Also available on PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita EDF! EDF! EDF! Global Defence Force, otherwise known as Earth Defense Force 2, is the second game in the EDF series and the first to be released outside of Japan (although, unfortunately, not in North America until the Vita port a couple years ago). I mean, if you've played one EDF game, you've pretty much played them all - dozens of levels full of massive robots and insects to kill - but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go ahead and play them all. EDF! Global Defence Force is a simple game for simple people. It's a wildly over-the-top third person shooter where you run around and kill 30 foot bugs. That's it. There's no story other than "Giant insects are attacking! Save the world!" There are no non-generic character. There's no experience or leveling up. Just 71 levels of bug-killing glory. It's a low budget cheap thrills game, and it feels like one, and that's okay. You don't watch a Steven Seagal flick for a powerful narrative, and you don't play EDF for deep gameplay. The levels are balanced like a low budget game, too; even in the middle of the game, some will feel really easy and be over in less than five minutes whereas others will be 10 or 20 minutes of harrowing near-death combat. Because the game was only released in Europe and Japan, and I have a North American PS2, I had to play this on an emulator despite owning a retail copy of the game. I normally have ways of getting around region locks, but the PS2 have a particularly robust region lock that - as far as I'm aware - you can't bypass safely without a hardware modification. Anyway, because I played on an emulator (though still using a real disc), I spent most of the game thinking "Wow, this really doesn't look much different from the 360/PS3 EDF games." Not sure if that's a complement to EDF2 or an insult to EDF3 and EDF 4. Regardless, I eventually (and accidentally) discovered the hotkey to switch from hardware resolution to software resolution, seeing the game at the PS2's native craptastic 480i. Jesus Christ, it very quickly stopped looking the later games. It didn't look bad by any means (considering the low budget nature of the game), but it certainly didn't impress like it did when I was playing it at 4x the software resolution. Above - 1440p Below - 480p The game features two player co-op, making this game PERFECT for getting hella drunk with a friend and blowing up giant bugs together. There's really not a whole lot more to say about the game. The music is fine although the loops are pretty short, so it can get annoying after a while. Rather than record little English voice clips for the in-game dialogue like they did in the later games, they just removed it entirely when localizing from the Japan, so it can feel rather awkward with short, repetitive music interrupted only by explosions and the screams of dying 50 foot spiders. Just turn the music volume off and blast some Rob Zombie, though; it makes everything better. Global Defence Force is not a game that most folks would describe as "really good." It is, however, the second entry in one of my all-time favorite game series. It's the kind of stupid, mindless carnage and fun that people go to 80's action movies and MMA fights. It's utterly pointless, but it's an absolute blast to play especially if you've got friends. The visuals aren't the flashiest, and the frame rate tanks frequently, but as long time fans will you tell you, that's just one of EDF's quirks. You're gonna have a real hard time playing this one legitimately if you're not Japanese or European, but it's absolutely worth it to play however you can; when it comes to EDF, I won't ask about the legitimacy of your method. That said, though, it's objectively not a great game. It's just a really fun mediocre game. My Rating - C |
I'm a teacher.And I like to play video games. I like to collect video games. I like to talk about video games, and I like to write about video games. During the day, I teach high school history; during the night, I spend my spare time gaming. Then I write about it. Archives
March 2024
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