The EDF wasn’t quite new to spin-offs, as EDF 2 got a tactical turn based spin-off, developed by thinkarts and released westward as a PAL only release under the Global Defence Force: Tactics title, but it’s fair to say this is the more well known one, as it released globally after EDF 2017 as a sort of “fail safe” title, just in case the mainline titles were too niche and “japanesy”, here’s another more tailored to western gamers of the time, developed by now defunct Vicious Cycle Software (Robotech: Battlecry, Puzzle Quest: Challenge Of The Warlords, Dead Head Fred – which i really should review, it’s an interesting little game – The Matt Hazard games, the Pac Man and The Ghostly Adventure duology, alongside a dozen or so of licensed and-or tie-in games about kid oriented IPs like Ben 10, Flushed Away and actually ended their run on a Kung Fu Panda licensed title).
Basically EDF 2017: USA Edition, as willed by D3, which i can’t blame them for, not in retrospective, as it the late 2000s-early 2010s saw basically a giant racist crusade against anything gaming related coming from Japan sweeping the industry, i lived through it and remember too well, so yeah, not surprised D3 went for this option just to be sure it got some footing for EDF.
That aside, the premise is basically EDF: USA in terms of plot as well, very B-movie stuff as expected and desired: aliens, bringing in tow robots and giant insects (and giant robots, which also include giant robot insects) invade the city of New Detroit, and is up to the Strike Force Lightning, a team of elite soldier from the Earth Defense Force, to blast them aliens bastards to bits and save the day.
There’s still that B-movie style of dialogues and english voice acting “quality”, and while it doesn’t exactly scratches the funny bone exactly as classic EDF entries do, the camp factor is through the roof and deliciously tongue-in-cheek.
But gameplay wise, you’ll notice the changes that come by going from a niche japanese studio from a western one, and since it’s the 2010s, you can bet your bippy on them focusing hard on making it a 4 player cooperative affair… i’d say a team shooter, kinda, we’ll get to the classes right away, but they pushed the multiplayer element harder, i’d say because that was becoming the trend with widespread console online gaming… but on the other hand EDF is the kind of game that becomes a fuckin riot played with friends and casuals, so it fits
And EDF 2017 oddly didn’t have online multiplayer, so it’s definitely a plus.
This means even playing single player you’ll have the IA control the other 3 squad members, which to my surprise it’s quite, quite decent, as they handle enemies ok, can use fixed turrets and there’s less of dying due of a bazooka shot that wasn’t actually aimed at you (oddly enough).
Another improvement from EDF 3/2017 is the aforementioned classes, 4, a first for the series, and actually not that far off from what EDF 4 would implement, by having the basic soldier dude/EDF infantry trooper, a tactical operative that can deploy turrets (close enough to the later Air Raider class), a jetpack unit that uses a recharging energy reserve for both weapons and jetpack fuel (the Pale Wing equivalent), and lastly the tank armored dude with gatling guns (the Fencer equivalent).
Though this time there are the aforementiond team shooter stuff, as the system for unlocking guns and special abilities (earned via credits as mission rewards/loot and ranking up after obtaining enough exp), the latter making each class more proficient with a weapon instead of another, which keeps the classic EDF set-up of having a 2 weapons limit for the loadout, and the good ol’ weapon crates with random drops. Sadly the weapon selection is more standard and there’s not much of the wacky or joke weapons like the Air Tortoise or gas burners as “close range flamethrower”.
And what do you know, since Sandlot is not in the developer’s chair here, this time around the vehicles and mecha you can use/pilot are actually fun and comfortable to control around, not just some degrees of “less garbage” as they pretty much are in every mainline EDF title.
The other major difference is a consequence of designing the game in a squad co-op lens, so the missions are structured with more traditional sequences of objectives/orders to achieve/comply to in order to progress on, instead of the old arcade style wave-based affair. Almost feels like an earlier “draft” for EDF Iron Rain.
Which is actually fine but also adds frustrating crap like ants nest that can only be destroyed by going near them, then pressing and holding a button to attach and denotate the charge, which of course can be interrupted by enemies munching or your ass, so hope you’re playing with some one online that is actually awake, the IA for the ally bots is decent, not amazing, can be quite frustrating if the IA isn’t doing its job in these instances. And it mostly won’t, making it more annoying than difficult to wipe out a wave and hope you don’t get interrupted when you opt/need to do the “button holding to plant bombs” ritual, needing to start over.
Yeah, EDF didn’t need this. Could easily have done without this minor but recurring annoyance (made a bit worse as the ant nests do not show up in the mini-radar, regardless if they’re a mission objective or not), a pretty western “AAA” annoyance too. Hold them buttons, because.
In terms of compromises, we have a reverse Dynasty Warriors scenario, as in, there are a lot less enemies on screen, as the gameplay is objective based and not just keeping at bay the waves, and even those, even at their best, do not throw that many enemies at you… BUT (while still being a budget tier production) it’s technically more stable, performance wise, and looks nicer, definitely nicer than ED 2017, looks “less budget” if that makes any sense.
Coupled that with a better enemy variety (including a lot of new, original EDF foes) and less old-school control schemes, it’s kinda hard to really lament when its technically pretty much better in all regard than the mainline EDF games…. and i won’t, i enjoyed Insect Armageddon fine for what it is, it’s quite fun, it’s still EDF at the core, i just prefer the old wave based approach and even weirder and campier stories and enemies, even with some of the warts the Sandlot developes entries have.
….What i can criticize harshly is the short campaign, there’s not much stones to toss when mainline titles do reuse the same 7-ish lareas over and over over for a lot more missions, but it’s a 5 hours campaign, and not only that, it just kinda… stops, there’s the setup for a climax but there’s no proper ending, just a voice over that assumes your unit is dead (when it isn’t), then results screen, back to the mission selection screen.
Apparently the voice over dialogues changes if you beat the game on the harder difficulties (Inferno apparently having a funny one), but even for an EDF game, this is some cheap shit.
I’d say it’s a cliffhanger left there just in case of a sequel, but it’s not even a proper cliffhanger.
Once you finish the campaign once you unlock the Campaign Remix, as in remixed versions of the normal missions, with tougher enemies on top of the usual ones, a bit cheap but it’s what it says on the tin, and there’s also a Survival mode, pretty self-explanatory as well, and actually plays a bit more like classic EDF. All mode can played online, and i guess still can on the Steam version, the PSN servers for the PS3 version were empty when i first played this years ago, as expected.
That said, the game was and still is to find an used copy for the console versions, but it’s also very cheap on Steam as well, it’s just 10 bucks as MSRP, and even if i do prefer classic EDF or some of the other spin-offs (like World Brothers), this is a lot of fun as well, it’s EDF in a slightly different flavor but it’s unmistakably EDF, a bit more streamlined for western tastebuds, and while it’s a bit short, it’s still available for cheap regardless if you hunt down a physical copy of the console versions or just get the aforementioned Steam release.
Apparently some series fans treat it like the fuckin plague, call it “the dark ages”, which is stupid, for a spin-off meant to attract a more general audience, this is quite fun while keeping the series core camp alive and well, if a bit bony in terms of content (it IS the shortest EDF game, ever, that much is true), but for the first spin-off handled by another company … it’s quite decent, and some more. If you missed it and still feel 10 bucks is too much for it (it’s not), wait for a Steam sale.
EDF would continue with the mainline series, by going further into the long, distant future of… 2025. Better get ready and go join your local EDF branch, to defend Our Mother Earth… ♬
Wise Cafe (International) 