Earth Defence Force: Insect Armageddon

[charlesr]

and at about 25 seconds when those two ants just get rubbed out of existence, well, that looks ****. Just totally ****, far far ****ter than an ant flying off into the distance, rebounding off buildings, could ever look.

Oh my g.....
Maybe they teleported out of harm's way?

[Ryo Saeba]

If they are listening, then get this: 15 levels is not enough. At least quadruple it.

There was way too much repetition going on during the 70+ missions of EDF2, and even though they improved this slightly in EDF3, I still think the games would've been better with half the number of stages, weapons, and difficulty settings. I mean, do I really have to play the umpteenth variation of the city + ants mission on all five difficulties? Do I need to collect 30 assault rifles with marginally different stat upgrades?


Shame about the new visuals though. As far as I'm concerned, Reginleiv looks twice as good, and that runs on inferior hardware. Just goes to show how important the art style is I guess.


Another downer is the capped framerate, because they can't throw as much enemies as possible at you, if they want to guarantee 30FPS. This is probably also the reason why enemies evaporate into thin air, as soon as they die.


Also what's up with this being set in one city? Will we not get to see the beach or underground levels?


I'm still cautiously optimistic that this won't be a complete failure, but I'd take a Zangeki no Reginleiv localization over this EDF travesty any day of the week.

[prinnysquad]

There was way too much repetition going on during the 70+ missions of EDF2, and even though they improved this slightly in EDF3

Get outta town! The repetition on EDF2017 was horrific! The same city levels, the same hill levels, the same underground levels. EDF2 had night missions, London, and all of the above. I concede that this MAY HAVE simply meant that the level repetition was divided between more environments/day/night effects, with 71 missions of more enviros the same as 53 missions of the less enviros in the repetition stakes.

However, there no doubt in my mind that EDF2017 felt much more repetitive. Why? Easy. The enemies were ALL THE SAME! 53 levels of the same things, there was no new stuff unlocked past a certain point, bar the bosses. This sameness thrust the lack of enviros to the fore. EDF2 was bringing a host of new enemies to the table well into the game. Therefore, even though the enviros may have been as repetitive as EDF2017, they did not feel it due to the fact that the stuff you were battling against was fresh. On EDF2017, fighting red ants, black ants and spiders on mission 51 or whatever, or the same walkers, or the same UFOs; was far less entertaining than fighting the rolling bugs and war of the worlds walkers late on in EDF2 (enemies that were nowhere to be seen at the start). The end of the EDF2 experience felt like it had been an epic battle against waves of different bad guys. The end of EDF2017 felt like the halfway point in a bigger game, where you've been grinding through 50 levels of the same stuff. I genuinely said after level 53 brought up the credits - "Is that it?"

I still think the games would've been better with half the number of stages, weapons, and difficulty settings. I mean, do I really have to play the umpteenth variation of the city + ants mission on all five difficulties? Do I need to collect 30 assault rifles with marginally different stat upgrades?

Yes and no. Yes because we want a massive experience which you have to earn the right to finish. That's the point. It's a grinding dream. There's an rpg Borderlands-style system at the heart of EDF's weapons. Incremental awards for perseverance in a titanic struggle to the Inferno boss. No, because it leads to repetition. Which is oh-so avoidable. What we want is a vast array of enemies across a vast array of environments, which would involve minimal repetition. We totally don't need a streamlined 25 mission bollocks-fest of the same ****. I want dozens of missions with massively differentiated locales, weapons and enemies, with minimal repetition in any area bar gameplay. I don't want to finish the damn game in a day.

I really can't understand how anyone would want less of EDF. It's a series based around the words BIG and MANY. A shorter, streamlined EDF game would be a dull game.

[Ryo Saeba]

Well at least in EDF3 they didn't just copy-paste missions by setting them at night, and removed one difficulty entirely (though instead of removing the useless easiest one, they axed the best and hardest). Though I have to admit that the lack of enemy variety hurts a lot, and in hindsight, I agree with you that it was wrong to call EDF3 an improvement, as far as repetition goes. Btw, Sandlot did a horrific job with Reginleiv in that regard, easily trumping EDF2 in both enemy and level variety, even though it has the same amount of levels (even more in multiplayer).

