Earth Defense Force 2017 is an
arcade-style shooting title for Xbox 360 that allows players to battle
hordes of massive alien invaders in a large city. The game has a classic
feel with simple, streamlined controls with plenty of freedom for the
player, with an abundance of power-ups and weapons at their disposal. EDF
feels a bit linear in some aspects, but adds to the challenge by only
allowing players to use two weapons at a time. Visually, the game looks
decent but not great and its gameplay doesn't really offer anything new.
It's a promising title that feels a bit rushed and doesn't really deliver
on its promise.
You really can't fault D3 for porting
over this Japanese title, since it offers a somewhat enjoyable mix of
arcade style action and shooting mechanics. Its one of those games that
has an immediately appealing premise, decent graphics and easy to
understand controls, but doesn't deliver on its promise as well as you'd
think it would. Unfortunately, after its initial appeal wears off, the
game's problems and flaws become apparent. While the game is highly
polished in some areas, other sections seem haphazardly implemented which
makes for an uneven experience. Still, its probably worth at least a
rental, if only for its initial thrills. The game's plot is fairly
standard - the Earth has come under attack from an array of evil alien
beings who have launched a massive invasion of the planet. They are
merciless and attack in large numbers. As a key member of the Earth
Defense Force, your mission is to destroy any alien invaders that come
across your path. When you defeat the aliens, they'll usually drop a
variety of power-ups, such as armor, extra health and ammo that you can
collect by running over them. What power-ups you can unlock and how
powerful they are depends on which difficulty level you choose, which
gives you an impetus to try to game's harder areas and not take the easier
paths.
As
you get your feet on the ground, you'll find yourself grouped with other
EDF forces. Working with your fellow soldiers, you have an array of
weapons at your disposal including rockets, grenade launchers and machine
guns to wipe out the marauding minions. While many of these attackers are
fairly easy to shoot and destroy at first, they attack in very large
numbers and can quickly overwhelm your position if you stay in the same
location for too long. Playing the game's earlier levels is somewhat
enjoyable, since the amount of destruction offered is impressive. You can
destroy large buildings and other objects crumble before your eyes from
either your own fire or the alien forces. Initially, the aliens aren't
that hard to defeat, since the bug-like ants that attack in the earlier
stages are comparatively mindless. However, once they begin attacking back
by firing acid at you and you begin to face airborne ships and bosses,
things become much more difficult. Most of the game's earlier stages occur
mainly on foot, which is fun but becomes a bit monotonous after awhile.
Things get more interesting in later areas when you can pilot tanks and
mini-mechs around the stages. These offer bigger weapons and more
protection, and are cool to use but they lack the visceral thrill of the
on-foot stages. This makes these stages feel more like gimmicks and you
actually find yourself craving the more exciting ground based stages.
Earth Defense Force 2017 offers a solid
array of weapons that allows you to attack your foes in a variety of ways.
The trick here is that you are limited to using just two in any stage,
which adds a layer of strategy to the gameplay that definitely makes
things more challenging. While you have a decent number of weapons to
choose from and can unlock additional weapons as you complete stages, the
selection is critical, especially in later stages. Using the wrong weapon
can make the level a hopelessly lost cause and makes things a bit more
frustrating than they should be. The individual weapons are fairly easy to
use, but some of the more advanced ones, like the sniper rifles are
difficult to use and aim during the game, which makes them cause more
problems than they're worth. While the controls are fairly decent, the
game's camera system is a bit problematic. You are given a fixed behind
the player angle throughout the game, though you can swing the angle
manually using the right d-pad. This system works nicely when there are
few enemies on screen, but becomes frustrating when you're under assault
from all directions. Aiming your weapons is a bit clunky as well, this is
especially true when you're inside on of the vehicles. These have the
added disadvantage of limiting your field of vision, which makes things
even more frustrating. While you can compensate for these problems after
awhile, the design feels a bit haphazard and unpolished and makes Earth
Defense Force feel somewhat limiting. This is a shame, since there's so
much ambition in the scale of the invasion, you get the feeling that the
developers didn't know whether they were making an epic adventure or a
simple arcade game. Here, they've decided to split the difference which
means neither element of the game is entirely satisfying in the end.
The
developers left more potentially cool ideas on the table and settled for
second-best in other areas of the game. Instead of offering what could
have been a cool multiplayer online experience, you instead find yourself
limited to a somewhat rudimentary split-screen mode that doesn't deliver
nearly as much excitement as you'd expect. It's basically the single
player game with two players and lacks much imagination in its
implementation or execution. Another area where you can clearly see the
game's squandered potential is its visuals. The game's presentation ranges
from really cool cut-scenes when massive screen filling ships descend from
the sky. However, once you get into the combat itself, you'll find the
visuals lack the crisp feel of a next-generation title. The animations are
decent, and the scale of the environments is impressive. Unfortunately,
these positive elements are undermined by the somewhat bland presentation
and design. This isn't helped by the game's rudimentary lighting, which
gives everything a flat appearance, which is extremely disappointing.
EDF's engine doesn't really showcase the Xbox 360's power, it does a
decent job in some areas, but there are frame-rate issues which rear their
heads whenever there are too many enemies on screen. This slows down the
action significantly and leads to a somewhat disappointing appearance
overall. The developers have added a throwaway soundtrack and cross-talk
which tries to create a dramatic atmosphere but ends up feeling cheap and
annoying thanks to over-acting and excessive repetition of the same
phrases.
In the end, what this really adds up to
is a disappointment that doesn't deliver as much on its promise as you'd
expect. Earth Defense Force 2017 has some good ideas, but feels more like
a last-gen title than it should. It's a 'value-priced' title which
mitigates its flaws to some degree, but this doesn't really change the
fact that this title doesn't deliver the goods. Unfortunately, by trying
to appeal to arcade and shooter fans, it ends up pleasing neither. Between
its flat graphics, choppy graphics and predictable, superficial gameplay,
the game falls short of the mark. The levels are fairly linear which
limits the game's longevity. You can replay the levels at harder
difficulties or with different weapons if you want, but this isn't really
much more than a fairly mindless series of battles. While there are some
good ideas in the game, they're poorly implemented and makes Earth Defense
Force a disappointment that doesn't live up to its potential.
Grade: C
