Earth Defense Force 2017

"Another bland shooter on the 360"

I don't know what it was but something about Earth Defense Force really made me want to play it. Well it finally shipped from my on-line rental service. Is it worth playing? Read on!

Strange objects are appearing around the world. Giant insects are attacking. You're a member of the Earth Defense Force and it's up to you to take down this alien bug problem. Yeah, it really doesn't go past that. No character development. Nothing.

Graphic wise this game is bland. Buildings look flat and under detailed. Enemies all look the same and with only 5 types it does get a bit lame. Things go boom nicely through. One would think blowing up a giant spaceship and watching it crash to the ground would be awesome. Except the second it hits the ground it sinks through the ground and vanishes before your eyes.

Sound wise this game has nothing going on. Voice work is laughable. The music was tolerable. The sound effects were uninspired and did nothing for me. Things going boom just don't sound as exciting as they should.

Well, if the game does one thing right it's the control. Simple and responsive. L is jump, R is shoot and R bumper changes weapons. Yep, nothing else unless you're driving but one should never drive in a shooting game. The control is bad for the driving bits but they are optional.

I was kind of excited when I booted the game up. Giant bugs were attacking and then... They died with a few shots, they never hit me. 10 Dropped in mere seconds. Wait, shouldn't this be exciting? The first stage alone is overly long because you're running around large empty city blocks looking for the enemies. There is a map but you really have to travel a distant. When I'm playing a third person shooter I want action not emptiness.

Actually, this makes me think of Bulletwitch. Which was another 3rd person shooter from a Japanese company. I really think they shouldn't touch this over bloated genre because they can't seem to get it right.

The game does have some cool ideas. You collect armor from dead enemies. Each one you collect will add more to your health bar forever if you beat the level. You can also pick up weapon boxes and it will net you new weapons. The game has 150 weapons to choose from but you can only carry two into a stage. Be careful because if you have the wrong weapon you might not be able to destroy something and the game gives no help in picking weapons for the levels.

So the game has 52 missions. 4 or so difficulties. That's a lot of gaming to be had. It also supports single console co-op. No on-line play to be found in this bad boy. If you can finish the tedious levels then you may find some enjoyment out of the game. I made it to the 10th level and couldn't take it any more.

I'd recommend avoiding this game unless you're really interested it in. Rent it then but by no means spend the $50 that this game costs. This is easily one of the worst third person shooters on the 360 and we all know it has a lot of those.

Story - 2/10
Graphics - 5/10
Sound - 4/10
Control - 7/10
Game Play - 5/10
Replay value - 5/10

Final Score - 5/10

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 05/29/07