Loads of our readers aren't old enough to remember the appearance of the original Defender back in the late 70s. I'm not, that's for sure, although I did while away more than a few hours on Archer Maclean's Dropzone, a 'coincidentally' similar shooter on ye olde Commodore 64.

But even if you're not misty-eyed at the mere mention of the name, if you're well into your games you've probably heard of Defender. It's one of the defining moments of video gaming's rise; lightning fast, insanely difficult, all iconic blip-blip explosions. And now it's back.

Like an old mate you haven't seen for years, some things about it have changed, and some things haven't. It might have fancy 3D graphics now, but Defender is still very much about rescuing your little blokes and ferrying them to safety while under attack. Just performing this action does give the game a dash of the old, authentic Defender flavour - trying to reach the drop-off point while under heavy attack can be a hair-raising experience, especially when your ship is low on health, bless it.

In fact, it's clear that a lot of thought has gone into how to make the game a genuine update of Defender, rather than a shame-faced, bog-standard blaster. When people think of the original Defender, they think of frenetic action - and there are some moments in this update that live up to that. On harder difficulties in particular, there are times when the swarms of enemies are almost overwhelming - the outer space missions are a good example of this.

This hectic feeling makes the game feel rather old skool to play, a sensation that's only made stronger by the fact you must repeatedly hammer the fire button for a regular stream of laser fire. The sound effects also make this feel very much related to games of years gone by.

It's all well and good to reference the past, of course, but thankfully there's the odd feature that helps to make Defender feel nice and swish on occasion. The problem the game's designers had was the fact that, as a 2D game, the original allowed the player to see enemies all around their ship. So, to compensate for the fact that a 3D view restricts the player's view to what's in front, there's a handy radar. Nothing too amazing about that, but thanks to the nifty little Right stick moves you can zip about as quickly as you could ever hope for with a shoot-'em-up of this ilk. It certainly makes it more entertaining than the likes of Deadly Skies or Fireblade, where turning to face an enemy behind you can take an uncomfortably long amount of time.

Being able to turn on a sixpence or barrel roll out of the way of an incoming missile makes this a far quicker, entertaining game than it might at first appear, and far more in keeping with the spirit of the original. During the busier missions you end up scurrying about the map like a hyperactive Sloane in the Harrods sale, zipping off to pick up a colonist before turning on yourself to protect an allied dropship under fire over the other side of the level.

There are problems, though. Your ship bounces off the floor, buildings and walls like a helium-filled ping-pong ball, completely diminishing the impression of piloting a fighter ship by the skin of your teeth. It's a shame, because the sense of danger is reduced significantly - and so is the excitement.

The visuals fail to capitalise on the game's potential, too. The title screen could easily be from an ancient Mega Drive game, with all its low-res browns and reds, which isn't the most promising start. And once in the game proper, underachievement is rife; clichéd ship designs and unimaginative enemies fail to excite. To be fair, the enemies do recall the enemies from the original game, but a lot more could have been done on Xbox to make this shine. As it is, it all looks decidedly average, which is disheartening when you're paying £40 to play it.

The final blemish on Defender's once-revered face is the gameplay itself, which is, as mentioned earlier, very old skool. It's decent, playable stuff, that's for sure, but it suffers from the same problem that many old games do - it gets mightily repetitive after only a short while.

Games have evolved over the last 20 years. We might still like to shoot things to smithereens, but a little more sophistication and subtlety is needed to grip players for a long time. Defender may prompt a fair bit of nostalgia, but it doesn't have that vital spark that's needed to lift it above being merely a competent shooter.

1. Cool acrobatics
2. Saving men in the heat of battle is hectic fun

1. Lots of unappealing graphics
2. Gets monotonous
3. It feels a bit too old fashioned

Power
This is cropping up on all formats, and it shows - it doesn't really tax the Xbox.

Style
Middle-of the road metallic designs are uninspiring, but recall the original fairly well.

Immersion
Swishing about and saving little men is fun, but the relentless blasting soon becomes tiring.

Lifespan
Tougher difficulty levels offer replayability for blasting fans, but the repetition could put you off.

Summary
As an update of a fondly remembered game, Defender does the job - but its time has passed. Still, playable enough.