Earth Defense Force 2017

Also known as: EDF: 2017

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A shooterrific attack of the sci-fi clichés that you won't want to miss

Words: Eric Bratcher, GamesRadar US

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Be warned: if you don't love sci-fi movies like Independence Day, Them!, and Godzilla, run away screaming. Because, there's actually plenty wrong with this game: the graphics often look more like a really good Xbox game than a 360 title, with objects sometimes popping into sight and movements that stutter on rare occasion. The voice work is shabby. Your little dude jumps funny, and the physics are wonky - once dead, the bodies of space tarantulas the size of a Winnebago can be pushed around with normal machine gun fire. Three of the four in-game vehicles - the speeder bike, gun copter, and mech - handle like crap, and the tank isn't much better. The health and armor pick-ups are 2D sprites. There's no online play - just split-screen co-op on the same system.

But one thing makes all of that crap irrelevant: this game is fun, plain and simple. Starting with a typical "alien spaceships have arrived!" theme, it earnestly, unabashedly throws as many beloved sci-fi clichés as possible into your line of fire. Giant ants? Check. How about tarantulas too? And tougher red ants. And UFOs of all sizes, and killer robots the size of skyscrapers, then an astonishingly huge robot big enough to step on those? Then more of all that, and a giant monster. Then two giant monsters with cyborg parts... you get the idea.