Defender 2000

Defender 2000
Designer(s) Jeff Minter
Series Defender
Platform(s) Atari Jaguar
Release date(s) February 1996
Genre(s) Shooter
Mode(s) 1-2 players

Defender 2000 is an updated remake of the 1981 arcade game Defender, developed in 1995 by Jeff Minter and released in 1996 for the Atari Jaguar.

Gameplay

The game contains 3 modes of gameplay (Defender Classic, Defender Plus, and Defender 2000), as well 2 hidden mini-games: Flossie's Revenge & Plasma Pong.

Defender Classic is, aside from a few small imperfections, a clone of the original arcade game.[1] The player flies a spaceship across a horizontally scrolling landscape, protecting humanoids on a planet from alien abduction. Defender Plus is mostly identical to Defender Classic, but adds new enemies to fight and more powerful weapons to destroy them. Defender 2000 adds more enemies, 100 levels of play, power-up icons, bonus stages, more ways to counterattack the aliens, and allows advanced players to skip the early stages and start on higher levels.

Reception

Defender 2000 received mostly mediocre reviews. Air Hendrix of GamePro remarked that while Defender 2000 updated the arcade original's graphics to the modern generation of consoles, the graphics were below average for that generation, and the gameplay was not similarly updated. He also criticized the "slippery steering" and outdated sound effects, and concluded, "Defender still supplies Jag owners with adequate shooting. But that reflects more on the quality of the Jag's game library than on this game."[2] Next Generation contended that the original Defender was only significant because of its remarkable originality, and that the gameplay had not aged well. They commented that, "When isolated from its heritage, Defender 2000 is a fun, good-looking, side-scrolling shooter charged with a pulsing soundtrack. But that description could tag any number of recent shooters."[3]

References

  1. ↑ George, Gregory D. (July 1, 1996). "Defender 2000". The Atari Times. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  2. ↑ "ProReview: Defender 2000". GamePro (IDG) (91): 85. April 1996.
  3. ↑ "Retrofit". Next Generation (Imagine Media) (17): 92. May 1996.


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