Starhawk Gets Release Date, Opens Beta To All

The futuristic shooter is shipping this spring, but you can join the test starting today.

Starhawk received a fair amount of buzz earlier this year at E3 where The Escapist's Tom Goldman praised the build and battle gameplay. After an extensive closed beta test, Sony announced today that the sequel to 2005's Warhawk would ship to retail outlets for sale on May 8th, 2012. The open beta process also begins today with PlayStation Plus subscribers getting first shot. But the multi-stage beta test will open up to various groups in the next two months, culminating in anyone who wants it to have access to Starhawk multiplayer starting on February 21st.

"This beta is a small taste of what Starhawk will ultimately deliver," the suave movie trailer voice guy says. "Remember: The Starhawk public beta is a true beta. We are relying on your feedback to make the game as strong as possible before release." It may be his earnestness, but I think I believe him.

Starhawk is a PlayStation 3 exclusive that looks like it will really take advantage of the hardware. True, the theme and gameplay seem similar to a lot of titles coming down the pipe like Planetside 2 and FireFall - all sci-fi shooters with a reliance on multiplayer - but Starhawk is dedicated to delivering a solid singleplayer story as well.

I have to say that I'm cautiously looking forward to testing out Starhawk along with everyone else on February 21st. Of course, those of you who've bought Uncharted 3 have a code and there are various ways to get in early, but I'm not that lucky.

Source: PlayStation Blog