Star Defender III
Description
Two years following the war of 2741 the threat of the Insectus is still felt around the galaxy. Once again it's up to you to jump into a ship and defend the Earth forces. But this time you will have to make your way also to the last Insectus stronghold where you will try and end this war once and for all.
Star Defender 3 is a top-down shooter game where you will have to fight a barrage of enemy fighters who will move in patterns and formations on the screen. Some enemies will shoot at you while others will simply try to collide into you while other enemies will even try to get you when you've beaten them by unleashing deadly shrapnel. Fortunately for you you've got some tricks of your own as well. Beside the typical armament of missiles and lasers there are some unique weapons available for pick-up from fallen enemies.
Mines that will act as a barrier in front of you are the simplest. You can also be armed with weapons that jump from one enemy to another and weapons that will beam multiple enemies at once. One other unique weapon is an explosive that will attach itself to an enemy and explode large enough to take out surrounding enemies.
There are eight worlds to travel through each with roughly twelve levels. The final level of every world will present you with a boss battle. Bonuses available for pick-up on these levels include extra ships, points and of course armor/primary weapon upgrades. Movement is limited to horizontal only so be on the lookout for enemy weapons.
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Credits (iPad version)
16 People
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 67% (based on 4 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.3 out of 5 (based on 8 ratings with 1 reviews)
The Good
The new graphical sci-fi look is overwhelmingly good. It shows how far the sequels develop as they go on. The overall textures, effects, sprites, and backgrounds never compromise quality. And why not some of that chorus music to bolster the atmosphere and mood of the game? The HUD is laid out like a wristcom for easy indication of where you're at in the game.
Gameplay is full of surprises. Disappointingly the weapons upgrades are narrowed down to eight levels, but otherwise adds more power to your ship. There's also a nice variety of missiles coming in different flavours so you can destroy the enemy in different ways. It's neat that you can stack your missiles pretty high. To add to the interesting variety of insect enemies are sub-bosses, probably the first target you want to blow up first for big points and juicy power-ups. There's also enemies with new abilities like cloaking and mine-laying.
The Bad
With the new sequel comes a pretty spiked difficulty, way higher than it should be. Enemies don't stay on the screen long, so you have to be quick. Not only does the upgraded weapon guage start you off with a weak weapon, but the pace at with you get better weapons drags on. Each new weapon seems to sacrifice spread for power. By the time you've gotten the highest weapon, you'll wish you hadn't. Those plasma rings look like a joke, phasing through enemies, but none of the spread you need to hit multiple enemies. It doesn't help that you can only use one missile type at a time, without the ability to select freely. Also if you are not careful, you can downgrade your weapon rather quickly from multiple hits, no thanks to the lack of post-hit invincibility, which happens in most games.
The Bottom Line
Evolved as the game was in the graphics, audio, and levels departments, it's not the case for gameplay with unbalanced difficulty. A difficulty configuration option would have been nice. Still, don't let this spoil your fun. It does go to show how Space Invaders and Galaxian variants have come so far. This might've also succeeded on any tablet device for portable space game fun.
Windows · by Skippy_Chipskunk (39593) · 2024
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Star Defender 3
Official website of the game (Awem studio)
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Depeche Mike.
iPad, Android added by Kabushi. Macintosh added by Macs Black.
Additional contributors: Zhuzha.
Game added February 23, 2008. Last modified December 11, 2024.