Defender

Many regard this game as a classic. It ain't. Even by the standards of 1980 this is a cheap, infuriating game with terrible controls and ear-bleeding sound effects.

You control a space ship made of three blocky pixels flying over a mountainous landscape shooting at little blocky aliens. Sounds like an enjoyable, mindless "schmup" right? Nope. You ship attracts enemy fire like it was magnetized and whatever part of the screen you might want to occupy you are guaranteed to crash into an alien ship. You'll last all of 30 seconds playing this game.

I can't for the life of me guess why so many people claim Defender to be a classic. It's not worth your time or interest at all.

This is another one of my favorite video games as well as shoot em ups, this classic was one of the very first in the genre. This is also another childhood gem of mine, I remember seeing the "Defender" cabinet at a Chuck E Cheese in Spokane, WA when I was visiting my grandma and grandpa during December.

The game just looks so cool to me as the game is a sci-fi shooter and being a fan of sci-fi it blew my mind along with many other fans of the genre who were gamers and non-gamers. The cabinet was unique and really cool looking with that graphical art on the side that was in the red orange color but what was even more beautiful was that control overlay which looked like one for the interior of a futuristic star fighter. Just seeing those things and the way the game played felt like this was a game just made for sci-fi fans.

The graphical presentation I think is solid, some would say on the simplistic side but that's what makes it work as it helps give the game it's unique look and once again an example on how less can be more. It's sort of a mix of both vector graphic and the color detail graphic styles. The vector graphics are for the background which is this land of mountains, cannons, and plains, really like the lining color mixed with the black background really gives the game an otherworldly feel.

The enemy sprites are solid as you have enemy ships that are obviously inspired by the tripods from "War of the Worlds" really like how insect like they are making them a bit creepy. As they abduct humans, they use them to mutate which makes their ship faster and more deadly as they come gunning for you like a heat seeking missile.

However, ones to worry about the most are the tiny UFO drones that are pretty much like a killer swarm as they just are always chasing you and won't go away unless you kill every last one of them.

But also that damn Flying Saucer disc, that one is a real killer as it just zips throughout the screen and can stick to you like BBQ sauce on Pork, you literally can't shake them off nor always get enough distance your best bet is to either nail it with the laser quick or a better option is the nuke if you have any left that is.

Then there are two other sprites from the human to protect whom I'll admit are strange looking as their shaped like keys. But the other sprite was the ship you pilot, I know it's kind of the usual clenched starfighter design but this one you could say is the one that started it all let alone this is from one of the very first horizontal shooter, I thought it was cool just in how it was colored but it's from how it's controlled that really made the ship stand out.

This game is also one of the hardest games ever in my book, it's just completely frantic as there is just a lot going on at once in each wave, you're constantly defending all the humans but also at the same time yourself hence the title; yeah you've got your work cut out for you.

I'll admit when I played the game there were times, I was a little nerve racked as things as the challenge mounted but even at times felt a little sad when I failed to protect one of the humans, though that's not always the player's fault that just part of the challenge of the game so I wouldn't feel too bad. But at the same time the game is a bit addictive despite its difficulty I always felt that I could get further or even play better the next time which I did, in a way that was part of the joy of the game.

The control scheme is solid, it might seem a little awkward and confusing at first, but you get use to it, and you'll soon become an ace or at least pilot as well as you can. Control on this game at the time was unique because this game was one of the first to have multiple buttons for your ship, this really helped in enhancing the sci-fi feel as the starships from the films and tv shows always featured a multitude of buttons at the control.

Your ship has some features, from the thrust button when held down will propel your ship forward or back depending on which direction you go. As well as thrusts to go up or down. There is a hyperspace where your ship can teleport to another area in case thinks get to hot, but this is a function that can go both ways even though it can transport you away from danger it could also throw you right into danger so be careful.

You have your weapons one the standard laser cannon which I thought was cool that straight colorful line and the sound it makes. But the other of course is the nuclear bomb which is awesome this was one of the first games that ever had this emergency feature that is now common in all shoot em ups; anyway the nuke pretty much wipes all opposition from the screen except for the humans so you don't have to worry about any collateral damage with them. But be careful using them as you always have a limited supply of nukes, and it's takes a while to refill so don't waste them.

Another thing that makes the game stand out is the fact it has a map on top of the screen which also makes this game a first in having the map feature. This map indicates where you currently are but also keeps track of the activities of the aliens' distances away.

This map give the game a strategy element where you not just can easily track of how many humans are safe and how many aliens are neutralized but you see what sections of the area need to be cleared and what is going on distances away which make you have to do some quickly calculations on whether you'll be able to get there on time to save the human.

Let alone saving the humans themselves isn't that easy, when you take down the ship, they can fall a distance which gives you limited time to catch them and bring them to safety. The best place to always put them is on the flat terrain that way if their ever captured again you have time to come back to their rescue as it takes a while for the aliens to get to the top of the atmosphere.

If you lose all of the humans then your in a sudden death battle as you get whisked into space and you have to outrun and blow away the ships gunning for you while trying to gun for them, I can sometimes get out of these battles but their still uneasy because in these battles you rather vulnerable as the aliens have nothing to distract them to slow them down, so that another reason you want to protect the humans so they in a odd sense are protecting you.

"Defender" is a blast.

Rating: 4 stars.

Defender is a great game made by Midway in 1980. I have this game on my PlayStation Game Console on Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits, made by Midway in 1995. I play it all the time. I was not born in 1980, but 1988. It is difficult, but great. You control a ship called the Defender, which moves up and down on the screen. You have to save the earth's human population from swarms of Landers, Mutants (formed when a Lander abducts a human), Bombers, Baiters, Pods, and Swarmers. To move your ship forwards, push the thrust button. To move in the other way, press the reverse button. Your weapons are: Laser cannon, and the Smart Bomb. This is one of the greatest games ever!!!