Earth Defense Force 2025 (360/PS3) review

[prinnysquad]

Rubbish! I want a full battle report you lame skank.

Plus, views a-plenty.

The men of the EDF are wordsmiths, as well as being the saviours of humanity.

[QualityChimp]

That was written about three hours after you'd skanked off to bed after your 17 minutes of play time and I'd taken a support call from work.

A more verbose response is inbound, when I get a spare few minutes!

[moonwhistle]

Edge gave this a 5, the scumbags.

I played it for a few hours yesterday and initial impressions are really good. I love the new enemy designs, deaths, noises and overall sense of scale. The 2 loading screens for some levels really annoys me though. I've quickly settled on the Wing Diver for fun and hijinks. I'm away for a week, when I get back I intend to try out online play with some of you gents.

[BaronSqwelch]

You jerks have twisted my arm...

Baron Sqwelch reporting for duty.
(When it arrives that is )

[Zaki]

My mic decided to break yesterday - ordered a new one. I could only communicate via the pre-set messages.

Did you feckers kick me out last night?

Only the Prinny squad has honour these days! Hrrmph!

[QualityChimp]

Firstly, GET THIS GAME!


So my copy arrived last night and I played a variety of games with board people and randoms.
Katsu (#1 EDF guy), Prinny, Van Peebles, Deuteros, Zaki and Chococat.
Sorry to Katsu for the airstrikes, Deuteros for the comms probs (please check that out, mate!), Chococat for abandoning the battle to answer the work phone and Zaki for losing you mid-battle (I thought you'd bottled it!).

General impressions are how much slicker the whole experience is. There's a whole lot of information on the screen, but it all squeezes in. The game lobby screen is jam-packed with data, but doesn't feel crammed. I wish I could find a screenshot as I don't want to bore you by listing everything that's on there, but all you would possibly want to know is on there.

Headset communication is the way forward for games like this, but they've made a good concession by adding as many commands at your fingertips as possible, making it possible to communicate important information such as "pull back" "I've launched an air strike"! I needed those two warnings a lot.

The graphics seemed pin-sharp to me. I didn't notice any slowdown, even with a full team of four classes on the battlefield. In a tunnel level, I noticed it had that 60fps look to it, and the city itself is crazily detailed. I noticed a beautiful shopping area with a big rustic sign and al fresco dining areas. It was in my way, however, so I drove my tank through it all...

The sound also stood out to me in ways I wasn't expecting. All the usual menu sfx are still there, but the ants now make a satisfactory Aliens-style squeal as you eliminate them. I won't lie, in the heat of the battle, I was lining up a shot with my tank and stopped to listen to the pleasing whir of gears as I moved the turret up and down.
The usual banter has been improved too. My favourite exchange between some NPC soldiers was:
"If we survive this, I'm taking you out to dinner."
"I'm looking forward to tonight!"

So in general terms, it's EDF 2017, but with extra polish.

However, after a few hours of play, you start to realise how all the little things start adding up to make it not only the best EDF in the series, but also a template for good co-op games full stop.

I'm playing the Air Raider class as I liked the idea of being a support character and the opportunity to call in airstrikes and vehicles. It's great fun so far, but you really have to think ahead of what weapons to bring. I found out the hard way that I can't call in air support when you're in a tunnel. This left me armed only with claymores in a cave full of ants.

The Air Raider can call in vehicles that have finite ammo and armour, but after a set number of kills by your team, you can call in another one. I drove a couple of tanks (3 shots took down a Normal Hector), an APC (Kat and VP chatted in the back as I transported them around) and a couple of mechs (2x flamethrower on the free DLC one, rocket/machine guns on t'other).

The best bit so far, for me, was combining the abilities of the various classes. For example, I had a laser guidance system that let me zoom in on some wasp spiders in the distance, meanwhile VP's Fencer had a full-on Tomahawk primed and ready. As I retained focus, I could see the giant missile streaking through the sky to wipe the arachnid fiend out.

