Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon

Plot

Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon takes place prominently in the fictional city of New Detroit. The Earth Defense Force (EDF) is tasked to stop the alien attack on the city. Players take up the role of Lightning Alpha in his attempt to fight wave after wave of insects and robots.

Gameplay

EDF: Insect Armageddon consists of a campaign split into three chapters, each containing five missions. The game also features three difficulty levels: normal, hard, and inferno. There is also a wave based survival mode available on 6 different maps. Both game types can be played via split screen or online co-op. Once the game is beaten, a remix mode is unlocked, allowing the player to toggle abilities for friendly A.I. to back you up and it also remixes the enemies that appear in the levels.

The level of difficulty also caps your player growth in armor classes (normal caps at 5, hard 7, inferno 8). Since you cannot get all weapon classes until level 8, the game will require multiple playthroughs.

Players in EDF are able to select one of four armor types before entering a city map where they will proceed to blow up giant bugs, alien robots, and huge ships. Every building in the environment can, and likely will, be blown up during the player's fight against the aliens. Certain larger enemies will drop random weapons that may or may not be for the class the player is using. Weapons that are picked up can then be purchased once the player reaches that armor level.

Multiplayer

EDF Insect Armageddon features several multiplayer modes, with up to three-player cooperative play in the campaign mode and up to six-players in the new swarm based endless survival mode. After many complaints by fans of the previous installments of EDF, Vicious Cycle announced that EDF Insect Armageddon will also feature the option for local split-screen co-op gameplay, like its predecessors.

Weapons

Over 300 weapons are unlockable in EDF: Insect Armageddon. They consist of assault rifles, rocket launchers, energy weapons, sniper rifles, grenade launchers, and many more.

Pesticide Gun - The Pesticide Guns will do a gigantic amount of damage over a large radius area. The guns are Tier 8 Weapons, meaning you will have to put a lot of time in to the game to attain these. Each Pesticide weapon has a one-shot reload fire-rate.

Pesticide Cannon - For the Trooper Armor.

Pesticide Mortar - For the Battle Armor.

Pesticide Missile - For the Tactical Armor.

Pesticide Rifle - For the Jet Armor.

Armor

EDF: Insect Armageddon customization allows for vast upgrades to be made to your player's attire, besides their weapon, much unlike previous games in the series. As a part of this, Insect Armageddon features four unique armor-sets that the players can choose between, each with there own strengths and weaknesses. All the armors gain levels and earn abilities the more you use them. You can focus on one armor to maximize it, or jump into different armors depending on the make-up of your co-op group, they all level independently.

Trooper - The first armor option is the standard trooper armor, which is similar to the Storm 1 units in the previous installments. This armor option has access to more weapons than any other armor type. In addition to weapon variety, Trooper armor also receives faster revive speed, and reload times that make him essential in a group.

Battle - The second armor option present is the heavy battle armor. This armor type allows the players to utilize the most powerful weapons. The battle armor also comes equipped with an energy shield and the ability to bug-zap enemies, or alternatively, when you get too crowded by enemies, you can blow your entire energy pool in an EMP like electric blast that damages everything around you. These advantages that the battle armor possesses are negated by limited movement speed.

Jetpack - The third armor option is the Pale Wing-esque jetpack option, brought back from EDF 2 into Insect Armageddon by popular fan demand. The Jetpack armor not only has the ability to fly, but also uses energy to replenish its weapons, the way Pale Wing did. It’s fast and agile, but very fragile, too. The Jetpack armor mainly uses energy-based weaponry while fighting aliens.

Tactical - The fourth armor option is the strategic tactical armor. This armor type allows the player to deploy strategical assets such as turrets, mines, and radar dishes. As the player advances in levels, they will gain access to new turrets as well as new gadgets.

Release Information

Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon will be getting a limited release in the United Kingdom and Namco Bandai has urged players to pre-order a copy before it's release on 22nd July 2011.

Pre-order DLC were announced for people who ordered the game from Gamestop. Players received the "Pounds of Pain" pack that features 15 new weapons designed primarily for the battle armor, but it will feature a few for the other armor suits too. The "Death from Above" pack was available for people who pre-ordered the game from Best Buy. This pack consisted of weaponry primarily for the jet armor.