Earth Defence Force 2017 (Xbox 360) Review
Posted by Steve McHugh on 05.04.2007
Forget Raid, Use a Really Big Gun.
Bugs. No-one likes bugs. Even those people who say they don’t mind them don’t really like them. Don’t feel bad, it’s programmed in some deep subconscious level that bugs are bad, so when you see one in your house or around the garden you want to squish it. Go on, admit it, you see a bug and if its close enough you want to just squish it dead. Again it’s a natural impulse. Spiders are the big culprit here, you see a spider where it shouldn’t be and spider gets to meet shoe. It’s the way the world is.
But have you ever thought about using something bigger then a shoe? You know, like an assault rifle or a rocket launcher? Sounds pretty dumb doesn’t it? Oh and what if the spiders were twenty feet tall and about the size of a house? No so dumb now eh?
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is EDF 2017. You get to shoot lots of bugs (well spiders and ants) and robots, with huge weaponry, over and over again. If this were a full priced game it would be horrendous. But it’s not, it’s cheap. Therefore it is utterly fantastic.
The story behind the epic bug killing is simply this: aliens have come to Earth in big spaceships which are promptly named Ravengers (probably not the nicest name to give people turning up to your planet for the first time) and they drop huge bugs all over the world to kill everyone and take it over. Its up to you and your merry band of idiots to use huge weaponry to kill everything in a hundred mile radius.
Graphics
Okay admittedly this doesn’t start off well. The best thing you can say about the graphics is that they all look like they’re meant to. Animation is odd to say the least and your main character runs like his hips have been dislocated. From a distance the giant enemies look impressive, particularly when they start swarming over buildings, but up close-ups betray their shoddy animation. The spider’s web is particularly laughable. Also when you get too many bugs on screen at once, get ready for slow down which really shouldn’t happen on the 360, but in a weird way that almost adds to its charm.
However, the explosions are very nice indeed and its quite impressive when you start blowing up large parts of the city. In fact everything you see can be blown up and on any level this is something that’ll happen on a regular basis. Also once you’ve killed most of the bugs they go rigid, letting you shoot them again and again as you watch them bounce around like a giant ping pong ball. Its not exactly vital to the game but man, is it funny.
The biggest problem with the graphics is that whilst during the game you’re meant to be going from Japan to America to Europe, everything looks identical. In fact level 1 in Japan is the exact same level as the later ones that take place in other cities. If there’s a level that takes place in a canyon you can be certain it’ll always look the same. It really does take you out of the gaming experience when you realise that nothing ever seems to change.
Everything in this screenshot can be blown up. Enjoy.
Gameplay
This is not rocket science. This is blowing stuff up with rockets and that doesn’t need to be complicated. In fact it’s unbelievably simple. You can take 2 weapons into any battle from a huge list of over 150 that you unlock throughout the game and basically you have a button to switch weapons, one to jump and one to fire and that’s it. After that you’re left to your own devices to carry out your objective, which is always the same anyway. Kill everything. Occasionally you’ll have a group of men with you who will back you up, all of whom have the IQ of wet bread and generally manage to get in the way of your shooting the big alien bugs. But it’s not really about having help from AI characters, its just about you going up against everything else, all of which, thankfully, also have a similar IQ to your team mates.
On top of the normal guns you have some vehicles. The four of them vary wildly from being awful (the bike) to excellent (the tank). Unfortunately all of them are under -developed and have the turning circles of small moons, but they’re coupled with very powerful weaponry so as long as your enemy is in front of you it’s all good.
As mentioned there are 150 weapons to pick up throughout the game, the more powerful of which are only available on the harder difficultly settings. You pick them up by killing stuff which then provides various power ups; health, weapons or armour. The health and weapons are fairly obvious but the armour increases your overall health by 1 point for each pick up and these are vital to ensure you survive the last few levels.
