One of the neatest surprises in my life as a gamer came in my brother’s Chevy Suburban, with no game system in sight. The year was 1995, and the Sony PlayStation was just a couple months old. My brother popped the disc for “Warhawk” — the new aerial combat game we were obsessed with — into his car’s CD player, and, just as I was laughing off his dumb joke, the game’s sound track started up. I was amazed. The Blu-ray disc that holds “Starhawk” all these years later won’t work in your car, but in your PlayStation 3 it’s a key to technological wonders hardly less impressive: online fights involving 32 players from around the world duking it out, on foot and in the sky, across huge maps.
Good thing this is so impressive, because “Starhawk” marks the biggest gulf in quality between single-player and multiplayer modes outside the “Bomberman” series.
Like 2007’s simply named “Warhawk,” “Starhawk” expands the theater of war, allowing you to step out of your aircraft and fight on your own two feet. But the game’s developers took pains to make sure “Starhawk” is not just another shooter. The game revolves around a novel system called “Build n’ Battle.” Taking out bad guys earns you points, which you can spend to build stuff. The game’s simple control scheme makes this a cinch. Pick a structure — walls, gun turrets, towers for sniping — pick where you want it to go, and it drops out of the sky, like manna from war heaven.
| ‘Starhawk’ |
| » System: PS3 |
| » Price: $59.99 |
| » Rating: 3 out of 5 stars |
In the game’s single-player mode, where you’re the only person building and battling, and the experience is halting, because you’re constantly switching roles.
Online, the system makes much more sense. With 15 other guys on your team, you have the freedom to sink your teeth into either going on the offensive or building up the defenses of your base camp. Never has there been a better video game version of capture the flag.
The points you earn by blasting the enemy can be spent not only on structures, but vehicles, like gun-mounted dune buggies and the titular flying “hawks,” which are great for strafing. The prominence of vehicles give the online fights a great variety, with tanks facing off on the ground as hawks dogfight above.
The vehicles also make the action a bit disjointed. Other players often are more concerned with building their own vehicles than teaming up in any meaningful way, so it’s easy to feel lonely amid the crowd and chaos.
But the times you do team up are a joy. If you have a group of friends you can play “Starhawk” with online, the most distinctive offering on the crowded online shooter market blossoms as the best multiplayer experience on the PlayStation 3.
