Defender is a modern adaptation of the classic 1981 arcade game released on Xbox Live Arcade on November 15, 2006. Players control a spacecraft tasked with defending humanity against relentless waves of alien attackers. The ship utilizes smart bombs and hyperspace maneuvers to confront various enemy types, while rescuing humanoids is crucial to preventing their transformation into lethal Mutants. Failure leads to planetary destruction.
Defender put players in charge of a ship sent to protect mankind from wave after wave of attacking alien forces.
Armed with smart bombs and the ability to use hyperspace to move quickly around the planet, the player ship must fight against Bombers, Pods, Swarmers, Baiters, and Landers - that can capture the humanoids and transform them into deadly and relentless Mutants. Fail to save the humanoids from freefall or Mutant transformation, and the planet is destroyed.
Defender is a port with modern enhancements of the original 1981 arcade title released on Xbox Live Arcade on November 15th, 2006.
On February 17th, 2010 Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb announced on Twitter that nine Midway Games had been removed from Xbox Live “due to publisher evolving rights and permissions”.