What I think about the Starhawk Beta

"Game is intuitive, but unless you're in a vehicle, don't forget to bring running shoes. . ."


Starhawk brings real time strategy into a third person shooter. The successor to 2007's Warhawk is set for May 8th, 2012 with a supposedly deep campaign, and explosive multiplayer. Lets get to the beta! Through out the beta, the ability to build structures on the fly was something I thought was interesting. Confused are we? I'll explain. Upon spawning, the player will have a blue gauge. This gauge could be considered as a bank, If you stay within your teams base, the gauge or bar will begin to fill. You can then bring up the build menu by holding down the Triangle button and begin building. There is a vast amount of structures that can be built. You can create anything as simple as a wall, to a jet transformer thing . . . it literary transforms.



keep in mind, in order to build certain objects, it is required to give up a specific amount of energy(blue bar thing) So where does the strategy come in? Say for example I were to build a Hawk launch pad(transformer thing) As long as the pad is still standing, my allies can use the launch pad to build a hawk of their own. It also works vice versa. So you build not only for yourself, but for your team. When I think about it, the real time building is the only thing I liked about the beta. Lets talk about the gameplay.

Compared to other third person shooters, the player movement is limited and almost feels locked. Of course you'll have the basic forward, back, strafe left and right; along with the sprint, jump and crouch button. BUT guess what, that's all you'll get in terms of character movement. Based on MY number of close quarter situations, some kind of dodge roll or slide would improve the overall gameplay. Now, the last con that is present in the beta. I'll sum it up with this, Unless you're in a vehicle, don't forget to bring running shoes. The maps are relatively large and very open. But considering the RTS/TPS style, I understand what the developers are trying to go for. So until we see more maps, building vehicles will be the main mode of transportation.

Written by Ryan Bounphasaysol