Think War of the Worlds: The Game
Earth Defense Force 2017 is a one player (or 2 player split screen co-op) action game developed by D3 for the Xbox 360. EDF has a history in Japan but this is the first time the series has been released over here. The basic premise is that you play as a character named Storm 1 and you are part of the Earth Defense Force, which defends the earth from the onslaught of the invading aliens known as the Ravagers. The aliens consist of giant ants, giant spiders, giant robots, and massive flying spaceships. There are 53 missions in the game and you are tasked with different things in each one, but it all really comes down to destroying all the aliens in the level. There are no escort missions or anything other than just running into a horde of aliens and destroying them all. Your character can equip 2 weapons to bring into the level and you have a selection of 150 or so to choose from. It can be a difficult choice since some weapons are more effective against certain types of enemies, but ineffective against others. It's really all trial and error but you'll eventually decide to stick with one or two different types. There are shotguns, missle launchers, assault rifles, sniper rifles, grenades and some other unusual one-of-a-kind type weapons such as mines, flamethrowers, turrets, etc. While there are 150 weapons to collect in the game, although a lot of them are just variations of previous ones you've obtained (you will eventually find guns with better firepower, ammo capacity, firing speeds, reload times, etc.).
There are also vehicles in the game, but they all suck. The controls for the tank, airbike, helicopter and mech are so bad that you're better off running around on foot. The best vehicle is the mech just because you can hop in it quick and take out a couple dozen enemies while you are just standing there, until you run out of armor and the thing explodes. It moves slower then you do on foot so its best just to use it as a turret.
When you start a mission you'll notice your HUD consists of a targeting reticle, an icon displaying what weapon you have equipped, how much ammo you have, a radar and a health bar. You get infinite ammo but you have to reload after you've fired so many times. Reloading can be a problem because some weapons take a very very long time to reload and others reload almost instantly. This can be a deciding factor in what weapons you bring with you in a level. When you defeat enemies they will drop first aid kits, as well as armor upgrades and new weapons. After you finish a level you will get a rundown of how many upgrades you received and what new weapons you unlocked, if any.
The level design in the game is one of its drawbacks. While there are 53 total missions, but there are really only a few varieties. The city levels, the countryside levels and the underground levels. The level design can get a bit boring and monotonous but the sheer size and numbers of the enemy will keep you going. That is the one thing about this game that will keep you playing it, the humungous scale of the enemies. Everything is massive, the ants are at least 10 times your size, the robots are 20 times and the final boss is 100 times your size. You are looking up all the time at these enemies almost as big as buildings. I felt like I was playing a video game version of the 1954 film Them! as well as War of the Worlds(take your pic of film versions or the novel works too). I also love the destructibility of the environments. Shoot a rocket at a building and it crumbles in spectacular fashion. Sometimes its fun to just run around destroying the landscape.
The main problems with this really comes down to level design and enemy variety. Besides the fact that there are really only a few different types of levels you will also have problems running into fences, curbs and other small obstacles that you'd think you could just step over but instead you get stuck on them, then have to stop shooting whatever your shooting at, and line yourself up with the obstacle and hit the jump button. This becomes a major issue when you're surrounded by hordes of ants, spiders and giant walking robots (hate those things). Your allied soldiers also have very poor AI, sometimes you'll find yourself accidentally killing them because they get in the way. The graphics aren't that great either, but if you consider this is a budget game and the sheer size of the enemies you won't have a problem in the end. Finally it would have been nice to have a bit more variety in the types of enemies you face. I was hoping for some more insects, like scorpions or bees and maybe actually facing an alien trooper or two.
Overall this is a very fun game that is worth checking out if you are a fan of action games, or just sci-fi in general. Despite a few problems the game is a heck of a lot of fun. It does not have online multiplayer, which is very unfortunate but it does have local split screen co-op.
