Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders from Planet Space Review

Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders from Planet Space is a glitchy, silly, and fun game that embraces its otherworldly concept with mixed results.

Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders from Planet Space
Developer: XSEED
Price: $29.99
Platforms: Playstation Vita
Monstervine was supplied with a PS Vita Code for review.

As an enhanced port of Global Defense Force, previously unreleased in North America, Earth Defense Force 2 aims to bring the series’ well-known bug-shooting craziness stateside. Though the game is, ironically, hindered by bugginess and difficulty curves, it’s an overall fun and over-the-top experience.

Earth Defense Force 2 has a very basic story. Giant bugs from space, dubbed Buggernatus, attack Earth. Using one of three types of unit, the player must eradicate the Buggernaut menace, as well as space ships, kaiju, and other B-movie invaders.

The game’s minimalist approach to story works for it, as any form of complex plot would be unnecessary and stifling to the game’s simple and wacky premise. The small pieces of story are mainly conveyed through voice-acted bits of dialogue during missions, which are mostly about other squads being overwhelmed, and screaming in terror.

Earth Defense Force 2‘s gameplay has a bit more depth than its narrative. The game is divided into numerous missions, each with varying objectives and lengths. Players pick one of three unit types to use in each mission, with each class having its own unique strengths and weaknesses. While the Infantry class is ground based and best with rifles, Pale Riders can fly and are better with energy weapons and beams. Newly added for the Vita release is the Air Raider who specializes in calling in vehicles such as tanks and devastating airstrikes. While they all have their pros and cons, players will find themselves picking one class, most likely the Pale Rider, far more than any other.

Each mission’s objective normally boils down to destroying all of the monsters in sight that will usually come at you in easy to defeat hordes. Though it’s often fun to plow through a swarm of bugs, the game is prone to throw tons of enemies at you in close quarters. This wouldn’t be a problem if the game functioned a bit better, as long-range enemies can shoot through each other, and sometimes walls, making it borderline impossible to avoid certain attacks. This can lead to an unfair death, and the loss of the mission’s progress.

Missions are normally fair when it comes to difficulty, as using different units and weapons can normally make things manageable. Unfortunately however, there are some missions that are flat-out unfair. Some missions will have countless UFOs all shooting lasers at you from the air, while multiple bugs shoot acid at you from the ground. This makes it incredibly easy to be overwhelmed, with little hope of survival. This often leads to running and picking off enemies in small numbers, while desperately hoping for health pickups to drop. This makes progressing in the game less fun and more difficult, as beating missions is essential to unlocking further missions.

Enemies will often drop new weapons, armour, or health pickups. Weapon pickups provide new guns to mow down bugs with, while armour pickups improve the player’s maximum health. It’s always exciting to see what new weapons are unlocked, as testing them out is always thoroughly enjoyable. Armour pickups are also very handy, as having as much health as possible is incredibly helpful in surviving some of the game’s harder missions, and unfair glitches.

Earth Defense Force 2‘s overall visuals aren’t great. The game has many flat textures and basic models, especially for the Vita, but as a port of a PS2 game, only so much can be expected in terms of visuals. Even if the game doesn’t look fantastic, it’s not bad enough to really detract from the game’s overall enjoyment.

A fair amount of levels provide different settings, ranging from cities to underground caverns. It’s especially fun to kill bugs in skyscraper-filled areas, as the buildings crumble and plummet left and right, greatly adding to the game’s B-movie feeling. The game’s sound adds another layer to its corny B-movie atmosphere. Almost all of the voice-acting is over-the-top and cheesy, which is perfectly in line with the zany sound effects, and unearthly music. Even the game’s menus ooze with old school sci-fi noises, making the game’s mood one of its best attributes.

The Final Word
Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders from Planet Space is as fun as it is flawed. Shooting giant bugs with lasers as they clip in and out of walls brings a unique type of fun to the table, but at the end of the day, the game is held back by some of its less fun glitches, its difficulty curve, and its visuals. Despite having its fair share of bugs, Earth Defense Force 2 is a decent game for short bursts of silly fun.