Hi,

I've played some hours with this quite good addictive game and I had a lot of fun. Just one remark: from the "normal" level and the mission 7, it's not possible for me to win. Maybe I'm not normal?

loaded this game up fine on my dell vostro with xp.
gameplay is fast and easy to get into tho im not a big fan of the mouse interface for movement.

By the way, the game does not work on Windows 98. It installs and registers successfully, but when clicking "Play now" the game complains about missing export ConvertStringSecurityDescriptorToSecurityDescriptorA from advapi32.dll. This function is available starting from Windows 2000.

Yes, yesterday I was with a real physical (not virtual) PC with Windows 98, and wanted to play this game. There still are people with one. Of course it was my second PC, that I use in my out-of-town house. Unfortunately the game didn't work.

Love the release of adrenalin this game gives me. All the weapons without having to "purchase" them works for me as well. Great game. Do wish I could edit the music, though.

Just wanted to say thanks for the game. I downloaded, registered and played it fine, no problems at all.
As someone else noted, it's a shame you can't accumulate weapons for the next level, but it's a nice point and shoot game nonetheless. :)

This is a wonderful game. Thank you!

Add forward and backward movement of attack ship and a targeting sight

Forgot: surprisingly SD# plays on a very slow processor - 400 MHZ - that SD2 wouldn't play on. Which may mean the coding is even better.

I was one of those that found SD2 quite addictive, though I'm not an experienced shmupper.

First, a suggestion on the registration problem. It may have been said above, but I didn't find it on a search under registration and I didn't have time to read every post:
On some machines or, maybe, monitors - and this DOESN'T seem to be resolution related (I tried raising mine) - the intro window is not completely displayed, therefore, the registration button is hidden. The answer is so old fashioned Windows that some may have forgotten about it. The window has a diagonal stretch tab (is that the right term?) Just mouse over it and the diagonal arrow will replace your cursor. Then just click, hold, and drag and the window will expand and the registration button will appear.

To the game. It's definitely a rethink of some of the items in SD2. They've jettisoned the part of the help which had a blurb on each of the enemy types which makes them more of a surprise but I'd rather have that part of the help back. Looks like they've got some interesting new enemy designs here, though I'm only a little ways in. Added a "kids" level, which, if you're not too proficient a player, gives you an extra set of levels to play through. The main change, though, is the handling of the supplemental weapons. In SD2 there were only 2: straight and homing missiles. Now, there's around a dozen - much more interesting - but they're handled differently. In the old game you could stockpile as many missiles as you could earn, but you could only fire the last one you acquired, until you used them all up or acquired more of the other one. In SD3, you can't seem to stockpile anything but the last one you acquired. The other ones are wiped out as soon as you acquire a new one. This generates a different strategy, one that I don't necessarily like. It forces you to concentrate on managing those weapons, trying to get rid of the last one before you acquire a new one or, maybe even letting bonuses go. Also, the main weapon has less powerup levels, but gets pretty powerful quickly. These two redesigns tend to get my eyes off the whole screen, and make me concentrate more on just avoiding getting hit and managing my supplemental weapons (though the mines are a really useful new weapon). That kind of detracts from the experience for me.

I think I may prefer the more conventional approach of SD2. However, if I'd never seen SD2, I'm sure I'd still get addicted to this one. There just seems to be a significant amount of thought and effort put into this series.

I would caution the developers to not try and redesign the wheel TOO much. Someone said in the late 70s, that you wouldn't want to come up with a new version of Coke, because then it wouldn't be Coke. That was about 5 years before the New Coke debacle.

The bottom line is I feel these two versions of Star Defender give you excellent value for your money. Highly re-playable.


........................Moderator comment..............

Thanks Watcher, a very thoughful review. Not seen you for some time.

Registration Problem because of Size of the Window

The Window to register contains three buttons. It has under the both yellow buttons the green register button. You need to place the window in top position to reach the green register button, if you installed the game on a Netbook...

So it took for me also a second attempt for installation (on XP3) out of the zipped file where I found the green register button on the lower part of the initial screen right after completing the installation. Hope that helps someone who had the problem to find the green registration button. Copying the registration code made no difficulties.


