If you have ever been enamored with campy sci-fi B-movies and/or giant insects, Earth Defense Force 2017 is for you. If shallow gameplay, laughably destructible environments, cheesy dialogue, inane plots, and sub-par graphics turn you off, so will this game.
The basic story begins with gamers taking control of a member of the Earth Defense Force as enormous ants wreck havoc on a large city and its inhabitants. Overhead, large spaceships hover like foreboding clouds, although the Earth Defense Force commander is constantly warning gamers not to shoot at them, as they 'may not' be related to the onslaught of huge insects destroying everything in sight. Much to the world's 'surprise', the spaceships do quickly prove to be dropping large insects onto earth to destroy it. The rest of the game consists of fighting various giant insects and robotic alien spacecraft over fifty-three mind-numbingly repetitive levels.
It is actually a shame that that game is so overly repetitive, because it is a blast until you get tired of the sameness of it all. Enemies drop weapons and shield upgrades when they die, allowing gamers to be constantly upgrading their character through the levels. Oddly enough, neither the weapon nor the shield upgrades are actually available to use until the start of the next level, as gamers must select their two weapons at the start of each level. The weapons upgrades are the one element of the game that make it almost worth playing the game through. The game features over 150 different weapons, falling in seven different weapons categories. If half the thought that went into weapon design had gone into the rest of the game, Earth Defense Force would at least be a solid rental. In stark contrast to the underwhelming level design, each weapon feels different from the next, with its own set of pluses and minuses.
Unfortunately, the game's description of each weapon upgrade is limited. This leaves gamers to quite a bit of trial and error as to the best weapons. At the very least, gamers who choose poorly will never have to worry about not having the firepower to bring down the enemies. Bullets are like chocolate in Willy Wonka's factory in Earth Defense Force, with a never-ending supply of firepower at your disposal. The display does show a number on the screen for remaining shots, but that is only a shot of how many bullets gamers have left in that clip. While the game does boast over 150 weapons, it will be a rare gamer who gives much thought to which ones to use. With the unlimited bullets, gamers would be silly not load up two rocket launchers at all times.
Earth Defense Force 2017 controls and looks decently (although not quite up to par with what gamers now know the 360 can handle), but not quite well enough to overlook the game's problems. Evidently, ten years from now, it will be possible to take down skyscrapers with a single shot from a rocket launcher. The first time you take down a building with ants crawling all over it, it feels great. By about the fourth time, you realize just how ridiculous the game's physics really are. The game's overly destructible environments are the second biggest annoyance; sandwiched between the repetitive gameplay and cheesy dialogue. The game holds the B-movie feel with horribly cheesy dialogue from other members of your team; either denying being scared or stupidly checking out what that green fluid is the insects are spitting out before screaming themselves to death.
