Shocking Introduction: A First Look at the Starhawk beta
By Jason Joseph at January 31, 2012 | 8:12 pm | Print
The only reason I own a Playstation 3 is for their exclusives. So far through my ownership of a Playstation 3, I have found the exclusives I have tried to be a mixed bag of terrible, average and not bad. Nothing has quite blown my mind yet, but I have a feeling that is finally going to change. I admittedly don’t know a whole lot about the game Starhawk, but I’ve read the PS3 fanboys ranting and raving about how it is going to be the next big thing in gaming, and with a beta currently on the Playstation Network and a code inviting me to play sitting in my Uncharted 3 game case, I figured why the hell not, right? Good call, Jay. Good call.
So before I praise my short stint with the beta, I have to start off by questioning the thought process behind a purely multiplayer demo. I mean, I get it, but at the same time, I wish there was something more of a learning curve other than jumping right into a game with no clue what I am doing. I saw dudes flying around with jet packs, building huge robots and then one shotting me after I laid a good 7-10 shots into them. There is just no explanation as to what’s going on, just, here you are, good luck. This is certainly not exclusive to the Starhawk beta, but I think it is something companies should consider. I realize it is already a big undertaking to simply put out a demo or a beta, but I was a little frustrated when I landed in my landing zone, started opening up on a guy only to have him turn around and kill me in one shot. Oh well.
With all of that said, there is a lot of cool stuff going on here. At it’s core, Starhawk is a sci-fi influenced third person shooter. I have a preference for first person, but as third person shooters go, this one plays pretty well. There is a menu that lets you build turrets and all sorts of other stuff that I am sure you need to unlock. I didn’t get much of a backstory out of the game itself since it really just launches you into a game, but I was clearly the bad guy and the people zipping around on their gliders were the good guys. I could look up everything and act like I know what I am talking about, but I am emphasizing the fact that I wasn’t quite given a reason to care about who the hell everyone was or why everything was going on quite yet. I am pretty sure it was at least 12 on 12, but it may have been 16 on 16. The graphics were OK, though I hope the single player campaign is better. The map I was on was pretty cool. It had a few different levels and dropping down in the drop pod let me land on a roof at the end, which presented a cool vantage point. It was either a nighttime map or a space map. Either way, it was dark. I managed to build a turret when I saw this big ass robot was heading my way. Then some dude swooped in from above and totally ruined my fun. Well played.
As you watch the video below, keep in mind that whenever it asks me to press X, I am pressing the square, because that is where the X is on the Xbox controller and that is what I am used to. I didn’t even realize I was doing it to be honest. I was obviously trying to get a baring on my surroundings and figure out what the hell I was supposed to do, so I am certainly not looking MLG in the video. This game looks fun as hell, and it is instantly going on my pre-order list. I really can’t wait to play more. It is set for a May 8th release. Check out the video below for more: