Earth Defense Force 2017 Review

Earth Defense Force 2017 is one of those games that come along every few years, and usually, you only play them by dropping quarters into a slot. Aliens have invaded Earth and it’s up to you, the Earth Defense Force, to stop them. So what makes this game so special and worth more then a second look on the 360?

One sixty foot giant down, 100 more to go

Let’s get this out of bag right now; there is no online support at all. No online co-op or even any type of leaderboards. The achievement system is very boring, and rewards you for beating the game on different difficulties and collecting all the weapons. Overall, the general presentation of the game is nothing we haven’t seen before and is pretty normal for arcade type games. It has a very simple and easy to navigate menu system. There is no auto-save feature built into the game, so forgetting to save after a long gaming session can be frustrating.

The graphics and sound in Earth Defense Force 2017 are nothing to write about to mom and dad, but they do one thing very well: sweet, sweet explosions. These aren’t your typical, boom ‘you’re dead’ explosions. These are the ones that shake the floors, rattle the windows, and leave your local police looking for suspects. The screen goes from bright to nuclear soon after, and it takes a few seconds for you to regain your bearings. There is an issue with the audio in this game; everything is extremely loud. Some frame skipping happens when things get crazy, making things get even crazier… adding to the fun.

Ahhh, the sweet smell of cooked ant in the morning

Even without online play, this game delivers when it comes to gameplay. Bring a buddy into the game with the split-screen mode and battle your way through the 50 levels using a variety of weapons. There are 170 different varieties of the seven categories of weapons (Assault Rifles, Shotguns, Rocket Launchers, Missile Launchers, Grenade Launchers, Hand Grenades and Special Weapons). Each player has the ability to take two different weapons into the playing field, with unlimited ammo. Weapons and Armor(Stamina) power-ups are found under corpses of freshly killed aliens. This really opens the door for some fun levels, especially, when you go in unprepared.

Although you probably won’t play this game every night for the next year or two, like Halo 3, you will enjoy playing through the game multiple times on all the different difficulties. You get achievements for beating the game on each difficulty, and your stamina and weapons carry over each time. So starting on easy and working your way through the game is a smart move for a new player.

Overall, This game is just plain fun, and you’ll get the most fun when you join up with a buddy in the game. If you enjoy explosions that hurt your eyes, ears, and make your neighbors complain… this game is definitely for you! Earth Defense Force 2017 takes everything you love about arcade games and tosses it onto the Xbox 360 for everyone to enjoy at home. For forty dollars, you cannot go wrong with this title. And as for a rental, if you haven’t played this game yet, you are missing out.

Crank those speakers up to the max, order some pizza, call some friends over and make it a weekend!!