me to beat, some of the levels took me days to get past, and I think that I may have even spent a week on one of them. I am going to add how I feel about the game play in here too, since it is fairly related. The game play is not just your typical smash and shoot flying game. Defender also includes quite a bit of strategy. Often times, when you rescue people, you can drop them off at a factory, and they will start working on whatever that factory produces. So there is often a strategy here. Do I put them where I can get more energy, or do I get more tanks? Then there are those levels where you have the widow manti coming in on the ground from more than one direction. Just how do you place the tanks to make them most effective. You cannot shoot all the bugs yourself. You need to rescue people to help in the battle, but you also cannot neglect the fighting. There were just a lot of things that you could use to alter the course of the level. This added a mental difficulty to the game, it was not just about flying and fighting, but also about strategy. There were also a couple of times that you had to prepare for an imminent attack. So there was just a lot of different aspects of this game. Another thing that made the game fun was your choice of fighters. Should we go with tough or agile? How about an all-around fighter? By far, I would have to say that this was the best flying combat game that I have ever played.
Overall: I would give this game a 9.5 overall. There were a lot of things to think about and do when playing it. The graphics were great; the sound was awesome, the story was well-done (minus the end) and the difficulty was high. Plus it combined my favorite themes, so why shouldn't I love this game? If you never tried it before, it is definitely worth a play. Even if you have to pay more than $3!
Graphics
10 Sound
10 Addictive
10 Depth
10 Story
8 Difficulty
9
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