....................Moderator Comment.........................


Thanks for your feedback

Game installed easily on Vista x64 and ran fine, but I just didn't like it much. In particular I didn't understand the relation between the powerups I was catching and their effects on my ship.

I had previously purchased Star Defender II, III, and 4. I LOVE all of them. Many happy hours spent killing things!
I think the number of missions until BOSS is fine like it is. If you get killed too quick, bump the difficulty level down one. Would rather do that than have too many missions cut out.
I've run the SD games on win. XP, and 7(64). Having win. 7, and a new 23" monitor makes the graphics nicer.
Would love to see another Star Defender (5?) in the future. Would have to get it!
Thanks gotd, I always check your offers, love your percentage ratings.

Downloaded and installed with no problem. Awem insists on adding those short cuts on my desktop(without my permission) AND I don't know why...because Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware insists on blocking the websites. Let them fight it out..I just delete the shortcuts.

Don't really care for the music. I like Shmups but I get tired of space ones. Couldn't we shoot some zombies/vampires that have taken over a planet or something different? Mutant turtles..or anything?

Don't like the fact you have to start over because I get killed.... A LOT in these games. I just mindlessly shoot in these games and let off some steam. Good time waster.

Thanks GGOTD and Awem for the fun shooter and to Wrascally Wabbit for his always awesome and through review.


....................Moderator Comment.........................


Thanks Delenn

How do you activate??!

............................Moderator Commment...............................

Omce installed allow the game to start. You should see a window that has a green register button. Click on that then copy the reg code from the read me document into the registration field.

Read previous comments for possible fixes if you still can't register the game.

This is the 1st time I ever wrote a comment on this site. I own several games from you guys. But this is the 1st time I have ever had one of your registrations fail. So I voted this a thumbs down since the registration doesn't work.

I crash in fullscreen windows xp ialmrnt5 display driver has stopped wors in small window



.......................Moderator Comment.................................


Try updating to the latest driver

Thank you GOTD for this beautiful game. I have installed it on my Windows Vista sp2 Pro and it's working properly. Good graphics, good sounds, its amazing! I like very much shooting games, i like this one!
Best regards
Mounir

The game requires you to use a right-handed mouse. A good game will use the Windows' mouse settings in case someone (like me) uses a left-handed mouse.

....................Moderator Comment......................

I'm left handed, but don't have any issues playing this game.

Thanks for this game, installed without any problem on XP SP3, pays to read the text file within the zipped file as this contains the serial number to register the game, not something that I've normally found in other games I've downloaded. Like the option of having a easy level for kids (including big kids like me!), haven't even attempted the difficult level yet. One to keep for rainy days (or when England end a test match early again)

I downloaded the game on windows 7 with no problems at all. Overall I think the game is nice!

The game played well for a while, and I thought I'd been registered, and then, in the middle of a game, it quit on me, with a message that said 'YOUR TEMPORARY KEY HAS EXPIRED!', and I can't even click upon the 'Register' key to register it, because it's only a printed image! I think you should talk to AWEM.


..................Moderator comment...................

Please read the comments section; you may find a fix amongst the many comments made today. Thank you.

You could try deleting the game and deleting all registry entries pertaining to this game. (Go to the Start menu and type in the search field {or run command in XP} then reinstall again. Then try and enter the registration code).

Also try downloading the demo from Awem (link at the top of the page above the file size) and registering that using the code provided in the read me. Please let us know whether any of the fixes worked for you. Thank you.

If you still don't succeed there are similar games available for free from MyPlayCity and Gametop. Also, I've linked to loads of free Shmups at the end of my review (see comment #1) some of which are very good. There’s a particular thread in the forums specific to shmups that includes some fantastic abandonware titles as well as games converted to freeware by their developers as well as many indie games .

Like the graphics, the game is quite addictive. Don't like the music so much. Wish I could edit it out!!