That’s one of the good things about the game, even though it’s very repetitive it manages to maintain its fun appeal by giving you a good challenge. Occasionally you’ll reach a brick wall but by playing some early levels on a harder difficulty you can pick up better weapons and then re-try. It makes the game much more fun to be able to do this as opposed to just having to keep trying again and again. The only problem is that the weapons you get aren’t revealed until the end of the level, so on occasion you’ll have to play a few levels to get a nice mix of weapons. Oh and don’t worry about reloading that’s done automatically, in fact you have unlimited ammo so feel free to just keep that trigger button held down.
And then there’s the camera. For most of the time this sits just behind you and all is well with the world but occasionally there are mid level cut scenes where the camera changes to show a view looking up into the sky from your feet. Its disorientating enough when you’re not in a fight but when it happens mid battle you’re about to get hurt very badly. Especially if you try shooting a rocket launcher which will always seem to end up blowing you up instead. This is really not something that should be encouraged and is the most annoying part of the whole game.
Whilst the single player is a good game the split screen multi-player is just in a whole different league. As there is no online support its only a split screen but that doesn’t matter, its just an excuse to get some friends round and watch as everyone starts grinning ear to ear when they blow up their first space ship.
Sound
You can look at the voice acting in one of two ways. Dreadful or hysterical. Most of the time it really is dreadful as the voiceover on the cut scenes just re-iterates plot details that you’ve already figured out. “Soldiers, you need to destroy the giant walking robots.” They will say. No really? Destroy the large mechanical things that are trying to kill me that I’ve been blowing up for ten minutes now? How novel. This happens not just once or twice but all the time, occasionally though they’ll let slip a gem. “Just look at the alien hoard giving it good to the EDF.” First time I heard that, I had to pause the game for five minutes. Then there are the one-liners from your men most of which consist of asking for ammo or saying how their captain has died and they will avenge his death. All of this you’ll end up blocking out though.
The same can be said with the music which is just awful, and doesn’t really contribute to the game in anyway. This is the one area that really shows the game for the budget title it is.
Blown up ants. This is something you'll see a lot of.
Lasting Appeal.
About 9 hours to complete on normal and then you’ve got easy, hard, hardest and inferno to complete. All of which you’ll need if you want the achievements because that’s all the achievements are for. Completing the game and getting all the guns. So all in you’ll be playing this game for probably over 50 hours and as its so addictive that’s not something you’ll worry about.
There’s also a battle mode but that’s just death matches and is pointless as there isn’t any aliens to kill.
Fun Factor
Did you not read about using really big guns to blow up aliens? Seriously, if that doesn’t whet your appetite then I don’t know what will. The weapons alone are a massive amount of fun. Rockets, grenades, rifles, shotguns, acid guns, flame throwers this game is all about having fun and being excessive and stupid. Its simple but massively addictive, especially with a friend. If you like to shoot stuff then this is really the game for you, just don’t expect anything deep or meaningful.
The 411
Well the price is certainly a factor in deciding an overall score. At full price this would be ridiculed and mocked, a dodgy frame rate and animation alongside some awful voice acting does not help matters. However, based on gameplay alone this game is great and if you like no-nonsense shooters like Serious Sam then you’ll love this. If not then by now you’ll have decided this isn’t for you anyway, and besides it wasn’t made for people who want a serious game. It was made for people who like to shoot ants with a large rocket launcher. Next time give these guys a huge budget and let’s see what they can really do.
Graphics
6.5
Basic with a bad frame rate and tendency to slow down but it at least gets the job done. Explosions are nice.
Gameplay
8.2
Straightforward old school alien blasting action. Addictive yet challenging in the right way. Vehicles really do need some work though and the weird camera angles get in the way.
Sound
4.5
The voice acting is terrible and the music just as bad.
Lasting Appeal
9.0
Well over 50 hours and you’ll love playing split screen co-op but the lack of online hurts it.
Fun Factor
9.2
So much fun in such a cheap game. The first time you blow up a giant space craft, wipe out a level of bugs, blow up a building or anything that causes mayhem you will grin from ear to ear.
