Starhawk

Star hawk is a fast paced action shooter that combines tactics and sci-fi action. In starhawk you play as gunman Emmet Graves,you are hired to protect energy mining sights from monsters known as outcasts. the outcasts are people who were overexposed to the energy being mined and they became mutated and distorted. In the campaign you return to your home-world of Dust after you were hired to protect their energy mining operation. without revealing too many spoilers, you protect the mining sights and the shipments of energy until the outcasts destroy the ship that was suppose to receive the energy that had been mined.The towns people try to retaliate against the outcasts for destroying the ship but it ends badly and Emmet must step in to save the day. The campaign is short and not very fulfilling, Emmet is a shallow person who only seems to care about the paycheck for 80% of the game and the supporting characters are not very dynamic.However, the game does have a very original theme. It is not a clone of any game on the market today, it is a sci-fi western, not a space marine game like so many others. Story mode is not the focus of the game, it is just meant to be a tutorial for multiplayer. Starhawk focuses on competitive online multiplayer game play. There are four game modes all but one is team based. there is Team Death Match (two teams try to kill as many as the enemy as possible within a time limit), capture the flag (two teams try to capture the enemy flag while defending their own), zones (two teams struggle to capture as much territory as possible within a time limit), and Death Match (a dogfight where players try to shoot down as many enemy aircraft as possible withing the time limit). There is also co-op mode in which up to four players defend a energy collector form waves of outcasts. co-op can be played online but it is much more fun split screen. as with any multiplayer game you need to be cautious of using voice chat. unless you are talking to people you know, i recommend muting everyone. players can also make or join clans (teams) or parties (temporary teams), this helps if you know the people in the clan or party but is unless unless you can communicate with them. One thing that makes starhawk unique is the build and battle system. you can build a wide variety of structures to aide you in battle. a few examples are turrets (they shot any enemy in range), AA guns (they shoot at enemy aircraft), bunkers (give weapons and re-fill ammo), shields (protect players from incoming enemy fire), and various vehicle spawners. all structures require energy to build and you can get energy by killing enemies or finding energy barrels scattered throughout the map. the game also focus heavily on vehicular game play. there are four different vehicles a hawk (a plane/mech), a razorback (a jeep with a mounted machine gun in back), a sidewinder (a hovering motorcycle like vehicle),and an ox tank (a heavy tank/artillery gun) each vehicle can be purchased with energy from its respective spawner. the visuals give this game a gritty western feel. the character models for the outcasts could be a little scary to younger audiences because of their zombie like appearance. depending on how they are damaged, players will release small amounts of blood. if a player is killed by an enemy knife, shotgun, or pistol they will release a small cloud of blood that does not stick to the ground or the walls. Only the outcasts bleed and it is unrealistic and white in color. Over all starhawk is a good game but it is not for people under the ages of 12.