JadeDragon's
reviews and playing tips: Pocket PC games
Defiance: Final Strike by Pocket
PC Studios,
Price: $8.95 Reviewed January 2005 by Tony Peak
In this update to the recently released Definance:
Final Strike, Pocket PC Studios teamed up with Benevolent Interactive
to improve the game even further. The new release is simply dubbed
version 1.1, but Pocket PC Studios have brought a lot of polish
to the title. As well as a better game flow, VGA device support,
and updates to the latest Gapidraw, several in game tweaks have
been made as well. But let's start with the game itself and I'll
mention the improvements along the way.
In Defiance: Final Strike you play as a raw recruit pilot
on the Alliance capital ship, the Defiance. The Alliance members,
good guys united to explore and prosper, are under constant
attack by the Nautilid Empire, bad guys wanting to wipe us
out. The Defiance is currently on a secret deep space mission,
one said to finally bring about an end to the ongoing war.
So you, the newbie, typically start each mission with your
orders and off you go. Missions range from the cool (dogfights
in asteroid fields) to the mundane escorting of shuttle crafts,
and you can be sure you'll fly dozens of typical patrol runs
along the way.
The game's 60 missions give a lot of
play time to the title, but unfortunately they really are
surprisingly similar. You'll fight the same enemies in the
same patterns on countless missions, and aside from some
rare events, patrolling and escorting crafts are the main
dishes. I really wanted more fights in the middle of asteroid
fields, ship upgrades to let me do new things, or most importantly,
some teammates. It seems quite ironic to gain the ranks of
Squad Leader or Wing Commander when you've never once flown
in a squad. While a few of the battles are all out affairs,
most are standard "fly to point B and
take on 4 bombers and 3 advance craft in the area".
Pocket PC Studios have greatly enhanced the enemy AI, and
I believe it shows well. Despite the similarity of the missions,
the game remains a lot of fun to play simply because the dog
fights are so well done. Swooping through a squadron of enemies,
tailing a few and taking them out as the rest come at you from
all sides, it stays interesting time and time again. It's easy
to pick up, but it can take the whole game to master. The enemy
types change up enough times to keep things interesting throughout,
and although you can pretty much plow your way through early
on, the later battles can be quite tough.
The controls are rather straightforward,
but they work very well for the title. Thrust is constantly
forward, though Pocket PC Studios have added a brake button
of sorts. Personally, I wish they would have added a button
to cut thrusters and drift, allowing you to turn and fire
while riding the momentum. (Think classic Asteroids.) A true "reverse thrust" would
have been really nice as well, rather than simply slowing down
momentarily.
The graphics and sound remind me a lot of the old DOS space
shooters such as Solar Winds, and it was one of the things
that attracted me to the title to begin with. For the most
part, Defiance stays true to its form and brings back a lot
of the feel from such games. It's been condensed into a more
arcade form, perhaps to be better suited to the medium, but
it still feels the same. The sprites are detailed and although
there's not many fancy effects, things feel pretty solid overall.
Pocket PC Studios have added a lot of important polish, such
as damage trails, life bars, and faces to communication. The
music is simple but there when it should be, and fits the theme
of the game very well.
Where I think the game could have really shined is by doing
away with the mission based advancement, and gaining a more
free flowing story and time. Severely limiting the auto pilot
hopping and adding in some exploring, random battles, AI teammates,
and maybe even experience based ship upgrades and stats could
have completely reformed this game. The groundwork is all there,
the sprites certainly look the part, but it's simply not the
path taken. Perhaps if we see a sequel a little more depth
could be woven in, but as it stands Defiance: Final Strike
is still a fun arcade space shooter with a great nostalgic
feel to it.
Playing Hints and Tips
- In the early levels, you can probably simply charge right in and
get a feel for things. As you see the red triangles get brighter,
begin shooting to take a few small ships out right off the bat, then
zig out of the way of incoming shots.
- In the later stages, learn to circle around your enemy, then use
the booster to cut a path right through the middle without getting
shot. This will cause the ships to split in various directions, so
tail one or two and take them out before the rest can catch up.
- If things look grim, just fly off into the distance for awhile
and wait for your shields to recharge. It's annoyingly slow at times,
but the enemy ships won't catch up.
- If you're on a mission to destroy some transport ships, before
you don't forget after fighting off surrounding enemies. It's sometimes
possible to auto-pilot after simply defeating the escort ships, thus
failing the mission when you return and forcing you to do it all
again.
- When protecting ships, be sure to take out the advanced fighters
first. Friendly ships have incredible shield regen rates, so the
lesser fighters won't pose much of a threat for short amounts of
time.
- In asteroid belts, you can either simply dodge your way through
or blast your way through. When fighting enemies inside a asteroid
field, it's usually best to out fly the fighters and let the asteroids
take care of them as they try to pursue.
Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):
Graphics
No real special effect thrills, but
clean and detailed sprite work regardless. Little touches added
like faces to communications, damage trails, shield indicators,
and miscellaneous graphical updates really give a solid look
and feel.
The short advertisement of Pocket PC Studios products on exit
however should have been left out. Exit ad graphics are for
demos, not for registered and paid products.
Sound
There’s a good variety of tracks,
and most importantly the sound changes to match the current
situation. The title and briefing has a track, general flying
about has its own track, and even combat gets its own music.
Attention to detail we don’t see often enough of the
Pocket PC, though you will be hearing them again, and again,
everything sounds really good.
Fun Meter
I really had a great time through all
the missions, but they all felt like the same fun thing many,
many times over. While the core mechanics are solid and I’m
not faulting them for padding out what they have to offer (as
I’ve pointed out many titles should do), even a little
bit of switch up would have helped. Some AI squad mates, some
more asteroid field fights, some different weapons… etc.
Addictivity
The 60 missions are going to take a quite
a bit of time to play through, and you’ll probably enjoy
each mission so long as you take a breather every few. There’s
plenty of replayablity here, although you probably won’t
remember what Mission 17 was from Campaign 2 any time soon.
Regardless, it’s easy to just pick up and play.
