StarHawk, the ‘spiritual successor’ to Warhawk, a game, I am afraid to say, I have never played. So going into Starhawk with a completely open mind may bring a new perspective onto its shooty based fun antics.

Immediately upon inserting the disc and listening to some 70s techno rock on the XMB launch screen, and then looking at the main menu, and trying not to picture a scene from Uncharted: Drakes Deception, what with the sand, the adventurous music, the guy stood there with one of those funky scarfs hipsters are claiming as their own, it already seems to be built upon good standards.

Starring: Some leftover from Cowboys VS Aliens

So without further ado, I hit the single player aspect of it, and was immediately greeted with another comic style animation that seems to be the norm for Playstation games of late, certainly utilising our 2D Origami  technology to its limits. This introduces you to the story about some guy, with a voice only a mother could love, a mother and any numerous B movie action flicks. Also some Clint Eastwood lookalike lets you borrow his Speederbike to hunt down some healing wounds who are stealing all the rift energy planted in Egypt by none other than those pesky aliens…I don’t know. Also, there might be some love interest, but I was trying to keep up with the prologue and ended up missing both the story and what was happening on screen. First thoughts: I seem to have missed the complimentary pamphlet detailing all events up to said point in very beginning of game.

However, perhaps some in-game action might perk me up a bit? Upon entering the game I am greeted with some awkward running animations, some smooth hover bike riding sections and a quick glance at what can be achieved graphics wise with a game of this magnitude. Some more wonderfully crafted brown textures.

So before getting off my ‘Sidewinder’ I participated in some kangaroo contest with myself as jumping on a Sidewinder in this game, is incredibly cute, and shining my light on everything, two things, I was very impressed with. I will say it now, I haven’t had as much fun jumping whilst driving a vehicle before now as I have in StarHawk. Dismounting the Sidewinder I found more obnoxiously awkward animations as if the rift energy coursing through my body gave me some form of anti-gravity dismounting, and got a chance to take in the surroundings without tacked on motion blur.

And really, the way the lighter tertiary colours merge with the brown trees and rocks, and my khaki clothing, was quite remarkable. I am also pleased to announce that the weapons fire and feel a lot less like Lego than they look, and the AI whilst possibly not F.E.A.R worthy, certainly react better than your average Fifa player…. That was at least until my third foray into the action was spoilt somewhat by allies and enemies continuously running into walls, where I doubt they would of normally been able to reach given the circumstances.

I will never be the first one in a room to complain about the gore in games, but what they have done here, by letting rift energy explode out instead of blood and keeping some crazy neon bullet time after you covertly pop a cap in someone’s derrière is not only a good touch, it works well, and doesn’t seem like a cheap gimmick to spice things up and keep the PEGI rating down. And of course also comes into this are the ragdoll on death effects, something I am pleased to announce is my guilty pleasure, and Starhawk is no exception, they look wonderful.

And in a short space of time I was soon doing what StarHawk was using as its selling point, building some building type items on the battlefield, however, it obviously doesn’t have the same effect in single player as it does in multiplayer, but it’s still something fun, and unique… something all games should strive to do nowadays.

Fighting and building got more intense as an obligatory fend off/survival task was put ahead of me and my AI team mates, and gave me a chance to see some new enemy and building types as well as a more frantic run and gun approach to the game. This all came together nicely, and felt good, nothing (other than the dodgy animations) felt out of place or broken. However, I soon got the ol’ knife out and began swinging, the 16 year old in me wanting to shout “Yeah, Rambo time!” However, I soon found out you do some crazy takedown if you attack from behind, which whilst visually appealing, slows you down and your open to attack… something, I tend to find slightly more frustrating than just spamming a button and letting the sharp end of my blade do the talking.

…So I built some auto turrets to deal with the enemy who were now angered by my previous actions,  and safe to say, they did a very good job, and all the rift I gained from their kills, I spent on more auto turrets.  A chance to just crouch down and listen to the screams of agony from behind my newly prefabbed walls. … Something… I was soon to regret, turns out, listening to 3 stock macho grunts over and over again in quick succession meant I had to turn the volume down and close the close the curtains in case someone got the wrong idea.

Driving/riding/flying on past some extras in a Michael Bay film, I was starting to get into the feel of everything, the world was opening up and revealing more well rendered textures, the music spurring you on an adventure was mixing well with the booms and crackle of gun fire as well as the hum of my Nissan Leaf.

Just look at all this blockbuster action!

Then before I knew it I was firing homing missiles at the standard planes from Warhawk which sounded remarkably like pod racers, and then in came paper cut scene 2… So, from the first level, I have high hopes for it. It gives you a rather large portion of what to expect from the game, and as a tutorial level, works well in introducing to its features, characters, and gameplay… even if the story is rather shady.

However, I felt the need to take on the bulk of the game, the multiplayer before I came across anymore over enthusiastic enemies hurtling themselves off of rooftops at me… partly that, and partly because once I say what I was wearing come…’chapter 2’ I needed a break to stop the giggle fits. Not before of course checking out the flying mechanics… … … … Yeah… they worked… honestly, I don’t know what I was expecting, but preferably something deeper and not as Kirby-esque as what I was feeling.

