When Earth Defense Force first made its way to the Xbox 360 about 4 years ago, it became a bit of a cult hit for fans of sandbox co-op action. Insect Armageddon is the subtitle of its sequel, and also marks the series’ debut on both the Playstation 3 and Windows platforms, the latter version of which is the copy being reviewed here. While not bringing a whole lot new to the table over the original, the new Earth Defense Force hits the mark by expanding its audience and providing great gameplay value at a budget price.
As you can guess from the name and the genre, this is your typical “aliens attack the world and you have to save it” fare. To be more specific, as part of the elite unit of the Earth Defense Force known as Strike Force Lightning you are defending New Detroit from aliens that enlist bio-engineered, oversized ants and spiders to their aid. The story is split into three chapters of five missions each as you move along from finding your footing in the city to salvaging and rescuing downed planes to eventually bringing the fight to the ant queen, of course. Other than that the only twists are new enemies thrown into the mix in each chapter’s climatic battles. None of this detracts from the gameplay. In fact, the cliché nature of the scenario keeps the stoppages in action at bay and makes it easy to jump in at any point, a key to its success as a cooperative game.
Before starting each mission, you get to select among four classes of armor, each with its own characteristics and weapons available to it. These classes level independently of each other, so the more you play as each type the more weapons and bonuses you’re able to unlock. This is key, as some of the classes don’t really reach their full potential until you put a good amount of time into them. While this punishes exploration of the different classes a bit, it also adds a lot of replay value as you work each class into usefulness.
The trooper class armor is the most versatile. It doesn’t have the most health, but allows you to move fairly quickly and has access to the most weapons and abilities of any class. Next you have the jet armor, which as it sounds allows you to fly up into the sky, albeit only a little at first until you level it up. It also has weapons that allow you to bombard enemies from above and is the fastest way to move around the map. The only downside is you sacrifice armor. Third, there is the tactical armor, my personal favorite, which gives you a balance of armor and some effective weapons, but also gives you the ability to deploy turrets, mines, and other support tools which make holding rally points a lot easier. Finally, for those wanting to get down and dirty with the massive bugs, there’s the battle armor, the most heavily reinforced and focused on close range, shotgun style weapons and rockets dealing massive damage. The battle armor also comes with an energy shield that can absorb damage and also deal it in a wide area effect. The only downside? It gets around at a snail’s pace.
You can get through the game just fine on your own, and the AI teammates you get in single player mode get the job done well enough. However, the game really shines in multiplayer mode, both local and online. Being able to coordinate with teammates to combine the advantages of each class of armor makes getting through the missions a lot more efficient and fun. Plenty of health drops for everyone so there shouldn’t be a mad scramble over them, and weapon unlocks apply to everyone. There are also plenty of vehicles and turrets to share when the opportunities arise. The only competitiveness comes in comparing scores and kills at the end of each mission. One thing to point out is you probably should level up your classes before opening up to public co-op play, as the random folks you pull in can be overpowered and kind of spoil the fights for you especially if you’re on a first playthrough, though there is still a lot of killing to do for everyone involved. If you get bored of playing through the story there’s a classic survival mode where you hold out as long as you can against the insect hordes. Even though it’s all simple and straightforward, the variety in classes, weapons, and abilities will have you coming back for more and the open world makes every battle unique in a way. This is game that isn’t ambitious but delivers the core experience well.
The graphics in Insect Armageddon are a welcome upgrade over the previous iteration and look sharp and not out of place at all on my PC monitor at max settings with full antialiasing. Like most urban sandboxes there is a bit of simplicity and repetitiveness in the buildings and their texturing, but the insects themselves are fairly detailed and actually gave me the creeps at first. Safe to say that if you’re an arachnophobe, this might not be your kind of game. Sound in the game on the other hand is fairly pedestrian. Weapons sound as they should but there isn’t a whole lot of oomph factor here, perhaps because so much is going they don’t want to overwhelm the senses, which is understandable. Orders come in pretty calmly considering the hectic pace of battle and can be lost in the fracas. Fortunately there’s obvious waypoints to guide you along the way and little chance for confusion.
Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is one of those games you should have in your collection if you’re looking for something quick to pick up and invite your friends into. It’s great mindless fun and fairly good looking to boot. For the $15 they’re asking for it on Steam right now, it’s a steal for the hours you’ll get out of it, and there’s always a chance of a sale later on. So what are you waiting for? Go kill some bugs!
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