- Release Date: November 05, 2002
- Genre: Shooter
- Style: Third-Person 3D Shooter
- Similar Games: Star Fighter (Sega Saturn), Sinistar: Unleashed (IBM PC Compatible), Centipede (Dreamcast)
Game Description
A 3D update of 1980's coin-op classic, Defender has players guiding a star fighter from a behind-the-ship perspective in an attempt to thwart an alien invasion. Pilots must once again rescue potential abductees, only this time the threats are bloodthirsty bugs called Manti. Battles take place in a campaign format, playable with a friend in cooperative mode, as pilots engage alien swarms across planetary surfaces on Venus, Mars, and Earth, as well as in the far reaches of space. Players will be able to control pitch and roll using the left thumbstick, perform evasive maneuvers with the right thumbstick, and use both forward and reverse thrusters to blast ahead or to fall back. A lock-on targeting system lets players isolate an objective, enemy, or friendly unit.Six ships are available to pilot, each offering different characteristics in speed, armor, agility, strength, and special weapon. All ships have the capability to pick up items on the ground or in the air, including colonists and friendly units such as tanks. Whether it's the light and nimble fighter or the slow and heavily armed bomber, techniques such as barrel rolls, loops, and reversals are also possible, and familiar weapons such as smart bombs can eradicate multiple threats in one blinding flash. Navigating the environments is accomplished with the help of a scanner, which delineates enemy fighters in red and friendly units in blue. Various upgrades in weaponry as well as extra lives can be purchased with credits earned during missions.
Once players find and rescue colonists during their mission, they can drop them off at multiple locales. Colonists returned to a drop zone will earn players power-ups, while colonists deployed at either a missile crawler or a tank factory will allow players to build ground units for additional support. Those brave souls who have been captured by the Manti will mutate into new and more deadly Manti craft. Two-player options include cooperative play as well as a deathmatch mode, where both combatants face off against one another in a kill-or-be-killed scenario. Both modes are played from a horizontally split screen. DVD Extras include a "making of" featurette, a retrospective on the game's history, and "coming soon" trailers for Midway games in development.
~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide
Production Credits
Company 1: Midway Home Entertainment; Producer: David Brooks; Associate Producer: Hans Lo; Assistant Producer: Sheila Julaton Manansala; Test Manager: Rob Sablan; Test Supervisor: Brian Davis; Lead Product Analyst: Brady Mercy; Assistant Lead Product Analyst: Brady Mercy, Myong Hong; Product Testing Analyst: Anthony Buchanan, Jim Sanders, Justin Vancho, Aaron DiFede, Tony Hickman, Conrad Taylor; Technical Standards Analyst: Ghyan Koehne; Technical Director: Eric Hart; Art Director: Craig Rundels; Product Manager: Patrick Dillon; Print Design and Production: Midway Creative Services; Motion Capture Talent: John Kaiser, Chanel Penley; Company 2: Inevitable Entertainment Inc.; Producer: Jaime R. Grieves; Programmer: Steve Broumley, John Nagle, Brian Watson; Designer: Bey Bickerton, Jim Richardson; Artist: Cyrus Lum; QA: Kent Raffray, Todd Raffray; CEO: Russell Byrd; CTO: Craig Galley; CAO: Cyrus Lum; CCO: Bey Bickerton; CFO: Judy Stubbington; Company 3: Seven Studios; Director: George Collins; Chief Software Engineer: George Sutty; Technical Director: John Keating; Lead Programmer: Brian Hawkins; Programmer: Ed Baum, Chris Buchanan, Daniel Chuang, John Cooke, Kim Lay; Additional Engineering Provided By: Tom Ketola, Dan Stanfill; Art Director: Damon Conn; Lead Artist: Miguel Lleras; Artist: Jon Balmer, Scott Fabianek, Nelson Plumey; Additional Art: Ivan Bouinatchov, Barclay Chantal, Kenzie Lemar; Designer: Rober Tberger, Rich Bisso, Jeff Gardiner, Michael Kirkbride; Mission Scripting: Ivanna Kartarahardja, Nathan Mah; Story and Dialogue: Robert Berger, Michael Kirkbride, Margaret Stohl; Executive Producer: Lewis Peterson; Producer: Matt Candler, Christine Thomas; Assistant Producer: Alex Garcia; Music: Midway Home Entertainment; Additional Music: Jon Balmer; FMV Audio Production: Keith Arem; FMV Sound Design: Keith Arem; FMV Original Music: Michael Cohen; Voice Over Recording: Soundelux Design Music Group, PCB Productions; Voice Over Engineer: Keith Arem, R. Dutch Hill; Sound Design and Direction: Michael Kirkbride, Matt Candler, Robert Berger; Additional Sound FX: Scorpio Sound LLC; Supervising Sound Designer: Gregory J. Hainer; Sound Designer: Michael Kamper; Commander Kyoto: Traci Elizabeth Lords; Colonel Adams: Noah Nelson; Memory: Valerie Arem; Dr. Mudo: Eric Passoja; Additional VO: Lex Lang, Perry Zombolas, Jason Lee, Dave Wittenberg; Sony Developer Support Engineer: Geoff Audy, Dave Coombes; Metrowerks Technical Support: Gabe Ahn, Becky Hook; Tester: Sam Alper, Rory Behr, AJ Calabrese, Alex Chen, Bobby Hill, Tory Hill, Martin Johanneson, David Leohong, Danny Nguyen, Adam Payne, Emma Peterson, May Peterson, Jack Schwada, Alex Schwada, Spencer Strasmore, David Wagmeister, Johno Wagmeister; "Defender" and "Defender Club Mix" Based On: "Also Sprach Zarathustra"; "Defender" and "Defender Club Mix" Composer: Richard Strauss; "Defender" and "Defender Club Mix" Producer: Sascha Konietzko, Phil Rieflin, Michael Cozzi, KMFDM Inc.; "Vaunt" Publisher: Black Ether Music; "Clandestine" Written By: Adam Hamilton; "Clandestine" Performed By: Adam Hamilton; "Clandestine" Publisher: Red Engine Music; "Cybertron" Written By: Adam Hamilton; "Cybertron" Performed By: Adam Hamilton; "Cybertron" Publisher: Red Engine Music; "Dig It" Written By: Adam Hamilton; "Dig It" Performed By: Adam Hamilton; "Dig It" Publisher: Red Engine Music; "Eliminate" Written By: Adam Hamilton; "Eliminate" Performed By: Adam Hamilton; "Eliminate" Publisher: Red Engine Music; "Epic" Written By: Adam Hamilton; "Epic" Performed By: Adam Hamilton; "Epic" Publisher: Red Engine Music; "Go" Written By: Adam Hamilton; "Go" Performed By: Adam Hamilton; "Go" Publisher: Red Engine Music; "Planet chasing" Written By: Adam Hamilton; "Planet chasing" Performed By: Adam Hamilton; "Planet chasing" Publisher: Red Engine Music; "Run" Written By: Adam Hamilton; "Run" Performed By: Adam Hamilton; "Run" Publisher: Red Engine Music; "Shining Through" Written By: Adam Hamilton; "Shining Through" Performed By: Adam Hamilton; "Shining Through" Publisher: Red Engine Music; "Stripmine" Written By: Tim Paruszkiewicz, Stephen Phillips; "Stripmine" Performed By: Tim Paruszkiewicz, Stephen Phillips; "Stripmine" Publisher: Revision West
~ Keith Adams, All Game Guide
