We had the opportunity to speak to David Brooks, producer of Midway's latest incarnation of the classic shooter Defender for the PS2. Here's the scoop on this old school remake.

DAVID: Over the years, Midway has considered numerous concepts for a re-make of Defender. When Seven Studios approached us with their concept, it instantly struck us as having just the perfect balance of original Defender action and new elements that truly looked to take it to the next level.

We commissioned Seven Studios to do a prototype that was an instant hit internally and so we commissioned them to do the game for Playstation 2.

DAVID: The story is set in the future, where the alien Manti race has invaded our solar system, and in particular has completely taken over Earth leaving only colonists on Mars, Jupiter, and the other planets and moons of our system. You play as Kyoto, a rookie female fighter. The missions in the game take you all over our system, pushing back Manti forces and installations, all leading up to the culminating battle on Earth's moon where you must power up an enormous engine (called Memory) that will drive the moon into the Earth and finish off the Manti invasion once and for all.

DAVID: Our goal has always been to stay faithful to the essence of the original Arcade game and so we feel like people who are familiar with the original will have a lot of fun with the new Defender.

DAVID: The main new element is the ability to strategically pick up and deploy humans, tanks, missile launchers, repair crawlers and other units to aid you in your battle. Tanks in the game can be picked up by your ship and dropped wherever you desire. Once dropped, the tanks pick up the battle themselves, shooting at air and ground units or other Manti establishments. Humans can be picked up and delivered to locations where they can come out driving tanks that can be deployed as well. In addition there are new enemy types, new ships, new weapons, powerups, and even a multi-player mode of play.

DAVID: Unfortunately the original arcade game is not included in this version of Defender.

DAVID: Eugene Jarvis was involved at the very beginning, reviewing game designs and adding his own ideas to the mix. And of course, Midway management was very involved across the board in offering ideas, suggestions, and other feedback.

DAVID: My favorite gameplay element from the original was danger management and the introduction of a radar map, which for it's time was quite original. Defender was one of the first games to have a scrolling, expansive world. It was also one of the first games to have a radar system. I liked the fact that you needed to keep one eye on the radar while keeping the other on the action at hand in order to stay on top of the aliens in the game. This definitely made it into the new Defender and was an important feature that helped make the new game feel like the old.

DAVID: Robotron or Smash TV are at the top of my list for re-makes!

Thanks for talking with us David!