Starhawk, the PS3 multiplayer frag-stravaganza is out now, and the game is really good. The great Miguel Concepcion turned in a Starhawk review that breaks down the game into its multiplayer and single-player elements; spoiler alert: It's all good, but the multiplayer is amazing. Of particular note are the action-movie moments that turn a multiplayer match into a Michael Bay movie.
"A match mostly made up of good players will yield a few scenes worth recording. If you happen to be that flag holder riding a Sidewinder while being chased by a Hawk, expect to have a Michael Bay moment if a friendly Hawk comes to your rescue. While Starhawk is not recommended for those seeking a worthwhile single player or Horde experience, the versus multiplayer is fully featured enough to make it a worthy successor to Warhark, enhanced further by simplistic RTS gameplay and transforming mechs."
The greatest asset in Starhawk's arsenal is that it's capable of doing what no other shooter can. Starhawk creates a kind of chaos, unpredictability, and extraordinary spectacle that can't exist in any other shooter. This speaks to something more important. Starhawk dares to do what many others aren't: It subverts convention with original ideas. Starhawk is an action game that's comfortable in its own skin and carries itself with confidence.
It doesn't let struggles slow it down, and it makes the most of a mechanic that changes how you'll think about shooters on large-scale and microscopic levels. It throws caution to the wind and goes all in on a risk, betting that players will be receptive to something other than what they're used to.
Starhawk is as much about strategy as it is action. The Build & Battle system plays a significant role in what you're able to do within the confines of a third-person action game. As you acquire Rift energy, a lucrative but dangerous substance, you can call in orbital drops to change the flow of battle. In some cases, orders even affect level design. You can build walls and mount them with turrets if you're holding out in one area, call in a supply bunker for heavy weaponry, or summon vehicles from space for usage on the ground or in the air.
This is a simple idea, and it's not as mentally demanding as a real-time strategy title might be, but it contributes enough unexpected variables to deepen Starhawk in a major way.
The single-player campaign is, perhaps unsurprisingly, absolutely meant to prepare players for the online multiplayer. This isn't a bad thing in terms of structure; it eases you into a system new to the shooter genre in an effective way. A mission emphasizing tanks, for instance, shows their strengths and weaknesses against various enemy types, while holding out to protect your base forces you to learn the best means of defense.
That said, there really isn't a singular solution for any objective. Starhawk is flexible. This is where multiplayer starts bleeding into the campaign, and Starhawk is a rare example of multiplayer design benefitting single-player direction. Missions are more contained than wide-open multiplayer maps but they're no less open to your experimentation. Yes, you're there to learn, but it's an explosive, entertaining class.
The podunk town of White Sands is where Graves left his bad memories.
The story is Starhawk's deepest flaw. Even though it's not a dealbreaker, it's disappointing to see the debut of this sci-fi western world struggle with such potential.
As someone insecure about his past and presently seen as an inferior being, Emmett Graves is an interesting main character for Starhawk. He's a minority, and not because of any racial classification. Graves is infected by Rift energy, the sentient substance subject to Starhawk's space gold rush. He's resisted its impulses but bears its glowing blue scars. In the eyes of those around him, Graves is as the same as any of the other mindless, violent "Outcasts" under its control. The most prominent of these people is Emmett's brother Logan, a man back from the dead and leading the charge against mankind.
This societal rejection could have created some incredible conflict between the Graves boys. Emmett just doesn't develop, and the storytelling dances around the cool world he's part of. Some questionable writing also knocks down his personality a few pegs. During gameplay, he's a cheesy action hero whose witless one-liners cement how aroused he is by his own violence. Meanwhile, comic book cutscenes portray a Graves unlike the one we play, not that his greed and disinterest in other people here makes him any more likable.
Predictably, Starhawk is at its best online, and this is where it outshines everything else on the PlayStation 3. This is one of the strongest, most enjoyable multiplayer options available, and once again the credit falls on the simple innovations. In the campaign, Emmett is the only man with the power to pull down pieces to help defend, or vehicles to take on the attack. In your typical match, there are 32 builders.
That's 32 individuals who are considering their play constantly and intelligently, and 32 people who feel extremely powerful at all times. There's nothing random about the way you play Starhawk because it's a deliberate process. What's more is that these 32 players are each changing the course of battle with every action, whether they're building an impenetrable fortress or enabling other players to take a machine-gun mounted truck for a joy ride.
