Retrospective: Earth Defence Force 2017 Comments by Alec Meer

It's childish I know but I can't help but giggle at the line: "They're beating off civilians!"

Every time :)

This is the ultimate fun party co-op game to play when you're tired or drunk with a friend. Massive :D! I still love it and I keep playing it when a friend comes along for a night of gaming.

It's an absolute gem. One of the most fun filled games I've played.

35 hours in to this and I'm still trying to clear it on Hardest with a mate of mine. We've logged more than 70 hours in Global Defence Force. I do like GDF more because it has much more variety and 20 more levels but that frame rate is so uncool

Never had a game make me laugh so much. Really stoopid, really fun. I'd play the entire thing again, beginning to end, over any of the Gears of Dull series.

Yeah, come on, this is a game I'm looking forward to playing on a system I haven't bought yet! Stop retrospecting my future!

I have the PS2 game and, yes, it is mindless greatness.

i thought the game on the 360 was quite good for what it was,when i first saw giant ants etc walking over the buildings i thought that was cool


the cheapo price also helped ;)

Giant ants, giant spiders, giant robots, huge guns and exsplosions... stupidly cheap... what else could you want in a game?

EDF has all the charming eccentricity and endearingly cheap special effects of Tom Baker era Doctor Who. If only it were as easy to beat as the Daleks...

Love that comparison FatConan :)

"Blame an endemic attitude throughout games culture that rewards the familiar but ignores novelty."

Not the first time it's been said, and not without truth to it, but I'd say there's a little more to it than just flawed 'games culture', or indeed that it's something that can really be avoided. I wrote something overlong and tedious on the subject, as a response to a similar viewpoint put forward by some bloke from the Grauniad about the reason for Mirror's Edge's relatively lacklustre reception over here.

It's not a brilliant article, not nearly cohesive enough, but I stand by some of the issues raised in it - primarily, that 'rewarding the familiar over novelty' is endemic to all criticism, but is inevitably overcome.



Edit: and, to be more directly on topic: EDF is awesome, though its achievements are as dreary and tiresome as the game is ebullient and wild. Some of the best fun to be had on a 360.

Never even heard of it, seriously...

The only game on my 360 that I've plunged a good 30 hours into with a mate and received precisely 0 gamerpoints for my efforts. Surely that in itself is a total triumph - there are many games out there that throw achievements at you and I couldn't care less about playing them.

you didn't give it a very good review though did you? So retrospective's on games that you didn;t think were very good at the time?

I completed this on normal, but for me the death toll for this game was the underground burrow levels. It's brown and boring!

edit: jstar... Without checking I think EG actually gave a 8 or a 9 for EDF originally.

@jstar - KG gave it 9/10 on this here site. Someone earlier in this thread compared it to Serious Sam, which I think is a fair comparison. I only got EDF the other day so it's not really fair of me to make a comparison, but so far I think I enjoyed Serious Sam's knowing silliness a bit more. However, I'm open to letting EDF change my mind as I play more of it!

I judge people who don't like EDF.

This is the game I keep coming back to every now and again when I want something bitesized, satisfying and fun, I'm currently on my third difficultly playthrough of the game.

For me, It's a example of a really well tuned (whether intentional or not) arcade shooter, with the drop rate on armour and weapons being quite good enough so that it you didn't feel you had to 'grind them' inorder to progress with the game. It's not until your purposly trying to get either all the weapons or really trying for the much harder difficulty levels that you noticed the need that it's designed so that your meant to play through each difficulty level in turn, and that your tactic of how you take on the levels need to change.

It's a shame the achievements are so very finite and difficult to achieve. Although it was from the time when the Japanese really didn't understand the idea of adding achivements into the game as a gameplay hook, rather than lumpsum achievements.

As has already been said, the later PS2 version was superior (Global Defense Force). It suffered from a bit of slowdown though, as you'd expect, so you had to disable screen shake during hectic bits. Otherwise it was better in *every* way, and was set in real locations. Even the sound was better. Well worth picking it up.

If they made GDF2 with split screen co-op and online co-op that would be perfect. Just boost the vehicles up a bit this time as they were a liability. In fact, if they let you fly to the combat zone and land where you want that would be good too.

Surely they can knock out another game? It doesn't need to look like Killzone 2 - just add online play to GDF and add a few more animations (and keep the exploding glass effect).

Global Defence Force on the pS2 is indeed superior, and has jetpacks.

This game is huge fun but best played in co-op. There's a level where you start on a big beach you're charged by a huge swarm of red ants. Fleeing in a blind panic you head for the road tunnel and then create your very own tunnel of death as the ants swarm you. Playing that level brought back the sheer glee that very silly explosions and big guns can without the aggressive kill that bastard approach you get in FPSs. EDF has the best explosions and such is the end level that its the only game to tax the 360's graphics chip up to breaking point, and your team mates may be ludicrously rubbish in all respects although their quasi dubbed Japanese is unintentionally hilarious ("Are you scared?!" and "They killed Tiny!") and the fastest way to move forwards may be to go sideways, but even with all these shortcomings (they actually make the game)... the game is massively enjoyable. Its honestly the most fun I've had in co-op.

I bought this when it came out, dismissed it after 10 minutes, put it on the shelf for a year.

Tried it again, gave it a proper chance, loved it to bits. The frenzy of destruction once you get to the higher difficulty and weapons is a sight to behold. Admittedly I end up killing most of my fellow soldiers as well as the aliens, but they knew the risks.

Sheer brilliance. Big, dumb fun.
If you don't like it you're dead inside.

i was under the impression it sold quite okay.. love the game!
it also gave me one of the scariest games ever... i had put the lights out, sound on maximum on pioneer stereo, and then my two year old laid it's hand down on my knee.. i jumped in the air for miles!

This game was retro the day it came out. And class.

no auto save on this is a killer.

I wiped out 10 levels progress and haven't gone back to it in frustration.

Plus awful achievements. They're literally just complete the game on easy, complete the game on normal, and so on. That's it.

i personally love the acheivements on this game. one more reason to push on the harder difficultyies. Im half way through hardest, man its getting tough even with 2500 health. ive heard u need up to like 6000 to do inferno

"this will teach you to dig holes in my backyard!"

cant recommend this game enough, but even my most game obssessed friends just turn their backs on just looking at the box

Does nobody think its a bit odd to have a retrospective of games that have been released this gen?

...

One of the top 5 xbox 360 games for me - awesome stuff!

One of the best 360 games yet released without a shadow of a doubt. I've put over 60 hours into it now both co-op and solo and I still come back to it :D

Also to call the graphics 'last gen' is an out and out lie. The explosions are absolutely beautiful for a start.

I haven't tried Global Defence Force and always assumed it would be hard to get hold of, howeverafter looking on Amazon I've just picked up a second hand copy for a fiver, can't wait! \o/

THEY ARE KNOWN AS THE RAVAGERS! But are these visitors friendly?!

ROFL. You can't help but feel like a kid in a sweet shop with this game, unlimited rockets, a jump button, a fire button, some rolling and MILLIONS OF ANTS AND SPIDERS AND THINGS.

Many a drunk afternoon spent with obligatory mate with too much Magners and co-op EDF.