Part of the charm of EDF is the trial and error with the various equipment testing. I loved the sniper limpet, which fired little flashing mines on enemies for as far away as you can see. I gave Hectors striding up the beach in the haze of the distance a flashing addition to their attire one second and a push of a button later, they were recoiling and staggering from the explosion. I had the shadow of a spider eclipse my character as it jumped over me, in sheer panic I popped a limpet on its face as it primed its rump to spray me with web-based death, but activating the mine made it fall apart with an octet of limbs blasted asunder.

The claymores were poor. Despite emitting multiple trigger beams, the spiders seemed to pogoing all over them with no effect. I've got a load of support tools at my disposal, such as health, plasma, shield and reflector beam generators. I can call out some air strikes too. Sorry again to the rest of the team for wiping them out when testing out my latest bombing acquisition. They were getting up close and personal and I managed to wipe them all out. Luckily, the excellent recover mechanic meant that I could sacrifice half my health to resuscitate the downed team members.

The genius of this game is the tactics though. I love Left 4 Dead, but in comparison, it's a very non-complicated game. 2025 is constantly making me think about how to take out a level. An air strike may eliminate some nests with ease, but on a giant mech dog, that has a weakside underneath, it's pointless. A missile may take out a wasp spider with ease, but struggles on multiple fast-moving targets. I can't wait to unlock my first helicopter, finding a high-up vantage spot and using the laser targeting system from across the map. I also need some turrets too to help reduce the Ravagers to an exoskeleton gloop. So many options!

In 2017 you had to think about your choice of two weapons (mortars take out spiders with ease, but don't have the range to reach up and destroy the dropships releasing them) but 2025 makes you think about which weapons your taking the battle as a team.

Criticisms? A couple. If you're unconscious, it'd be nice to be able to flick between watching the other players as you can in Insect Armageddon. There's a truckload of information going on but not everything is clearly explained. I didn't know what the dots next to the laser guide was, but it indicates how many missiles the Fencer can fire whilst you track. The game lobby has five small squares that I finally sussed indicated if you've finished the level on Easy through to Inferno. I'm clutching at straws, though, as it's everything I wanted from an EDF sequel and more.

I can't wait to see what other toys get dropped and to test them out! As VP said, my mind was over-stimulated after hours of play and when I finally drifted off, I dreamed of battles with the Ravagers all night.

[Deuteros]

Sorry for the havoc my faulty headset caused. Someone gave it to me and I had never really used it before. Does anyone know of a place selling the wireless (bluetooth) headset for the Xbox 360 for a decent price?

I couldn't make it past the mission on a beach where the Hectors are introduced (a carbon copy of an EDF 2017 mission, curiously...). It was too much for a solo Wing Diver, I didn't have enough firepower to take them down.

[^Katsu]

Sorry for the havoc my faulty headset caused. Someone gave it to me and I had never really used it before. Does anyone know of a place selling the wireless (bluetooth) headset for the Xbox 360 for a decent price?

Check your System settings, or volume settings? It could also be your internet NAT settings or internet connection. Check these first as buying a new headset will have the same issue as prev unless you iron out these.

Oh and it wasn't the firepower or the Wing Diver

[QualityChimp]

We need to get you through the beach mission, so let's get that echo sorted, mate!
We were all chatting fine the whole evening, but when you were in the party, we could all hear the echo but you couldn't, so it's definitely an issue on your side.

It's really off-putting when you're half-way through a sentence and then you can hear yourself start the sentence you've just started!

"It's really off-putting when you're half-way through a sentence and then you It's can really hear off-putting yourself you're when half-way start through the a you've sentence just and started then!"

Have a butcher's at this, Deuteros!:
"Headset echo

Have you ever heard an echo while playing with people on Xbox Live? Yeah, me too. You may have seen some info about this on Major Nelson's blog. Here's my take.

You know the echo is occurring when you hear your (or someone else's) voice repeating in chat after a short delay. Usually, almost everyone on the chat channel hears the echo. If you hear the echo, though, it's not you. Another person's headset receives the speech, then sends it back as though it came from their headset. (Note: this is slightly different from the TV-too-loud echo. With that, you usually hear sound from the game as well.) Again, the echo everyone hears is being caused by one person's headset.