Ok Win 7 Ultimate 64x w/ IE 9. Copy the key with cnt-c cnt-v method.
Man oh man this is the reason they invented 24" LCD LED screens. Kicks butt on all levels. Even on Easy for a starter & reading comments to save missiles, the beasts got to me on stage 7 of level 1. Looks designed to have you blow a bunch of saved missiles there because even better guns, and not using missiles, still gets your lives gone in a glorious blaze. Kept wanting to die anyway just for the experience! Game has the basic options. Strong grahics & sounds.
Prob will wish for a replay option. I'll hate to face Boss, win and have to start at level 1 again, unless I misunderstood and can start from level 2. I can live with blasting thru 8 levels like Old School.
This would be a quarter fiend at arcade. Thanks GOTD for a killer 10.
Please Sir, may I have some more -- before weekend gone....


....................Moderator comment..............


You have to keep at least one life to be able to continue through all of the missions. Thankfully there are power-ups that give you extra lives throughout the game. Unfortunately if you lose all your lives you have to start from the beginning again. In some ways this is an annoyance, yet in another way it makes it all that more sweet if and when you manage to get to the end levels without dying. It's not like the game is exactly the same whenever you play it. I've really enjoyed re-visiting this game. I’ve not played it in quite some time because whenever I did feel like some shmup game play it would usually be with the fourth version, which IMO is by far the best.

My copies were purchased from Reflexive and I thought I’d lost them because of Amazon reneging on their promise to continue re-registering any game bough from Reflexive - They bought out Reflexive back in 2009 and promised to keep a site open so that anyone whose purchased Reflexive games could re-register when they had to reinstall the games. The registration codes were specific to the c.p.u. and MoBo that they were installed to (as well as OS), so when anything was changed the games had to be re-registered. Thankfully I managed to find one of those code generators specific to the two year period I purchased games from Reflexive that covers about 95% of my reflexive games (over 800 of them), which is a relief as I bought all of my games when they cost $19.99 each.

I bought this game along time ago - it's a good
game - maybe gift of the day will get us Star
Defender 4??


....................Moderator comment............

Star Defender 4 is the best one. I bought copies of all of these games when they were originally released. I'd always hoped that they would ramp the game up even further with a fifth in the series, but it's been at least four or five years since the fourth one was released.

nice game. it reminds me of early 80's game whem i was in college and ad to go to local bar to play it while having a glass of beer. lol.

No matter your O/S I love this updated build of the game. Back quite a few years ago, Best Buy was selling this on CD in its stores through its Best Buy Games label, and that version of the game had horrible mouse lag. You could only play with the Keyboard or Gamepad in order to have a playable game. Now I get to enjoy something I missed out on a few years ago. Thanks Stephen as always for your wonderful reviews and Thanks Awem for the updated build.

Good evening WHITE RABBIT U.K.!

I've conducted some research into "Failed to Connect" / activation problems.

Quite simply, it is that the Microsoft Internet Explorer is set to work offline instead of online. It must be online no matter which browser one actually uses. Of course, one MUST ALSO have a functioning Internet connection, and the ISP mustn't have any issues at the moment of activation, and the GOTD activation server must be active at that moment as well. Momentary glitches DO occur at various times!

With a problem, it is best to try activation several times over several minutes whilst verifying Internet connectivity within one's browser. Next, open up Internet Explorer and set it to "work online."

I experimented with clearing the browser caches and this actually seemed to have caused Internet Explorer to switch to offline mode! (more than once)

People must realise that no matter WHICH browser one uses (Firefox, Opera, etc.) it IS Microsoft Internet Explorer's background settings that solely govern activation with GOTD. This is true here at GGOTD and at GOTD as well.

Stephen, if Internet Explorer is offline, if there is not a solid Internet connection, or if GOTD is having a momentary problem, then no amount of clearing caches, rebooting computers modems or routers will help, and it may lead to more problems and is a waste of time.

I have spent a number of hours on "failed to connect" and I hope this research helps. I won't bother to post this on the other GOTD site as they rarely post my suggestions, or others' comments after 06:00. Perhaps you can contact them yourself and suggest that they put something on the site and in the readme.txt to save people from a real "turn off" experience.

