Interest Armageddon

This is Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon, the long-awaited (by me anyway) sequel to Sandlot's 360 masterpiece Earth Defense Force 2017. In what appears to be the standard protocol for any Japanese title that meets with modern western success, this follow-up has been wrestled away from the creatives who designed the original sleeper hit, and handed off to a middling western dev, in this case Matt Hazard studio Vicious Cycle Software. If you root around, you can find a producer interview piece where they detail reams of deadly unnecessary upgrades, including an arsenal apartheid class system that threatens to ruin the gonzo flexibility of 2017's core load-out conundrum. Attentive viewers may also note that the whole enterprise has been give the same dreary brown mech-man wash as Crackdown 2. God forbid games look different these days eh? Earth Defense Force 2017 was a triumph thanks a dogged sense of simplicity. Whilst other games jumped through extraneous mechanical hoops to engage the player, 2017 simply focused on filling every inch of the screen with writhing ants to blast. That was more than enough. Forget that lesson at your peril!