Starhawk Review (PS3)

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there is a tragic lack of sci-fi Western third person shooters out there. Did we learn nothing from Cowboys vs. Aliens? Aside from the fact that Harrison Ford looks striking in a Stetson.

Luckily Starhawk has come along, unsurprisingly from the developers of Warhawk, to help fill that gaping void in the genre. This, to me, would appear to be the game the developers always wanted Warhawk to be but just didn’t quite have the development time they needed. The multiplayer is improved, the strategy required in gameplay has been ramped up, and there’s even a single player mode in this one.

That may be being a tad generous though. The single player is competent, don’t get me wrong, but it is not everything it could be. The plot circles around Rift Energy, a new resource which helps to make space travel possible even though it’s only discoverable in space… Figure that one out. You play as Emmett Graves, a mercenary for hire style guy, returning to his home colony of White Sands. Turns out however that his former homeland is a bit short this year and so Emmett’s primary occupation becomes defending the Rift Energy mining operation from The Outlaws, a selection of mutants who were mutated because of the Rift Energy and now they want White Sands to miss their quota of Rift Energy… because of reasons. That’s near enough the entirety of the exposition given. The single player could almost be considered a very long tutorial for the multiplayer, with the added bonus of not having to put up with the rest of humanity as you learn.

Starhawk’s multiplayer is more than just another standard third person shooter romp though, as with the newly implemented ‘Build and Battle’ mechanic it has a slice of Real Time Strategy and Tower Defence in the mix. You can drop down walls, turrets, specific weaponry armouries (such as rocket launchers and sniper rifles), and gates. It may say horrid and frustrating but it really is a lot easier than you’d imagine. You gain Rift Energy from completing objectives or killing people, and then can spend that Rift Energy to make buildings magically drop from the sky by merely pointing in front of you and hitting the Triangle button to select what you want. The idea made me cringe at first, as both a Starcraft and Gears of War fan I know these genres should rarely cross paths less you end up with another Rogue Warrior scenario, but it never felt truly intrusive on the gameplay. It’s a necessary element to adapt to, but after a few games I found myself strategically timing my drops of turrets and buildings as casually as I was reloading – which ultimately is the way I’d want the system to work.

Of course, it's not all about the Build and Battle stuff, there's plenty more of good classic Warhawk-style gameplay and third person shooter action to sink your teeth into. There's still a healthy selection of vehicles, including mounted jeeps, hover-bikes, and of course Hawks (Warhawk's unsubtly named trademark destruction machines.

Hawks can not only fly, but also can transform into mech-walkers to traverse the battlefield on foot, or whatever the metal equivalent would be. They're far better when in flight, so only go ground side if you have no choice, but it's nice to see some of Warhawk's strengths being carried over to combine with some of the improved strategy and combat in Starhawk.

Another fantastic new addition is the spawning system. You know how in most games you can either spawn with your teammates or on certain areas of the map, or in some games you get no say in the matter what-so-ever? Well good news everyone! That is no longer the case. Not in Starhawk. You select a point of the battlefield and you quite literally fall from the sky on to it. Granted, in a drop pod for health and safety reasons, but you get to fall. FROM THE SKY! That's how I want to spawn in almost every shooter game from now on. You can make mild adjustments as you plummet as well so don't panic if you're off by a few meters where you hurriedly choose your next spawning location. Plus, as an added bonus, if you land on nearby enemies you can crush them. It's rare, and quite difficult to do, not to mention the quick and painful death that will come if you miss and your enemy can then get the jump on you as you leap from your drop pod, but that all makes it even more satisfying to be greeted to Earth (or wherever you are) with the sound of crunching bone and bursting organs. Who says video game players are more violent, anyway?

Overall Starhawk is an extreme solid game. If you’re after single player than it would be best advised that you only go for a rental on this one, but be warned you may get hooked and jump on the multiplayer and then have no choice but to take the plunge and buy it. As a complete package though, if you’re after a thoroughly enjoyable sci-fi western third person shooter with RTS and tower defence elements with fantastic spawning abilities, you’re pretty much have no choice but to go ahead and buy Starhawk. For the sake of both your own sanity and the developers.

Starhawk is available now exclusively on Playstation 3.