To conclude: I'd be all for huge numbers too, if they'd manage to increase the variety. If they can't, I'd rather have a game with a smaller number of levels, where each one feels truly unique.

It's a grinding dream.

And I think that's the game's biggest flaw, or do you enjoy doing the same mundane task over and over? I'd rather not spend hours farming for armor and weapons, because that's what I call "dull".

[prinnysquad]

It only got dull when hunting for a weapon after finishing the game. That was it. The gameplay is based entirely around killing enemies - a mundane and one dimensional task to some, and the whole point of the game and its purity of enjoyment for others like me.

The weapons mostly came naturally over the difficulty levels - only a small handful required serious repetition. When I finished the game on three different machines, each time I only needed 1, or 2 maximum, of the weapons to complete the set. Fundamentally, I didn't have to grind for weapons. I did have to grind for armour, mostly because my strategies weren't careful enough, and my style was too reckless. Other players have proved you can get far with much less armour than I picked up. Once again, I didn't have to farm much armour to finish 99% of the levels.

The grinding thing is not a requisite for finishing the game. You could finish it once and not replay a single level. No one is forcing anyone to farm armour or grind to get every weapon. They are high-level achievements for people to aim for if they want; players aren't forced to do it. I think it's a bit unfair to expect this type of game to allow you to finish the hardest mode without a little bit of going back to 'bulk up'. The only part of that comment I agree with was the needless requirement to grind after completion to get that last weapon - it took me ten hours. That was dull. But the pure concept of replaying missions to level up (better health and weapons) is an old, old gaming norm that I enjoyed here, and I feel was entirely justified. No one forced me to do it, I could have finished on Normal and left it there with nary a grind in sight. However, I chose to go the full hog and rightly expected, I think, to have to put the effort in to get the stats and tools to finish the game at its hardest.

I worry that if an EDF game has those small unique levels, it simply won't be enough. I'd want more of the same, with a healthy riff on each one - be it weather, enemies, etc.

As for the Night missions in EDF2 - to me, and others I played it with - this felt soooo different, and was most welcome. EDF3 did exactly the same - the hills missions with the ant/spider nests was largely repeated later from another angle in a sunset.

[Sketcz]

EDF could do with a level editor for people to share their own - you plot out where you want big buildings and where you want specific enemies to spawn.

They could even have a procedurally generated endurance mode - where totally random **** keeps happening, forcing you to adapt to new enemies/environments, so see how long you can stay alive for.

There's so much good potential...

[Ryo Saeba]

They could even have a procedurally generated endurance mode - where totally random **** keeps happening, forcing you to adapt to new enemies/environments, so see how long you can stay alive for.

As far as I've heard, they have that in Insect Armageddon.

[Sketcz]

Curiosity: +1

[nakamura]

HUGE NEWS!!

This video contains EDF2 for PSP, EDF Insect and EDF 4 info.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vxFA3q4Yt4

I think Insect looks pretty good actually, no real info on EDF4 yet though.

[BaronSqwelch]

up for pre-order....nice and cheap...until a 17.99 one pops up!!

edit by charlesr: external affiliate link removed. Please use:
360
or
PS3

[prinnysquad]

I hope EDF4 is a Sandlot special! On the home consoles.

Insect Armageddon looks better than before, still a bit sparse, and the ants are tiny, but better for sure.

EDF2 portable looks rather great. Would make a cracking DL title on consoles.

[vanpeebles]

A very interesting vid and a good spot on the preorders. I've preordered the PS3 and 360 version! EDF EDF EDF!

[nakamura]

This site says EDF2 PSP will ship with two discs in the box for local ad hoc play.

http://www.gamesradar.com/psp/earth-defense-force-2-portable/news/earth-defense-force-2-portable-double-pack-includes-two-copies-of-the-game/a-20110114171921789080/g-20110114171148650063

[charlesr]

up for pre-order....nice and cheap...until a 17.99 one pops up!!

Please see forum rules, specifically "Do not use your own affiliate links". Possibly you didn't know if you grabbed the link from elsewhere.

Thanks dude.

[BaronSqwelch]

ah sorry...just cut it from when i was browsing...didnt realise it was an affiliate