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By Keith B (21st Jul 2007)

OH MY GOD!!!!!!! Aliens are attacking the Earth! Giant Ants and Spiders and Dinosaurs…….Hang on a second. Aliens? Ants, Spiders and Dinosaurs? So let me get this straight. Ever since the dark ages, and maybe before, people have been looking up to the stars and asking themselves ‘are we alone?’. We finally get a definitive answer and not only do we get attacked, but we get attacked by the same bugs we have on Earth…just bigger? And what is with the Dinosaur? Arrrrrrrgh, its freaking me out! Bugger it! I’ll just blow the crap out of them anyways!

Earth Defense Force 2017 (EDF) deals with the rather confusing scenario mentioned above i.e. Giant alien ants, spiders and dinosaurs have traveled in rather spiffy looking space crafts to Earth for the sole purpose of repopulation and extermination of our species. You are the leader of Squad 1, a group of badass army dudes packing weapons of MAA (Mass Alien Annihilation). Your mission, in general, is to destroy all of the alien insurgence by any means necessary. Sounds like a walk in the park doesn’t it? Well, they aren’t ordinary bugs and animals of the Paleolithic era, no-sir-eee-bob! They are more advanced than us and they have some nifty robots and attack vehicles with weapons that aren’t very nice at all!

When you begin you have only a few weapons to choose from, but as you continue your character picks up crates dropped by defeated enemies that contain new weapons, armor and of course med-kits. I am not completely sure how the bugs carry the crates. They don’t seem to have any pockets or backpacks and also lack the opposable thumbs necessary to hold and fire conventional weaponry. Maybe they just have them because they like shinny things….I know I do! Anywho, as the levels march on you unlock quite an array of armaments that would please even the most radical member of the NRA! In particular there is a gun that fires bullets that bounce off walls (very useful) and a personal rocket launcher that fires 12 homing projectiles at once….enough to make any arachnid shake in his eight booties!

I finished around 30 odd levels for the review and found only 3 different locations. They get away with this because the levels are set in only a small area of each location. Although it is possible to roam the entire landscape, there isn’t any point as the mission targets are centered in specific areas. It is a little cheeky of the designers, but it fooled me for about 10 levels, so the rest of you mere mortals probably won’t even notice!

One part of the game that I found incredibly entertaining was that the cityscape levels can be completely leveled! Not many games have gone to this extent in the past, but I have to say it is definitely a winner! Knocking down 20 storey buildings or 300 meter long bridges with a single shot of the old bazooka is an aspect that every designer should try to work into their games!

As far as the game engine itself is concerned it works pretty well. EDF is a first person shooter at its least complex. With only two guns to choose from ‘in game’ all you need to worry about is getting into a good position to turn the bugs into green slime. All combat associated controls are very easy to use, and the vehicles you can command (occasionally) are very simple to control. They aren’t very good though, I found that it was easier to take down the enemies on foot than in a vehicle.

The game is what one would expect from a Japanese designer. It isn’t something you can put your finger on definitively; it just has that feel about it, sort of a cross between Godzilla and Evangelion. Graphics wise it is pretty clean cut. Nothing you wouldn’t have expected on the original x-box, probably just a little bit smoother. Some of the ‘Motherships’ do look a little dodgy for my taste (like a really sissy Death Star with waaay too many flashing lights) but they don’t make too many appearances. The human characters seem to be rendered ok, as I mentioned earlier I would have liked a little more imagination given when they designed the aliens, but it seems to work and as you progress through the game it doesn’t seem to bother you as much.

I found the sound effects, voice and overall quality very suitable. There could have been a few more variations in the ‘enthusiastic’ cries of your team mates (like “They’re the biggest set of antenna’s I’ve ever seen” or “Crikey, what do they eat to have green poo?”), but they usually die pretty quickly so you don’t have to listen to them for long! The music does get a little annoying. There is a bit of variety, but it is mainly up-beat techno/electro stuff that is about as suitable as Paris Hilton would be as a Grade School Teacher.

The Scott’s Final Word
I have to say I really enjoyed this game! Sure it doesn’t require much intelligence or skill, but I think that is half of its appeal. You can literally sit down after a hard day at the grindstone and just blow the crap out of some bugs and a few random buildings. Very rarely are you in a situation where you may die, so you really don’t have to concern yourself with conserving health or playing it safe. Sure, it isn’t as pretty as a lot of FPS’s out there, but it really doesn’t matter. Keeping it simple has ruled supreme with this one. It’s not going to be a classic for the ages or anything like that, but it is a good one to have in the game library. And yes, for those of my avid readers out there, it would have been a classic for the ages if there were scantily clad hot chicks…..I thought that went without saying?!