Back in the PS2 era I fell in love with a fun little TPS developed by the then-fledgeling outfit Sandlot and brought out by D3 Publisher as a part of their "Simple Series" line: The Chikyuu Boeigun or Earth Defense Force. My copy eventually wore out from overuse (and my first PS2 soon followed), and I promised myself that should there ever be a next-gen incarnation of the game, I'd try it out first thing... but with the PS3 being what it is, there's always the possibility of only being able to earn certain things by playing online; a trend that I'm slowly losing patience over, being more a solo player by nature.
I later found a copy of Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon in a used game shop for steal-grade cheap. Though it's still a D3 Publisher title, the development was not done by Sandlot, but by a western outfit called Vicious Cycle. I had my misgivings, but since it doesn't seem to be an online-dependent title, I gave it a shot.
Ants here, ants there, ants EVERYWHERE!!!
Wanna piece of me, bug!?!
The player can put Lightning in one of 4 armor classes (though the latter 3 have to be unlocked first), each with their own strengths and weaknesses: The Trooper armor is the basic type which can equip various weapons, but has no special skills. Tactical has a slim selection of medium-power weapory but can set automated turrets and proximity bombs. Jet is insanely mobile and can reach high places but is rather fragile and limited to energy weapons (flying also uses energy). Battle is the heaviest, specializing in brute force and defense using an energy shield, and also boasts a crowd control EMP attack.
As the saying goes, "hit 'em where they live..."
To make up for the glaringly short game proper (the mission scenario spreads over only 15 levels, a big difference over the original EDF's 50+ levels), EDF:IA gives each armor class a rank system going up to 8, and imposes ceiling ranks on lower difficulties. So when an armor class hits rank 5, you won't earn any more promotion points by playing on normal. Time to up your ante whether you're prepared for it or not. Also the 65,550 point counter-stop? Not cool.While it's a passable rendition of Sandlot's runaway hit, I have tons of bones to pick with VC's version. For one, you're usually accompanied by AI bots who are a bit on the dumb side, since they tend to consistently run in front of you at the very moment you pull the trigger on your current weapon (very dangerous especially when explosive rounds are involved). Likewise, their attack pattern consists of using up a full clip of machine gun ammo then switching to grenade launchers, lather rinse, repeat... and for the latter, them 'bots don't discriminate on when to use it: They can blast you from behind while aiming for a bug or running adjacent a wall. This game could have used a "Disable Friendly Fire" option just for that factor alone.
Dagnabbit Kid, don't you DARE die on me...!!
You can't live with the bots, but you can't live without them either. If you fall in the line of duty (and you will, given the crazy number of bugs gallivanting about), you have to wait for them to rouse you... but even that is a bit of a pain, since they seem to prioritize on engaging the enemy than rushing to your immediate aid (the most infuriating part is when you fall in a sewer ditch while the bots are up on street level, they will invariably take the long route to get there... all while taking needless lumps). Naturally they also have life bars. If all three of you go down, then the game will end. To make matters worse, EDF:IA doesn't have those convenient checkpoints like in most newer games: die in any part and you'll have to start from the beginning of the mission. It's also important to note that since advancement is entirely dependent on killing all the Ravager bugs, there's the off-chance that you'll get totally stuck if even just one bug decides to nestle comfortably in an out-of-bounds spot where the buildings can't be toppled and no weapons can reach it. This game is also prone to total freezing in certain levels, which sometimes puts a damper on grinding.
Cue"Panzer Vor March" from GnP please, I'm sick of listening to that Houston punk.
Finally, there's the transmission audio. In the older EDF titles, these were used to add tension, as you hear fellow soldiers either trying to drum up morale by cheering or crying for help while succumbing to the swarms. In EDF:IA, it's also riddled with the typical snarky American jokes (translated to literal effect in Japanese since I'm playing a JP-dubbed version), ranging from a choco-ant lover who's curious about the taste of alien ants to a cocky grunt bragging about being a Houston native who dealt with large roaches on a regular basis growing up. When grinding, I usually play with the audio off now, as the one-liners have gotten way past grating. Not even the Ops lady's loli-voice can save my sanity, since she only talks during loading screens and story parts.
Looks like a low budget game but even I understand that there's some appeal to these games ^^
ReplyDeleteThe base was a Simple Series title so you can't really expect too much... Still, it has a bit more meat to it than those maverick "Indie " games.
ReplyDeleteThink a stripped-down Musou title with 70's brand sci-fi elements.