Earth Defense Force 2017 (Xbox 360)

...a response and form the Earth Defence Force (EDF here after) just in case. 2017 the aliens, now know as the ravagers, arrive and the EDF is deployed. As for the game it’s self there isn’t really a story outside the whole repels the invaders arc. There are brief story points at the beginning of the mission, but these very rarely stray from the whole “we’re getting pushed back, hold on/push back at all costs” deal. Another disappointment is that your ...
...else although with the amount of times your allies are killed it would be a bit pointless. Despite this the story does have a sort of cheesy 70’s b-movie charm and as soon as the game is begun these faults soon disappear.


==Gameplay==

The game is a third person shooter and features a simple gun and run gameplay. The games greatest strength is its simplicity if you see an enemy, shoot. Most mission typically consist ... more

Having been a massive fan of obscure Japanese exports for years i was delighted to find this game in my local Gamestation. Given that their is alot of mixed reviews of this game on the internet i thought i would throw my 2 cent in as well.

Story

Upon starting the game you are filled in on the key aspects leading up to the events currently happening through onscreen scrolling text ( hey it’s a budget title we don’t need fancy things like talking and character development). Ok so in 2013 scientists discover communications in space indicating that we would soon have guests. By 2015 they give up trying to get a response and form the Earth Defence Force (EDF here after) just in case. 2017 the aliens, now know as the ravagers, arrive and the EDF is deployed. As for the game it’s self there isn’t really a story outside the whole repels the invaders arc. There are brief story points at the beginning of the mission, but these very rarely stray from the whole “we’re getting pushed back, hold on/push back at all costs” deal. Another disappointment is that your character doesn’t even have a name, and neither does anyone else although with the amount of times your allies are killed it would be a bit pointless. Despite this the story does have a sort of cheesy 70’s b-movie charm and as soon as the game is begun these faults soon disappear.

Gameplay

The game is a third person shooter and features a simple gun and run gameplay. The games greatest strength is its simplicity if you see an enemy, shoot. Most mission typically consist of killing all the enemies, or find where they’re coming from, be it spaceships or underground tunnels, destroying these and then taking out all remaining enemies.

The enemies are one of the saving graces of this game, in the first few missions you’re limited to giants that can climb walls, but very soon you are greeted with a whole variety of camp b-movie oddities. You get to introduce your ammo to giant ants that spray acid, spiders that shoot web at you, giant robots with guns for arms, fast but weak gunships, a Godzilla type monster (well it is a Japanese game), a four legged walking fortress and after all that you have a showdown with the mothership. Also all of the enemies have stronger versions later on in the game, however they don’t just have better stats, and they actually play differently. For example the advance red ants are faster and so instead of spraying you with acid, they overrun you and then proceed to take a bite out of you. However most can be overcome with a spray from your rifle or a well place missile. You also get some help in most missions in the form of small squadrons of other EDF troops however their ability is basic at best and the mission isn’t dependent on their survival so you very rarely need to keep an eye on them.

As you kill enemies some of them drop power up boxes, however they are fairly different from power ups in most other games. There are three different kinds Health, Armour and Weapons, of these only health has an impact in the current mission, replenishing some of your lost life bar. Armour take effect from the next mission and actually increases the health you start with, so if you had 300 hit points and you collected 10 you would start the next 310 hit points. Weapons unlock, yes you’ve guessed it weapons, although just because you pick up a weapon box doesn’t mean you’ll get a new weapon as you may already have that one unlocked, which can be annoying if you’ve traveled quite a distance to get it. There is however a wide variety of weapons available, 170+ if I remember correctly, these range from assault & sniper rifles to missiles & rocket launchers an include some sci-fi favourites like flamethrowers and acid guns. Despite this number it is likely you’ll find 2 weapons, that’s the max you can take with you I’m afraid, that suit you and not give the rest a look.

The only other thing I can say about the gameplay is how much fun it is. Simply running around shooting enemies is something you don’t really get now a days and I think new consoles are worse off for it. If you’ve had a hard day and just want to blast something way then this game is for you. The controls are simple but respond well and allow the game to flow at a fantastic pace.

As for replayability well the game boasts 5 difficulties (Easy, Normal, Hard, Hardest and Inferno), yes you read it right there is actually a level after hardest (once again it is a Japanese game and they sure love hard games). After you’ve completed a mission you will unlock it for replay and can play it at any of the above difficulties. Normal will test you, so it’s best to play this first and get the power ups before going on to hard and hardest as you only have the same equipment and health no matter what difficulty you play the mission. As for inferno a friend playing co-op is a must as he has the same stats as you and so is superior to all other default allies in the game. Despite this me and my friend have only beat 2 missions out of 53 on inferno, and both of them took us to the limit so be patient and built your stats up before trying this mode. Now this leads on to my first major criticism of the game, the co-op mode is strictly local, there is no Xbox Live mode which may be the worse gaming tragedy since the Saturn, as this game would be great with a squad online. Alas we can but hope there will be downloadable content for this someday. As for local co-op, well the game plays out exactly the same the only difference being the decrease difficulty form having two instead of one buffed up character present on the battlefield.

Presentation

EDF is actually a follow up to Global Defence Force on the PS2 and it shows. While the graphics aren’t bad, they’re not what we’ve come to expect from the 360. Also despite all the different areas in which combat occurs they all feels the same and are instantly forgettable once that mission is completed. The animation of the enemies getting hit is pleasing with splatters of blood coming from where your shots landed and the robots have decent explosions, however it is stuff that has been seen a million times before.

Now for my second major criticism, the voice acting in the game is awful, and this time it doesn’t pull off the campy charm that is so prevalent in this game. There was one bit where someone was screaming about his armour getting melted of and the guy next to me turns round and said in the most bored voice I’ve ever heard “Does anyone fancy getting a bite to eat”. Sadly this was probably the most memorable line in the whole game. The voice acting jumps from can’t be bothered to over the top, the dialogue is dreadful, and the timing of delivery is pitiful at best, I really wish I hadn’t slag off the lack of a voice on the intro page, oh well at least the guns sound good.

Conclusion

This is a game that can truly boast to be more than the sum of its parts. For all the flaws I’ve discussed above in terms of presentation and storyline, I still can’t convince myself it’s a bad game. I’ve played 22 hours so far and I’ve only completed 2/3 of the missions (this is inclusive of all 53 missions at 5 difficulties) and no doubt I will keep playing it till I complete them all. Now it’s never going to win any awards and it definitely isn’t one of the best games on the 360 but in my opinion it is one of the funest especially if played in small bursts. So if you like shooters give it a go, you can get it for less than £15 on Amazon and I got mine for £8 second hand out of Gamestation.
 

...less