So just before any more dodgy voice acting and slow loading space textures got the better of me, I hit start to transport back to the main menu, but was instead greeted with a minefield of options to choose in a graphic nature similar to that of 1950s cartoons.

However, I decided to opt to go to the multiplayer home world instead of straight into the action, just to see… and I was pleasantly surprised, a hangout spot for casual gaming, building, and having fun… it’s one step away from LAN servers, something again, I am very grateful to see in a game again.

And with that I jumped into a quick match, with, numerous other options to choose from on the start menu, if it can even be called that anymore? But either way, I had joined a game and was immediately greeted upon deploy with dogfights overhead, snipers from recently built watchtowers and team mates frantically jumping up onto walls. It was an absolute mess… a mess I was rather glad to be a part of.

Absolute chaotic fun was to be followed next, so with my rift I was given at the start of the match I decided to build a watchtower of my own, climbed to the top and was granted a sniper rifle, here I was could see the extent of the playable battlefield, and it was an impressive sight. Coupled together with the battles ensuing on both land and air it was a wonderful feeling to be put in a position where at first sight you as an individual are on back end of things, when actually the game gives you, and your team every chance to balance the playing field, keeping things fair, and in turn, more enjoyable.

What the single player gives you to start with, only increases in the multiplayer aspect, and, I mean practically everything. The feeling of fighting real people gives the weapons, which were already very stable an even more punching feeling, the areas of which to fight in only improve as more players place down their respective beacons of hope and destruction. The plethora and diversity of vehicles swarming around you taking pot shots at one another gives a different edge to multiplayer gaming I personally haven’t felt in a while.

It also of course takes some of the bad parts from the single player with the awkward motions of the players character they have to witness. But on the whole, what players would want from the game, a solid shooter with some tricks up its sleeve is exactly what they get… and then some… some more sleeves… more sleeves in character customisation is what players want… YEAH!

At this time, there is no real lag, and just one disconnection, from populated games. Players seem to be catered towards a team based approach, and gameplay is varied with the 5 environments and multiple layouts within them, along with the 4 modes, all of which you’d normally expect in a game of this type.

Oh, there’s the budget again.

Summary:

Graphically, it’s what you’d expect from an exclusive this far into the PS3s lifecycle, whilst at first environments may seem bland, and player models and textures don’t automatically come across as astounding, they grow on you, expand throughout single player and multiplayer, so with the exception of a few slow loading textures, ladder animations not seen since the days of Charlie’s Angels, some questionable aesthetic design choices, and a rather horrendous main menu (albeit, you will only witness this once each time you start the game up) it’s definitely a game you can appreciate for its looks. Think, Odette Annable… in 30 years.

The audio can be thought of as an old dog, it’s there… you notice it… but it only ever really grabs your attention when it bites itself and lets out a whimper.  There is one of those rocking orchestral musical scores to it, but it sounds oh so familiar to almost all other PS3 exclusives lately,  and doesn’t quite build on the gameplays uniqueness. Add to that what can only be described as open source sound effects and agony takes, it’s one Wilhelm scream away from being hilariously bad, rather than a tad old.

Whilst the single player content may not be the strongest around, especially after going back and spending some more time with it, it’s still stronger than most other multiplayer based games out there, and if you’re not a multiplayer gamer, still worth a moment of your time, 5 hours is still about as good as you’ll get with the majority of games now-a-days, and the story eventually opens up.The space sections are a break from the norm and herald the days of N64 Star Wars games, with lighter controls and the ability to bounce off everything seemlessly, but on the whole, it’s a strong campaign, with a few bits and bobs that could be altered, a few times I died for what seemed like no real reason, and ‘cutscenes’ take priority over the gameplay on many instances which becomes slightly infuriating.

But of course, with the options available to you with the multiplayer, and just how genuinely good it was to play there is something for everyone. It’s certainly a game you will pick back up after saying you are done with it. Whilst it may not have the sticking power of Warhawk years down the line, right now, I can only echo what others have said, as an experience, it’s trumping lesser titles for pure archaic fun with friends, or strangers, and there is plenty to do, for casual gamers and the hardcore fan base. All it lacks here is real offline/online bot support… just the one thing I had hoped for this type of game, but the supported modes with co-op will suffice for now.

Final Score – 71/100

All in all, it’s a very strong game to adorn your PS3 collection with, and what with co-op, splitscreen, exploring maps, and customisation of your character and all their vehicles gives a multiplayer based shooter, a real leg to stand on in the current game climate. In fact, it’s got two legs, two arms, and a head, it’s a beautifully sculpted woman of a game, and it is in dire need of your love and attention, and you too might be happily surprised at the joy it will give back in return*

*However, don’t get happily surprised by a real life partner, they should stick around longer than Starhawk will, and that’s quite a compliment.