Earth Defense Force 2017

If you've seen anything about this game, you were most likely put off by the low-budget look of the whole thing. After all, the voice acting is hilariously terrible, the story is pretty generic, etc... But if you give it a chance, it's really an awesomely addictive shooter experience.

I first heard about this game while watching an episode of the 1UP show. I was moderately interested at first, but after reading on the achieve360points forums that the game is punishingly difficult, and has over 150 weapons to collect, my interest grew.

I picked it up on the 23rd of March, and started playing at around 3:00 PM, at 5:00 AM I went to bed, after completing all 53 stages on the normal difficulty. That's just where the fun begins though, I'm a bit of an achievement addict, so of course I have to try to get as many as I can out of a game. The thing about EDF is that there are only 6 achievements, one for completing the game on each of the 5 difficulties, and one for collecting all of the weapons in the game. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, Easy, Normal, and even Hard are acceptable, but Hardest and Inferno are where the challenge comes in. They're absolutely impossible without collecting some substantially more powerful weapons and increasing your stamina in the easier difficulties. Again, sounds simple... But the weapons are randomly dropped from enemies, meaning you could collect the same weapon multiple times, thus gaining nothing. Stamina is equally challenging in that it's increased by collecting "armor" pickups which are also random drops from enemies. The catch is that each pickup increases your stamina by a single point.

I've seen many people complaining about the fact that the achievements for completing the various difficulties don't "stack" (complete it on Hard, get the Normal and Easy achievements at the same time without having to complete them on a separate play-through) Though I personally like the way they're set up, because as I mentioned, Hardest and Inferno are absolutely impossible without a LOT of collecting. Meaning you'd have to play through at least 3 times anyway.

On to the actual reviewing...

Graphics:

The game does look nice, obviously nothing on the level of Gears of War or anything like that, but it does have some nice touches. The textures are quite acceptable, the draw distances are pretty impressive despite the fact that there isn't a lot to see beyond a lot of pretty boxy buildings. But you'll quickly find out that those buildings will provide a lot of entertainment in the game, and they're totally destructible, as is the rest of the environment. While the debris does just disappear, it's still an awesome feeling when you shoot down a massive sky scraper.

The enemies are generally nothing amazing, In fact when killed, most of them just curl their legs in, and go stiff. though the "Hector" giant robots are pretty shiny, and the explosions when they go down are pretty impressive. There are some pretty major framerate problems when you get a lot of enemies on screen at once, especially when they're spitting acid or webs at you, or when their guts are spraying everywhere.

Story:

Well, Aliens have invaded the earth, you're part of the Earth Defense Force, a group formed to protect the earth from just such an event. And that's about it... There is the occasional cutscene before a level, and "HQ" is often explaining what's going on, but it's all pretty unimportant. It all boils down to killing everything on every level.

Controls:

Aside from the vehicles, the game controls quite well. The only thing I found annoying at all while on foot is trying to jump/roll. Quite often you'll end up rolling when you want to jump, or jumping when you want to roll. This can be pretty annoying when you're trying to dodge sideways away from a spray of bullets/acid, and you run into a wall/fence/curb, and you have to actually stop and turn to face the object before you can jump over it. That about covers the on-foot controls.

Vehicles on the other hand, are quite a nightmare to control, and I found myself ignoring them largely for that reason. They're generally unresponsive and slow. While some have some moderately powerful weapons, I found that I did much better just dodging away and using the standard weapons rather than wrestling with the vehicle controls.

Sound:

The sound effects aren't horrible, though they are pretty basic. Bugs screaming, bullets hitting metal robots, explosions, etc. the voice acting is hilariously awful. I would occasionally find myself shooting my teammates just so they'd shut up.

Replay value:

As stated, the game has LOADS of replay value if you're willing to put the time in. With 53 levels, 5 difficulties, and over 150 weapons to unlock, you could probably spend well over 50 hours trying to do everything. You have to keep in mind that this isn't a massive quest like Oblivion or something. it's more like classic shooters along the lines of Contra.

Summary:

Considering the awesome budget price of $39 US, it's hard to recommend this game enough. if you're a fan of shooters, and don't mind some mindlessly addictive fun, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up. I personally enjoy it a LOT more than the full priced Lost Planet. I'd love to see what Sandlot could do with a real budget, though I'd have to worry that more production would hurt the charm of EDF.