Exclusive Review: Earth Defence Force 2017
As I’ve said before, most of my favourite games involve focusing on a small set of amzingly fun play mechanics and repeating them forever. I GUESS you could call it the Halo Philosophy, except the 30 seconds bit doesn’t always fit.
Anyway. Earth Defence Force 2017 fits that bill exactly. Here’s what you get to do from the very first level:
1 - Blow stuff up, including huge buildings and skyscrapers, using weapons with infinite ammo.
2 - Shoot huge numbers of very large enemies with low hit points.
3 - Pick up new weapons when you do some good killing.
It’s a simple recipe, but fuck yes. It works.
It’s another post-modern triumph. Wheras God Hand is Final Fight in an adult playground, EDF 2017 is Space Invaders expressed through the language of the 3D polygon generation.
There’s a playful application of 32-bit generational conventions, combined with common denominators for the emerging era. The gleeful urban destruction on a surprisingly large scale and the comedic hyperactivity of the physics for vanquished foes are two most apparent effects of this game’s awareness of both hardware capabillity and software sophistication, although the balls-out dementedness that defines Earth Defence Force’s gameplay template doesn’t quite live up to the coding prowess of the development team. This is made abundantly clear in the warmly familiar slowdown that frequently occurs in the heat of battle.
It could always be part of the joke, though. I’m choosing to take it as a homage to the life-preserving frame drops common in late-90s Danmaku land.
Overall, it should be fucking shit - a classic example of low-budget Japanese development. It’s not. It’s fucking brilliant. You’ll know this from the moment you shoot your first massive ant.
I FUCKING LOVE THIS SHIT.
10/10
It’s cheap, too.
March 10th, 2010 at 12:33 am
Thanks for posting this, lifted my day.