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Categories: Books
Tags: aliens, arcade, atari 2600, defender
Defender: Hyperswarm
Author: Tim Waggoner
Publisher: ibooks
Released: 2004
If you are familiar with Defender, then it’s probably through the ports of the 1980 arcade game. The plot, condensed for the back cover of the Atari 2600 release, is “Defend Planet Earth against the Aliens! Don’t let Alien Landers kidnap the Humanoids and turn them into destructive Mutants.” This sums up a game Gamasutra calls “quite possibly, the hardest significant game there is,” but also hints at a narrative just barely deeper than Space Invaders. Luckily, through the magic of the Internet, I was able to e-mail author Tim Waggoner who told me that the book was commissioned as a sequel for the 2002 re-imagining.
The 2002 game names Defender’s alien menace the Manti, an insectoid alien race bent on destroying Earth and its colonies. In what must be a harrowing endgame sequence, main character Mei Kyoto powers up Memory, an artificial intelligence on the moon, who then crashes the moon into the Earth wiping out the Manti infestation and killing their queen.
The book begins a few years later on Remembrance Day, 2653. Humanity is divided between terraforming a planet into a new earth or continuing colonization beyond the solar system, with the activation of an Earth Memorial bringing the argument to a head. Combine this with the revelation that humanity is under secret observation by a collective of alien races, who are themselves survivors of Manti attacks, and you have a lot happening even before the Manti launch a surprise attack on page 54.
Game characters Kyoto, Gen. Detroit Adams, and Dr. Mudo soon find themselves back in action, with Kyoto, Mudo and a rebooted Memory testing a top secret ship capable of traveling through hyperspace — which happens to be where the Manti come from. Good thing Kyoto’s Defender class starfighter is aboard.
Hyperswarm is far better than a book based on any version of Defender should be — largely due to the fact that Waggoner adds legitimate science fiction to the space opera mix. While the Manti could easily fall in the generic end of the threat from outer space spectrum, Waggoner provides an interesting backstory and plausible motivation for their actions.
If the book has any flaws, it comes from acting as a sequel to the game. While Waggoner recaps events, I still felt like I was missing something and since I wasn’t preinvested in the characters some of their struggles were less compelling. I wouldn’t recommend gamers actively seek this out, but its a good read if you stumble across it.
Silvercube:
There was a Defender revival a few years ago, with a game being released on the original Xbox a few years back.
Got pretty decent reviews, sadly I never picked the game up.
Its never too late though.
I still have my old Xbox hooked up:)
Terry:
Yeah, sucks that this isn’t backwards compatible.