Starhawk disrupts multiplayer standards such as Capture the Flag, which becomes a more intense back-and-forth. No flag point looks the same because each enemy team defends it differently. If you play the role of flag capturer, you have plenty of options to get in and out, not the least of which is the Hawk ship, which makes a powerful escape vehicle in its walking tank mode (because of course you can't fly it with the flag in tow).
This is one of the most chaotic and empowering multiplayer games on any platform. Any number of tanks, gunners, turrets, and Hawks can rip buildings to shreds or take each other down. Somebody might get the jump on you for a vicious knife kill. Maybe you'll conquer a control point in Zones on your own without anyone knowing where you are. Eventually, you'll unlock that new paint job for your Razorback truck, a set of pants for your online avatar, and an equippable XP bonus.
You'll always see something on the move, a trail in the sky, a hail of bullets. There is always fire, and there is always a reason to build something. If you're smart about it, maybe your Shield Generator will hit a Hawk or land on a man as it tears through the atmosphere and smashes into the ground.
Whatever happens in the moment-to-moment action of Starhawk, you won't soon forget it.
Starhawk Review: By 2007 standards, Warhawk was an unusual third person multiplayer game. Not only was it the PlayStation 3’s first dual release as a BD-Rom and digital download, it also took the risk of removing the game’s planned story mode, a risk paid that off based on the game’s positive reception.
This time however, developer Lightbox Interactive (made up of some staff from Warhawk developer Incognito Entertainment) took the time to not only add a campaign, but also a Horde-inspired co-op mode. Yet these additions feel like mere bonuses when you discover how well Starhawk gives players the freedom and flexibility to transition from on-foot combat to aerial dogfighting in a matter of seconds. While the lack of such a feature in Warhawk didn’t hurt the 2007 game, Starhawk manages to make its spiritual predecessor feel older than it really is, which says something about this first effort by LightBox.
A Promising Start
Told mostly through economical and unusually concise “motion comic” cutscenes (not unlike the some of the expository scenes from Resistance 3), Starhawk’s story centers around an energy miner named Emmett Graves. Off in a colony unimaginatively named the Frontier, there’s great risk in the kind of energy he’s harvesting, known as rift energy. Direct and extended exposure to rift energy can corrupt anyone, mutating them into lethal creatures known as the Outcasts. The fact that the Outcasts are very protective of the energy makes them Starhawk’s antagonists, a personal problem for Emmett because his older brother is one of them.
The campaign itself starts promisingly enough. You quickly learn how to drop structures from space and use them (and your weapons) against the Outcast. This will later include the flight vehicle central to Starhawk, the transformable and aptly named Hawk. The guy dropping the goods from space is Emmett’s technical engineer, Sydney Cutter. You then traverse through a desert landscape on a Sidewinder, a nimble vehicle not unlike the speeder bike from Star Wars. The backdrop of the rugged frontier, complemented by all the advanced weaponry and technology, makes this initial chapter feel like something Borderlands fans can get behind.
Five-Hour Training Mode
Yet it is by the third or fourth mission one realizes that, despite genuine attempts at giving Starhawk an engrossing narrative, this campaign feels more like a five-hour training mode in preparation for the multiplayer. The majority of the objectives are conveniently laid out by Cutter even before the enemies arrive. He tells Emmett of the inbound enemy types, how many seconds before they arrive, and even where they’ll land on the map.
While this takes away from the single player mode’s immersiveness, it’s an issue that pales in comparison to the difficulty challenges near the end of the campaign. It is by the tenth mission that players will encounter an objective so difficult that many will discover--just out of desperation--a significant exploitable feature that can be used in both the single player and co-op modes. This involves delaying the arrival of the next wave of enemies and harvesting enough energy to litter the map with more than enough turrets and cannons to overwhelm the Outcasts. While I assume this was not the intended design, it’ll be the only way many gamers can beat this mission, especially since you’re facing the classic infinite spawning monster closet.
The Outcast do not spawn infinitely in the co-op mode, but they do give you a proper beating. It adjusts based on player count, up to four, but no matter how many you play with, it will still be very difficult. These missions involve protecting a rig for six rounds, starting with the Outcast infantry and then later adding Hawks and other vehicles. I played every co-op map at least thrice; some maps we gave up on because the rig would destroyed by the second or third wave. And for the ones we did beat, we had to resort to the same energy farming exploit from the single player mode, often by leaving one sniper alive so as not to trigger the next wave.
