XBox 360 Review: EARTH DEFENSE FORCE: INSECT ARMAGEDDON

It would be tempting to assume that, with the development duties shifting from Japanese company Sandlot to American outfit Vicious Cycle Software, Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon would be lacking the charm of the original 2006 XBox 360 title Earth Defense Force 2017. That game, with its distinctly last generation visuals and tacky, B-movie aesthetic, eventually earned a cult following, partly because its production shortcomings made it "funny bad" and partly because, when all was said and done, it was the sort of pure fun, breath of fresh air game seldom made any more. Happily Vicious Cycle haven't strayed too far from the formula of that campy original, even if they haven't exactly moved it on either. These days seemingly every game developer feels obligated to make interactive movies, with a Hollywood score, name actors and often an emphasis on "adult" themes (which basically always means various shades of grey and brown coloured violence). Not so in the case of the Earth Defense Force series. EDF: IA is an old fashioned video game: point at giant animals and make them explode. Do it a lot and get a high score. You can't look down the barrel of the gun and you have to pick up health packs. There is no cover mechanic. And whilst there is a story and some dialogue, it's only in the same way that Tetris or Diddy Kong Racing have stories. The back of the box sums it all up with the phrase: "The bugs are back! Eliminate them!" All the tedious mission briefings and badly acted conversations with untrustworthy military men occur during loading screens, weapon loadouts and mid-gameplay. The result being that the take it or leave it storyline never gets between you and the blasting of big green things - a brilliant move by Vicious Cycle as the woeful graphics (on the developer's own engine) wouldn't have lent themselves especially well to cutscenes. The graphics are awful, still mired in the last generation with muddy looking textures and badly animated characters, but the upside of this is that Vicious Cycle are able to fill the screen with enemies, which they duly do. It isn't uncommon for you to be murdering your way through dozens of giants spiders, whilst even bigger spiders try and cover you in tiny spiders, all whilst a huge mantis is chasing you and an almost everlasting supply of starfighters spawn from laser-mounted motherships. This is pretty much par for the course with EDF and the fully destructible city of New Detroit (possibly a reference to the urban decay of modern day "Old" Detroit) adds to all of this mayhem as skyscrapers fall down around you city blocks crumble into dust. Downing an alien spaceship is also satisfying, with the giant hull hurtling down onto the city below as (shoddily rendered) NPC civilians run for their meaningless little lives. Though when battles get especially intense, with the player able to use jet packs, Aliens-style mechs (oh yes) and a sort of poundstore version of the Scorpion tank from Halo, it isn't uncommon for there to be a bit of slowdown. But by the time you suffer from this sort of lag you've already accepted that EDF is not an exercise in polish or technical excellence. As soon as you start the game's woefully short campaign - 3 stages with 5 missions each, completable within four hours - the game's many shortcomings are instantly apparent: the controls are imprecise (vehicle controls doubly so), the HUD is poorly designed, the active reload (stolen from Gears of War) is strangely unforgiving whilst the rest of the difficulty is almost non-existent (I didn't die once on "normal"), running into fences destroys them and the character lacks any forward momentum - a static jump and a running jump are identical. It's often hard to tell if you're actually hitting enemies, which seem to explode a few frames after you hit them, and when the larger foes turn up they present no challenge at all as long as you're patient (some of them take forever to down) and don't mind endlessly rolling out the path of blasts in between shooting their big, red, flashing weak spots. Most of the later levels are spent pointing at the sky whilst bugs bite your ankles off-screen. This last issue is perhaps the game's biggest problem. Whilst, the big enemies are what sell the game they are actually pretty boring to fight, whereas the ants and spiders, whilst more repetitive and smaller in size, are much more fun to slaughter. And once you realise how poor the larger enemies actually are at destroying you, they never recapture that sense of awe they initially have. It's also unfortunate, given the game's brevity, that all of the missions are the same - seemingly riffing off one of the first missions in the original Halo. Generally, you land in an area in a Pelican-style dropship, clear it of bugs and try to find a downed dropship and her crew. You clear that area, get them the hell out of there, and repeat until the credits. Occasionally you plant charges to blow up ant hills, but these are minor deviations. The single-player isn't only short: by the end it's also become boring. As you might already suspect, the fun of EDF doesn't come from playing it alone. As with a bad movie you really need to experience it with your mates. A rarity among modern shooters, the game does boast a two-player couch co-op mode, in which you can play the campaign with a chum, as well as the game's survival mode (though with a campaign that plays like one giant survival mode, this seems a tad redundant). You can also take to survival mode with 5 others on XBLA or PSN and join up with two friends for a three-player online bash at the campaign - though you should probably stick the game on "Hard" if you're thinking of doing that. Incidentally, I found EDF to be a good game for those who don't get on with shooters. For instance, I was able to play co-op with my girlfriend who found the forgiving difficulty and copious amounts of health enabled her to get to grips with the controls and enjoy the experience. So if you've ever looked for a game you can still enjoy with a much weaker player, without feeling like your experience is being hindered, you could do worse than a copy of EDF: IA. Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is not a good game in the conventional sense. Even allowing for its campy charms and "funny bad" moments, it suffers from longevity issues and a lack of imagination in terms of mission design. These flaws aren't helped by the fact that these days most XBLA and PSN titles, not to mention many smartphone downloads, have better production values at a fraction of the game's £29.99 RRP. However, as a rental - or if you find it closer to the £20 mark - it could serve as a mildly diverting break from the norm. Especially if you can convince other people to play it with you. Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is released on XBox 360 and Playstation 3 tomorrow.