Thank you Stephen for another game posting and review, and I quite look forward to today's offer.

Cheers and Peace
Mr. Snoozles


..................Moderator comment................

Thanks for your in depth research Mr Snoozles. It's very much appreciated that you've taken the time to research this subject throughly. I'll add your comment in a condensed form to the information posted when this problem arises again. As for rebooting modems/routers; that method has worked for me whenever there has been a problem with the connection; that said, I have had a lot of problems with my provider, so it's possible that it is that reason why I've managed to get the connection connected after a reboot.

Installed, registered, and plays great on my Win7 x64 install. I tried to use my Saitek gamepad, and it looked like buttons 1 & 3 fired the weapons but I could not get the ship to move with it. I could select either mouse or keyboard in option, and the buttons would work in either one (it seems that keyboard/game controller/mouse fire buttons are active no matter what you choose, just movement is affected by this option). I just set up a keyboard profile in Saitek's profile editor and could use the gamepad then.

The also set the game difficulty to normal from the default easy in the options. Nevertheless the difficulty was very easy for the first five levels before heavily ramping up in level 6 when the enemy gets space-invaders-esque shields while at the same time two large armored ships are firing smaller (still multi-hit) ships at you non-stop, which bend toward you even if they are not quite homing. Up to that point I hadn't lost a single ship, then lost all extra ships on that level. Well, first time playing so maybe the difficulty curve wasn't actually as bad as that.

Borrowing a little from your other reviews WR? See what I mean at the start of your conclusion... ;) The tags are also broken under "reviews worth reading", so you know, as is one of the "Here" links in the video section above it.

.................Moderator comment...........

The broken links are becasue i've left spaces between the code. Should be fixed now. thanks for pointing it out. :)

Don't often download games but did this one - 5 times, even from mirror link and NONE even unpacked to install - all came up with an
error message "error unpacking" - certain it should work on XP Pro so
guess I'll go back to playing online Casino's....hee-hee


.....................Moderator Comment......................

Try again later; it could have been that your connection broke down or that the servers were over subscribed. todays game has been very popular. Yo could also try using another archiver such as 7-Zip and J-Zip to unpack the zip file. I have had similar problems and swapping to a different archiver has always worked.

I think there's a bug in this game: I reached mission 2, level 6, then I died. I closed the game. The next time starting it up, it still began in level 1 of mission 1. Isn't this auto-save (on a mission basis)???
Can someone confirm this problem?

..................Moderator comment......................

I reached level 12 in the second mission, lost all my lives and had to start from the beginning again. There should be a levels map so that you don't have to restart from the beginning again. Read GMMans comment. You may be able to edit the games data to overcome this.

Nice game, no problems, XP SP3 and WIN7 64Bit. What else to say, wow really nice game, nice crunching noises and panic music.

#4: "... Error message “Cannot find import; DLL may be missing, corrupt, or wrong version File “sqlite3.dll”, error 998″"

My 1st guess would be something already running that's using another, probably later version of SQLite. Star Defender 3 doesn't register the included sqlite3.dll or anything, just looking for it in the program's folder. If SQLite's already running, it might be latching onto that, not finding what it needs, & throwing the generic error that the file's missing. You could try searching your drive(s) for file names with sqlite, see if Internet Explorer has an add-on enabled that uses it [Star Defender 3 appears to use ie], use SysInternals Process Explorer [free at microsoft.com] to see if some other running app is using SQLite.

* * *

#19: "... neither the control panel’s ‘Add or Remove Programs’ NOR iobit’s Uninstaller (inside the free version of ASC4, if that makes any difference) can even FIND the program, let alone uninstall it...."

While the Star Defender 3 readme says to uninstall through Add/Remove programs, I believe that content was left over from an earlier version/installer... When a setup routine adds registry keys/entries to the necessary section of the registry that app will show up in the Add/Remove Programs listing -- when it doesn't, it won't. Monitoring install, Star Defender 3 setup doesn't add those keys, so Add/Remove Programs won't list it, nor will any other app that uses those same registry keys to build its own uninstall lists.

