A game that mixes genres, into a successfully chaotic soup of fun. A must-buy for multiplayer aficionados on the PS3
With this sequel though, they've changed more than just the story and setting (its now in space and alien planets), they added in a core gameplay mechanic called "build and battle". What this entails, is using the games rift energy (a form of currency) to build structures instantly on the battlefeild around you. Think of it like pseudo RTS elements in a gears of war game. You can build walls and turrets to defend positions, or build around your home base, as well as outposts that act as spawn beacons outside of your main base / spawn point. Allowing you to throw down a base out in the middle of no-where, on the fly (well, maybe not on-the-fly, depends on how much Rift energy you have saved up)
To be honest, the single player is a bit 'meh', and only acts as more of a tutorial for the insanely fun multiplayer, (which is great since its predecessor never had a single-player or even a tutorial).
Turn up the difficulty if you plan on playing single player, turns it into a whole new beast of gameplay.
The co-op is awesome, its straight up horde mode, but you get to plan your defense with your building placement alongside a friend via 2 player split-screen or up to 4 players online. (Which gets hectic and is actually REALLY fun)
Now the competitive multi-player is what this game is all about. It's freakin fun, and includes Team deathmatch, capture the flag, Zones mode ( like Conquest in Battlefield) and a dogfighting-only mode for the pilots. It even lets you play splitscreen online, and allows you to log into your specific PSN ID on your friends PS3. So 2 PSN ID's will be logged onto the same machine, playing online together. Incredible.
It's got a great clan system and party feature for your online friends, as well as interactive gamepaly lobbies that lets you mess about with your friends while you organize a game, or plan clan strategies, or maybe even just race around and build random things. And to top it off, you get to customize everything from your player, to your clan banner, to your vehicle paint jobs.
Overall, starhawk's multipalyer has has truly unique and diverse gameplay (and no, that's not a canned lined, it's ACTUALLY unique) a rarity in todays COD generation of gaming standards.
Starhawks Multi-palyer can be twitch action, but also accommodate some strategy and teamwork in how you attack, and build your bases. No other multiplayer game supports great teamwork, but also rewards skilled players who go out on their own to make a difference (especially in Zones mode, where a lone wolf can help turn around the tide of a match by capturing a zone).
Now CTF, is a game mode I tend to avoid in other shooters, but in Starhawk, it becomes a whole new game, EVERY flag capture can make a difference and can turn into an epic battle, flag caps are more rare, but more fun. Fighting your way into the other teams fortified base, and BACK out again in one piece is a challenge. A GOOD challenge. Those "holy crap" moments that are a rarity in other games, happen a lot more often in Starhawk matches; having jeeps and hawks flying after you while you race home with the enemy flag, and if you die, it now turns into a mad dash for both teams to go and reclaim the flag, because there's a chance to reclaim it and keep going. So now the other team has to surround the dropped flag it and protect it, throw down some turrets and defenses, while waiting for the timer to go down and the flag returns home.
The only other downsides I can think of at the moment is that you have a building limit of 32, which can get restricting in a 32 player match. I hope they can raise that eventually with a patch or something.
And the current every-man-for-himself type of deathmatch is dog-fighting only, so if you're not that great of a pilot, you probably wont' be bothering with that mode.
Other positives apparently every single map-pack will be absolutely FREE with this game. Every one. Free map DLC's is a truly rarity in this day and age of gaming. Not sure what else to say, it really is a must-buy if you're into competitive multiplayer.