It’s Sure Something To Look At
It’s of some minor consolation that these exploits manage to bring forth a great deal of visual spectacle. Imagine planting a dozen cannons, all of which self-aim their laser eyes at any Hawks flying by. Now picture one of the later rounds starring a swarm of over a dozen lethal Hawks and having your cannons give them a proper greeting. It’s a thrill to watch Hawk after Hawk get shot down, some spinning to their demise in red and orange flames. It’s an even better experience as an active participant, whether you’re on foot and helping pick off Hawks with a remarkably effective rocket launcher or taking to the air yourself for some dogfighting.
In some respects, both the colonisation theme and the ‘instant building’ design makes Starhawk feel like a companion experience to last year’s Red Faction: Armageddon. It’s especially the case with the latter; rhe Nano-Forge in Armageddon, with its ‘instant-building’ capability is about as unbelievable as the ability to call down a collection of self-building structures from space in Starhawk. Not that this is a bad thing; it is science-fiction after all. There’s even a trophy for dropping a building on top of an opponent.
And it is in this gameplay mechanic that Starhawk’s multiplayer is the game’s main draw. It is a game that should interest real-time strategy enthusiasts and will help make some action game fans understand one of the fundamental draws of the RTS genre. This involves planting an automated structure that operates without your direct supervision but still gives you a sense of accomplishment when that structure operates as designed. It’s very satisfying to continually see your name appear in the scrolling kill ticker because a cannon you planted took down a Hawk all on its own.
Hot Mech-On-Mech Action
Another one of Starhawk’s strengths lies in being able to switch from defense to offense (and vice versa) in very little time. While teammates are off in their Sidewinders at the start of a Capture The Flag match, you might prefer to drop turrets and cannons around your team’s flag and keep watch for the impending arrival of flag-hungry opponents. Then the ‘Enemy Flag Taken’ notification appears, forcing the judgement call of holding the fort or helping escort your buddy. Due to the Hawks’ often-impressive mobility, many players will often choose the latter option. With a simple jump, a mid-air transformation and a dramatic musical cue to set the mood, there’s anticipation in possibly saving your teammate from a pursuer riding his own Sidewinder, or worse, a Hawk.
The common and worthwhile occurrence of mech-vs-mech combat will satisfy most any gamer who has dabbled in the multiplayer modes of the last couple Transformers video games. The only thing more remarkable than the Hawks’ mobility is how resilient it is when hitting terrain, which can happen when weaving through some of the maps’ rock columns. Clearly Lightbox would rather have players die at the hands of enemies as opposed to dying from intricate level design.
The fittingly large maps--many equal to the map sizes in the Battlefield series--accommodate Starhawk’s vehicles with enough ground area and airspace to roam. Many of these maps also have enough terrain diversity that it will take some time before knowing the most efficient (or exploitable) paths to best take home enemy flags. Aside from CTF, Lightbox sticks to other familiar multiplayer modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and a variation of the territory-based Conquest mode called Zones. When you’ve played enough to know all the enemy capture points and flag locales without referring to the map you just might feel less upset that Star Wars: Battlefront 3 was cancelled.
You’re In Control
The only thing worse than those hamfisted and triumphant jet fly-bys that appear throughout the Modern Warfare games was how it was a shame that you and your friends couldn’t be the ones controlling the planes themselves. It’s one of the reasons why Battlefield’s multiplayer is so well regarded and why it works well for Starhawk. A match mostly made up of good players will yield a few scenes worth recording. If you happen to be that flag holder riding a Sidewinder while being chased by a Hawk, expect to have a Michael Bay moment if a friendly Hawk comes to your rescue. While Starhawk is not recommended for those seeking a worthwhile single player or Horde experience, the versus multiplayer is fully featured enough to make it a worthy successor to Warhark, enhanced further by simplistic RTS gameplay and transforming mechs.
The greatest asset in Starhawk's arsenal is that it's capable of doing what no other shooter can. Starhawk creates a kind of chaos, unpredictability, and extraordinary spectacle that can't exist in any other shooter. This speaks to something more important. Starhawk dares to do what many others aren't: It subverts convention with original ideas. Starhawk is an action game that's comfortable in its own skin and carries itself with confidence.