* * *

#32: "installed the game, however the window that pops up after install is finished does not allow me to click anything, the mouse pointer turns into the little clicker hand when it goes over the buttons but nothing happens when I click on them….. any suggestions? only thing that works on the window is the close button"

The launcher window seems to just use Internet Explorer, with 3 mshtml.dll threads. I didn't have any problems using ie8 in XP or ie9 in win7, but I don't use Internet Explorer all that much & have more or less default settings with just minimal add-ons like Flash. Beyond security software & Internet Explorer settings & add-ons, there are several other files used that might rarely have version compatibility problems in my experience, but I'm not sure it would be worth it to run SysInternals Process Explorer, then track down the latest versions of every file used in the list. Maybe just make sure Windows & Internet Explorer have all their updates?... the 1/2 dozen files I checked out in XP were all latest versions & had been updated from original files that came with XP.

* * *

#36: "I have windows 7... I had a net-framework 4 update to on windows update and updated to net framework 4 now the game and Registration works fine."

Using SysInternals Process Explorer in XP Pro & win7 64 .NET wasn't involved running the game -- my **Guess** FWIW is that updating .NET had more to do with putting something back the way it should be... If you have .NET installed it's usually critical to keep it updated for security if nothing else, so regardless how well Star Defender 3 runs or doesn't, updates should be done -- OTOH I don't think anyone that doesn't have .NET 4 already installed should necessarily add it just for today's game.


.......................Moderator Comment..................

Thank you for this very useful feedback Mike, much appreciated.

A new styled Invader-Game ! Very nice, very hard to play !

Thanks Avem, GOTD & Whiterabbit for this new improved download today. Great game have played it when I last downloaded. Installed fine on new laptop & Windows 7. The reason I come back to GOTD is secure downloads and today was no different. I still need to attempt the upgrade feature, but expect little resistence. I am going to install it on XP3, so that I can appreciate the dfferences.

Windows 7 does do Upgrades a little different and it was nice to see this mentioned, my thanks to all who left comments.

If you want to cheat, you can do it indirectly by editing the player database. Grab SQLite Database Browser (http://sourceforge.net/projects/sqlitebrowser/), unzip, and drag profile.db to it. Browse around, as the fields are pretty self-explanatory.

Wow. 10 minutes and 37 seconds to get to the first level boss, and he wipes me out in one hit. That is messed up -_-

...............Moderator comment...............

Yeah, I had the same problem the first time around. ended up saving all my missiles and blasted the boss on the second run; lus it helped that i managed to keep most of my weapon upgrades the second time around. either you must have been on the default weapon loadout or you were hit by the red laser, which seems to destry a ship even if it has maximum weapon loadout.

I have windows 7 download the game install ok and tried to play the game it loaded the Registration screen I click on Registration I got Star Defender 3 stop working so went to the webpage and downloaded the trial and install that and it did the same thing so tried to add it to the dep (data execution prevention) list stall would not work I had a net-framework 4 update to on windows update and updated to net framework 4 now the game and Registration works fine.
Thanks very much for the game


..................Moderator comment.................

thanks for the feedback Rob, the .net framework fix could be the answer to others who have been having a problem with this game. Thanks Rob.

It works fine for me on a two year old core 2 duo E7200 running W7x64. It takes forever for the game to load (maybe a minute or more) but once it's loaded then it plays just fine. I have played the two previous star defenders and like them very much when I"m in a "let's just blow everything up mode.

I've only played this for about 30 minutes or so. The first time I died on the first mission of the second level and the other two times somewhere in the first level. The graphics seem marginally better than previously and the icons that determine what kind of powerup you'll receive are a significant improvement since they actually sort of look like the thing that they represent.

It's definitely a keeper.

