- Title: Earth Defense Force 2017
- Platform:Xbox 360
- Publisher: D3
- Developer: Sandlot
- ESRB Rating: “T” for Teen
- Genre: Third-Person-Shooter
- Pros: Simple and fun gameplay; co-op; bargain price
- Cons: Tons of little problems add up to big annoyances; graphics aren’t spectacular
Features
Earth Defense Force 2017 is a third-person-shooter where your team of soldiers has to fight against an armada of invading aliens. Your enemies are a delightful mix of giant ants and spiders, giant robots, UFOs, and some massive boss characters. There are 53 missions in the game and five difficulty settings, and since the achievements are tied to beating the game on each difficulty setting, you’ll find there is a lot to do here. A nice touch is that there are more than 150 weapons to unlock, so playing through the game and constantly upgrading your arsenal can be satisfying. Another nice touch is that you can play the game with a buddy in co-op mode, which makes the whole experience even more crazy and fun. Most of the game is an on-foot TPS, but there are also vehicles in each level such as tanks or mech suits. The vehicles control so horribly, though, that you are better off just ignoring them.
Gameplay
There are other annoyances as well. The buildings in the city get destroyed by just one rocket, but all of that destruction leaves a mess behind for your character to get stuck on. When you are fighting UFOs or robots and spend most of the time looking up into the sky, you can and will get caught on something and not even know it until you’re already eating laser fire. The enemy AI is fairly dumb, but they also have the nasty habit of jumping right in front of you when you launch a rocket, which causes it to explode in your face and kill you. The game also likes to swarm enemies at you, and when you are getting attacked from all sides, you never have a window to attack so you die. These are all little problems, but they add up quickly.
Graphics and Sound
Graphically, Earth Defense Force 2017 is a mixed bag. The enemies all look identical, the environments are bland, your character lacks detail, and the framerate is extremely unstable. On the plus side, I kind of like the look of the UFOs and robots. They have a nice, shiny metal look that works well. I also like the way the buildings and everything crumbles.The sound is pretty bad all around. You hear news reports and updates from your commanders, and your teammates constantly spout one liners, but it is all extremely cheesy and rather stupid. Also, the sound effects will absolutely grate on you after a while as every enemy of each type makes the same sound when it dies, and you’ll hear the same screech from a dead ant 10,000 times before you finish the game. I also don’t really care for the sounds of the UFOs and robots. It sounds like they were made out of a tin roof or aluminum siding or something, and if you know what those materials sound like during a hail storm, you should have a good idea of why they are so obnoxious to fight.
Bottom Line