It doesn't let struggles slow it down, and it makes the most of a mechanic that changes how you'll think about shooters on large-scale and microscopic levels. It throws caution to the wind and goes all in on a risk, betting that players will be receptive to something other than what they're used to.
Starhawk is as much about strategy as it is action. The Build & Battle system plays a significant role in what you're able to do within the confines of a third-person action game. As you acquire Rift energy, a lucrative but dangerous substance, you can call in orbital drops to change the flow of battle. In some cases, orders even affect level design. You can build walls and mount them with turrets if you're holding out in one area, call in a supply bunker for heavy weaponry, or summon vehicles from space for usage on the ground or in the air.
This is a simple idea, and it's not as mentally demanding as a real-time strategy title might be, but it contributes enough unexpected variables to deepen Starhawk in a major way.
The single-player campaign is, perhaps unsurprisingly, absolutely meant to prepare players for the online multiplayer. This isn't a bad thing in terms of structure; it eases you into a system new to the shooter genre in an effective way. A mission emphasizing tanks, for instance, shows their strengths and weaknesses against various enemy types, while holding out to protect your base forces you to learn the best means of defense.
That said, there really isn't a singular solution for any objective. Starhawk is flexible. This is where multiplayer starts bleeding into the campaign, and Starhawk is a rare example of multiplayer design benefitting single-player direction. Missions are more contained than wide-open multiplayer maps but they're no less open to your experimentation. Yes, you're there to learn, but it's an explosive, entertaining class.
The podunk town of White Sands is where Graves left his bad memories.
The story is Starhawk's deepest flaw. Even though it's not a dealbreaker, it's disappointing to see the debut of this sci-fi western world struggle with such potential.
As someone insecure about his past and presently seen as an inferior being, Emmett Graves is an interesting main character for Starhawk. He's a minority, and not because of any racial classification. Graves is infected by Rift energy, the sentient substance subject to Starhawk's space gold rush. He's resisted its impulses but bears its glowing blue scars. In the eyes of those around him, Graves is as the same as any of the other mindless, violent "Outcasts" under its control. The most prominent of these people is Emmett's brother Logan, a man back from the dead and leading the charge against mankind.
This societal rejection could have created some incredible conflict between the Graves boys. Emmett just doesn't develop, and the storytelling dances around the cool world he's part of. Some questionable writing also knocks down his personality a few pegs. During gameplay, he's a cheesy action hero whose witless one-liners cement how aroused he is by his own violence. Meanwhile, comic book cutscenes portray a Graves unlike the one we play, not that his greed and disinterest in other people here makes him any more likable.
Predictably, Starhawk is at its best online, and this is where it outshines everything else on the PlayStation 3. This is one of the strongest, most enjoyable multiplayer options available, and once again the credit falls on the simple innovations. In the campaign, Emmett is the only man with the power to pull down pieces to help defend, or vehicles to take on the attack. In your typical match, there are 32 builders.
That's 32 individuals who are considering their play constantly and intelligently, and 32 people who feel extremely powerful at all times. There's nothing random about the way you play Starhawk because it's a deliberate process. What's more is that these 32 players are each changing the course of battle with every action, whether they're building an impenetrable fortress or enabling other players to take a machine-gun mounted truck for a joy ride.
Starhawk disrupts multiplayer standards such as Capture the Flag, which becomes a more intense back-and-forth. No flag point looks the same because each enemy team defends it differently. If you play the role of flag capturer, you have plenty of options to get in and out, not the least of which is the Hawk ship, which makes a powerful escape vehicle in its walking tank mode (because of course you can't fly it with the flag in tow).
This is one of the most chaotic and empowering multiplayer games on any platform. Any number of tanks, gunners, turrets, and Hawks can rip buildings to shreds or take each other down. Somebody might get the jump on you for a vicious knife kill. Maybe you'll conquer a control point in Zones on your own without anyone knowing where you are. Eventually, you'll unlock that new paint job for your Razorback truck, a set of pants for your online avatar, and an equippable XP bonus.
You'll always see something on the move, a trail in the sky, a hail of bullets. There is always fire, and there is always a reason to build something. If you're smart about it, maybe your Shield Generator will hit a Hawk or land on a man as it tears through the atmosphere and smashes into the ground.
Whatever happens in the moment-to-moment action of Starhawk, you won't soon forget it.