Quick heads up about the music: MO3 is a tracker format by Un4Seen Developments. You can open it up in programs such as ModPlug Tracker.

data.pak can be extracted with QuickBMS and the script at http://forum.xentax.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3532&p=34424#p34424

@ #6 Damon, Regarding the no sound issue when the game first starts up, I had the same thing. Just exiting from the game and restarting solved it for me. Also running Vista here with no problem (now anyway :)).
As to the game, it's great, nice and colourful and the sound is quite powerful. I dread to think what it'd be like through my main sound system :). Game play is pretty good, as has been said, you can play the game for just a few minutes, but don't be surprised if your still playing it half an hour later :).
The controls are good, but I've found that the mouse response can be just a little sluggish, especially if there are quite a few bad guys on the screen all shooting away(fresh reboot as well). The total game time will probably be similar to others of this genre which is good as I can plan some time to play it, and going off the previous version I'll say that re-playability will be good as well.
I'll give it an 8/10, as one thing that concerned me is that it wanted direct disk access. Not sure why but denying it had no effect.

..............Moderator comment................

Thanks for the feedback

installed the game, however the window that pops up after install is finished does not allow me to click anything, the mouse pointer turns into the little clicker hand when it goes over the buttons but nothing happens when I click on them..... any suggestions? only thing that works on the window is the close button


.............................Moderator Comment......................

seems like a few users have had this problem. I can't suggest anything that will fix this problem. Maybe go to MyPlayCity or Gametop. They have loads of similar Shmup's for free. I've linked to them at the end of my review at comment # 1

Edit - Rob posted a comment that may resolve the issue. Try getting the latest version of .net framework from Microsoft (it's free).

Susan Cuuter, #26, there IS a difficulty setting. It's in 'OPTIONS', and there are 4 levels. the original is 'Easy', but there's an easier 'For Kids' level, as well as 'Normal' and 'Hard' levels. It also keeps the difficulty you set for your next startup.

Win7 HP, Installed and registered without problem; game runs smoothly, without compatibility mode. Love the fact that you can change the difficulty level, old eyes. I have "2", glad to get "3", thank you very much!

Thanks for a great shooter. I enjoyed the first of these games. My kids like them too.

Game installed ok, registered fine.
even on kid mode you can lose your game pretty quick if hit with no upgrades.

It just keeps getting better ! Love it !

Win7 Home Premium, 64 bit: Game installed right away and the registration code from the read.me file worked and I played the first seven levels with no problems at all.

Thanks very much for the game! I've loved this type of game since Space Invaders on the Atari 2600. (Yes, I am that old.)

Only suggestion: maybe add a difficulty level, for those of us old enough that our fast twitch response isn't as fast as it used to be.

-Resolution could be higher ( more room to play ).
-Objects are too big.
-The score bar on right side should hide himself to give more room to play ( also transparent.)and its is also too big.
-The guns are too unrealistic ( bullets are too big and rays are also unrealistic ).
-There should be something more to do than shoot, fly and collect.
-The space ship should move also up and down at least a bit.
-The background should be scrollable up and down and constantly changing ( planets, buildings space stations etc.)
-There should be also more friendly ships that also shoot.
-The model of aliens and the ship are quite good, but not quite realistic looking.
-The hostile ships formations should vary more.
-Colors are quite good
-One video monitor from the back of the ship could be interesting.


....................Moderator comment..............

Thanks for your feedback Petri. This game is several years old so won't come up to the standard of some more recent shmups; for it's time it was one of the best around.

downloaded fine on 2 separate XP SP3 1.6GHz & 2.3GHz machines, no registration buttons anywhere on start up, just a Play Trial & Buy Now buttons

...................Moderator comment.................

Try downloading and installing the demo from Awem's site. The link to Awem is near the top of this page or at the end of the intro in the first comment above (reference). Otherwise I can only suggest you play the demo through and see if the register button appears when you've used the time up. I don't understand why you are not seeing the register button? I've seen it on all the computers i've installed it to. Each one a different OS with different hardware configurations etc.

Installed and registered without issue on Vista 32. Star Defender 3 is an outstanding addition to Star Defender 2, previously given away. I agree its frustrating (aggravating really)losing your shields and weapons in game. Adds to the appeal and replayability though, you really want to finish off that final boss! Superb graphics for a game of this type and the soundtrack is amazing. Thanks AWEM and GOTD