As it turns out, the problem is with the person's headset plug. The most likely cause is either a plug that isn't pushed all the way in, or gunk on the plug. Try asking the owner of the affected headset to unplug and replug back in their headset, and if that fails, have them try cleaning the metal plug (the little post that plugs into the bottom of the controller). A cotton swab and some rubbing alcohol should do the trick."

[Deuteros]

Alcohol, of course! There aren't many things alcohol won't solve.

Oh and it wasn't the firepower or the Wing Diver

Oh really?...

[prinnysquad]

Much better, Chompleton.

I just sit at work dreaming of blasting spiddas and ants. It's exhaustingly superb.

[prinnysquad]

Canny sesh tonight.

Class use of barrage weapons and vehicles from QC. One hector got coastal-barraged about 100 metres into the air. Superb!

I was pissed off after picking a lame missile launcher for a hector docks invasion mission. I just couldn't hit the damn things and had to move in close... Too close. We all got ragged. A sniper rifle choice for the restart meant victory was achieved with ease. Another key tactical decision involved a field mission against shield generators protecting nests. I told Kat to draw their fire. He did, and all the ants went scuttling out from under the shield following him. The other three of us waltzed through the shield unchallenged and stated blasting the nest, before the GIANT INSECTS realised our ploy and dashed back to defend the shield. Still, by then we'd inflicted serious whuppage on the shield and nest.

Defo 5/10 one dimensional gameplay strategies in this 'simple point and fire' crapfest.

[prinnysquad]

Saw this posted elsewhere but still worth a laugh:

http://www.eurogamer.de/articles/2014-02-26-earth-defense-force-2025-test

They've since posted a proper review which awards it the same score.

[QualityChimp]

Saw this posted elsewhere but still worth a laugh:

http://www.eurogamer.de/articles/201...orce-2025-test

My favourite bit of that is the comment at the bottom that totally goes over the moderator's head:
"Apologies in advance but as an Englishman with minuscule German knowledge could someone translate the review please?"

Well, another night in the EDF is like a day on the farm. Every meal's a banquet. Every paycheck a fortune! Every formation a parade! I LOVE the EDF!

Some great games again last night, but shocking lack of comms from Prinny (was the missus within earshot, pray tell?) and Katsu (recording his new podcast for TurtleRancher.com), but Deuteros was back with an echo-free, alocohol-cleansed mic, huzzah! Bonus points with a surprise visit from Chopemon, yay!

We continued with our progress on Normal mode and we probably got through about another 10 levels. There was a great mix of levels last night including densely packed cities, open beaches, mountain ranges and a shipping port. Each one brought with it its own challenges, for example, dropping a helicopter and getting it to take off in a forest is nigh-on impossible!

Talking of helicopters, I was pleased with the latest addition to my garage - an Apache clone that fired machine guns and lock-on missiles. We were struggling a bit on the port mission where bombardment Hectors were coming out of the sea in giant strides. All three teammates were downed and I'd managed to take down a couple of the metallic leviathans, but the second I got out of my chopper, I was slain and it was game over. We retreated, changed weapons and tried again. Calling in a couple of air strikes to weaken the first attack, then we cleared the level with relative ease.

The helicopter also proved useful against the

->Open Spoiler<-

shield units

that were revealed. I could fly straight to them and take them out, leaving the rest of the team to mop up the insect they were protecting. It was a lot less useful when we came to mission 28, which introduced the new

->Open Spoiler<-

Red gunships

. Time after time we were wiped out, so we possibly need some more air-specific weapons.

My fave mission last night was the beach assault with seemingly endless waves of ants coming to chew on Deuteros like he was a giant sugarcube. My helicopters, air strike calls and turrets made the attacks manageable, but it was pretty tense trying to get my helicopter to escape the jaws of the ants as they jumped up to take a chomp!

What's the consensus for getting through level 28? Should we try it on Easy then go back up to Normal, or farm some earlier levels on a harder setting to get some better weapons?

This game is a proper time-sink. Another late night, followed by another tough morning to get up.

[chopemon]

I was just browsing for a couple of games before bed and saw the Quality Chimp name on the server list. You're the only game I've had online because the rest of the lobbies I've joined have either been in progress or full of American kids.

Did a piss poor job of dealing with those ants with low powered weapons. Did a sterling job of getting in the way of a chopper missile though.