The developers did at least get enemy A.I. right for the most part. As soon as the storming masses of insects notice a gamer, they relentlessly charge after them until either they or you are no more. The insects normally travel in packs of about a dozen or so, making it a limited challenge to take out one swarm before moving onto the next. Taking on a swarm that is treading too closely to another can be a treacherous task.
Earth Defense Force 2017 offers several different vehicles to use through the different levels, strewn throughout the levels, but none of them handles well enough to make them an upgrade over the simple run and gun gameplay. The awkwardly animated running makes it appear as though your legs want to head left at all times, regardless of your direction. Thankfully, there are usually enough baddies on-screen to keep you from looking at how strangely your character is running. The enemies move slightly less awkward, with ants constantly stopping mid-run to lift up their back-ends to spit out venomous green goo at players.
Though the game offers an impressive number of levels and large playing area, each seems to end rather quickly. As soon as the enemies on the level are cleared, gamers are jumped to the next level. This becomes a bit of a nuisance on the larger city maps, where a single red dot on the radar displays the last remaining insect, only to lead gamers on an overly long journey through the otherwise vacant and destroyed city to find the last pest. It is also a bit of an annoying gameplay feature when gamers take out an entire swarm at once to clear a level; leaving many a weapon and shield upgrade unclaimed.
A budget-title to the core, Earth Defense Force is as limited as they come in terms of game modes. Players instantly choose either one or two players (sadly, only on the same system), then the difficulty, weapons, and level. The shallow options leave gamers with the lone options of blowing through the levels on their own or with a friend sitting next to them on the couch. Had the developers thrown in a Live co-op mode, this mind-numbingly simple title could have still been a hit. Even the most mundane of titles will pull gamers in for a full ride by allowing them to play with online friends and strangers. The shoot-em-up gameplay would play well over Live, so it is a wonder the developer chose to keep the co-op a local event.
If you are the kind of gamer that needs your Achievement Points to steadily stream along through a game, it is difficult even to recommend this game as a weekend rental. Achievement Points only exist for beating all fifty-three levels under each of the five difficulty levels or finding all weapon upgrades. Rather than rewarding gamers for taking the plunge into a more difficult setting early, as with Gears Of War, gamers who beat the game on Normal first will only get the Normal Achievement's points, not Easy. This becomes a major problem as the game's repetition and limited play modes wear on gamer's nerves. As it stands, gaining all 1,000 Achievement Points in the game will take you over fifty hours, making it a questionable investment of time.
Even at the value price of $40, Earth Defense Force 2017 is a tough game to recommend. The excitement of shooting oversized insects grows old rather quickly, and the scarcely earned Achievement Points will most assuredly leave this game on the outside of your counsel more than in it. The lack of Live play is a major deterrent to picking up this simple-minded title.
