When attending Midway's Gamers' Day a couple of summers ago, there were a few titles that really caught my eye. NHL Hitz was one. The 3 seconds of Scorpion footage from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance was another. Spy Hunter was a fresh take on an old favourite... but when I saw the Defender reel, I was a little concerned. Would Midway just be slapping fresh paint on some golden oldies in order to remove cash from nostalgic gamers' wallets? It happened with Frogger - the sheep flocked to it like a fresh garden meadow filled with crunchy dandelions and morning dew, despite the fact that the game was absolutely rancid. Could Midway get it done? Or would it be up to me to stand up, a Gaming Shepherd if you will, and say, "Enough!"? Well, the Spy Hunter remake certainly didn't embarrass itself, and Defender has followed suit with a very solid effort.

Old-fart gamers like myself know the Defender mythology backwards and forwards, but for the ankle-biters in the audience, know this: in the early 80's there was Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Defender for your space blasting fix. This Holy Trinity would devour quarters worldwide, and Defender certainly did its fair share of lightening kids' pockets of their lunch money. Fast, frentic pacing, rushing back and forth trying to save humanity from the clutches of evil aliens intent on kidnapping and inevitable anal probing, judicious use of the blaster ensuring that you hit the invaders and not the humans they carried - Defender was great fun indeed. So how could 7 Studios and Midway take that kind of blood racing thrill and not only turn it into a worthy three-dimensional fight, but not lose the magic that made Defender what it was in the first place? Simple: by concentrating on the key points that made it so great - lots of action, smart strategy, and the feeling that while you're part of something much greater than you, your work is still paramount to the safety of the world.

Defender has mission-based gameplay this time around, ranging from defending (no pun intended) encampments and bases, creating more units to battle on your side, as well as rescue and escort missions. The control that 7 Studios has put together is spot-on, with a camera that tracks the action and you perfectly. Any shooter worth its salt has to have decent controls, and the original Defender was one of the best around - nice to see that some things haven't changed. While controlling your fighter craft, you'll see battles raging around you on all sides, adding to that real "war-effort" feeling. Each ship has its own specific handling characteristics, and after playing around, you'll be sure to find one that fits your particular style, whether it be sturdier but slower, or fleet of foot with less hardiness. It's a testament to the gameplay balance that no matter what craft you choose, the game doesn't punish you for making the "wrong" choice. You just have to adjust your playing style to the ship you're using. You can tell when a game has been seriously playtested to achieve just the right balance, and Defender certainly has that feel.

In order to prevent the aliens from stealing your fellow humans, you have to rescue and deposit them at various landing sites around the world. Fail to get to them in time, and the humans will be absorbed into the alien craft, mutating them into stronger, faster and more difficult adversaries. Obviously, it's to your advantage to prevent this from happening, and the pace can get quite crazy as you whip around trying to keep everyone intact. Barrel-rolling, looping and swooping over the terrain can make you dizzy if you're not careful. Speaking of the terrain, the vistas in which you fight in and over are very well done. Ranging from snow fields (Hoth, anyone), moon horizons, rolling fields of hot magma, asteroids, mountain ranges - there is literally something new just around the corner on nearly every mission and it all looks great. Of course, those of you who own an Xbox are best off, with sharper graphics and greater draw-in distance, but PS2 and GameCube owners don't exactly have anything to complain about. The framerate is rock-solid on all three systems, and while the draw-in on PS2 and GameCube isn't quite as far as Xbox, it's still quite impressive and shows off the strength of the graphics engine.

As you progress farther into the game, revealing more of the story and unlocking the usual Midway secret goodies, it can feel like you're more of a firefighter than anything else. Now, the game is named Defender, but it would be nice to be able to take the fight to the aliens on a larger scale and actually work in some heavy-duty offensive attacks. Perhaps I've been spoiled by Rogue Leader, but while Defender has a lot of moments where you feel like you're in a war, it still doesn't come close to providing those "Holy Sh*t" moments that Factor 5's Star Wars' space fighter does. Since Defender is directly competing against RL, at least on GameCube, it really needed to come up with something special to beat the Nintendo launch title, and while very competent, it doesn't blow it out of the water. The competition on PS2 and Xbox is somewhat less congested, and Defender is better off for it.

What of the Gameboy Advance version, you ask? Well, in a nutshell: it's utterly naff. Terrible gameplay, terrible animation, terrible AI, the addition of new modes that actually detract from the original, revamped controls that manage to both suck and blow at the same time - if given a choice between playing the GBA version again or eating the cartridge, plastic and all, I'd be firing up my microwave and looking for a plate. This version is an absolute joke and spits all over the Defender name. Why Midway thought they needed to put another Defender on the GBA is beyond me, since you can get it in another craptacular Midway GBA conversion, Midway's Arcade Classics. The pride and care that is so self-evident in the big-brother console versions is nowhere to be found here. Absolutely shameful.

Anyways, GameBoy Advance version aside, Defender is a worthy space shooter that has some good ideas and solid implementation. If you've already finished Rogue Leader and are looking for another space shooter, it's definitely worth checking out. With great gameplay, varied missions and solid controls, Defender is another Midway classic tuned for a new generation of gamers. If someone offers you the GBA version, however, run in the opposite direction as if the hounds of Hell themselves were chasing you.

GameBoy Advance grade: F- Everyone else: B-