14 DAY TRIAL // Starhawk, the upcoming third person shooter from Lightbox and Sony, has just received a few more details. The two companies have now confirmed that the game has support for both two-player split screen, as well as for dual log-in, which means two people can sign into the PlayStation Network on a single console while playing.
Starhawk is the spiritual successor to Warhawk, a game that relied just on its online mode to entertain players and featured an array of things designed to facilitate gaming with friends, either online or locally, thanks to a four-player split screen mode.
With the new game, developer Lightbox wants to emulate that same feeling, but it will deliver just a two-player split-screen mode instead of one that supports four people at the same time.
“We’ve got split screen play,” said Harvard Bonin, the game’s senior producer. “You can play with another friend on the same PS3 on the same TV. We are very aware that some of you wanted four-player splitscreen like Warhawk. We thought about it a lot and decided not to go this route; based on our data, not enough people ever used four-player splitscreen in Warhawk so we concentrated our efforts in other areas, such as making two-player just plain better.”
As you can see in the image above, the split screen mode is quite interesting, as it displays not just the action but also the local map for each player, thus filling up the whole screen.
In order to really motivate people to experience the split screen mode, Starhawk also allows two players to sign into their PSN accounts on the same PlayStation 3. As such, the XP a second player earns while gaming with a friend will appear when he plays alone on his own console.
“Two players can sign into on one PS3,” Bonin continued. “You can sign in using your PSN ID on the same machine and retain the XP you earn at your friend’s house. And you can still take that hard-earned XP home with you and apply it to your character there.”
“Although, if you’re Player Two, you can’t earn Trophies or character customizations (outfits, paint jobs, decals) as these are saved directly to the PS3. It’s not perfect, but it’s way better than Warhawk where Player Two couldn’t level up at all. You can play Co-op off-line as well, but no stats get recorded,” the producer added.
Besides these special features, players can also experience the 32-player online matches alone, so Starhawk is definitely going to entertain those looking for a great multiplayer experience.
The game is out on May 8, exclusively on the PlayStation 3.