Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable review for PS Vita

Platform: PlayStation Vita
Publisher: D3Publisher
Developer: Sandlot Games
Medium: Digital
Players: 1-4
Online: Yes
ESRB: T

Taken objectively, Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable isnโ€™t that good. The graphics are kind of lousy; when you fire a rocket at a building, it shatters and disappears rather than crumbles. Everything moves in a really weird way; giant spiders (not to mention your fellow Earth Defense Force squadmates) hop straight up and down, rather than jumping in any kind of normal spider/human way. The dialogue is atrocious; apart from brief intros for each mission explaining what the scenario is โ€” all of which essentially boil down to โ€œshoot all the giant bugs and/or robotsโ€ โ€” youโ€™ll hear the same five or six phrases over and over again (examples: โ€œAhhh!โ€; โ€œIโ€™m out of ammo, cover me!โ€; โ€œTheyโ€™re too big!โ€; and, most importantly, โ€œEDF! EDF! EDF!). And, of course, the plot is ripped straight out of a B-movie from the โ€™50s; as part of the EDF, itโ€™s your job to protect the earth from an invasion by giant bugs and robots (and, in a few cases, what appear to be dragons).

Of course, anyone expecting EDF 2017 Portable to be a GOTY candidate is missing the point entirely. Much like those movies from the โ€™50s โ€” and much like previous EDF console games, for that matter โ€” EDF 2017 Portable is kind of terrible, but also secretly pretty awesome. As was the case with, say, Them! (or any of its dozens of cheaply-made, quickly-produced imitators), itโ€™s only possible to get into EDF if you let go of silly notions like โ€œgreat graphicsโ€ or โ€œcoherent plotโ€, and immerse yourself in the craziness.

edf 2017

Or, to put it more succinctly: if you read that first paragraph and immediately thought โ€œShattering buildings, jumping giant spiders and fending off a robot/insect alliance from outer space?! Heck yes!โ€ then you need to play this game immediately. Alternatively, if you played previous EDF games on consoles and couldnโ€™t get enough of them, then all you need to know is that the Vita version of more of the same.

For those people who havenโ€™t previously experienced EDF, you should know in advance that youโ€™ll need to really love the idea of blasting giant bugs/robots/spaceships/dragons, because thatโ€™s literally all you do for the whole game. Thereโ€™s a few variations thrown in here and there โ€” some levels are underground, you get to pick and choose from over 400 weapons, you can occasionally hop in a vehicle, and if you want a little more randomness you can hop online for some multiplayer action โ€” but the core gameplay never changes from mission to mission (and I say that as someone who loves the game).

edf 2017_2

Repetitiveness, though, isnโ€™t the gameโ€™s problem. Nor are the iffy graphics (theyโ€™re a feature, not a bug, no pun intended) or occasional glitches, like the cameraโ€™s habit of randomly inverting itself every so often so that all you can see is a wormโ€™s eye-view of your characters (probably less of a feature, but still play into the gameโ€™s charm). No, Earth Defense Force 2017 Portableโ€™s biggest problem is its price. $40 for a digital release seems like a somewhat steep price for a game that launched at the same price on the Xbox 360 six years ago. Even taking into account the addition of online multiplayer (which, admittedly, works pretty well), itโ€™s hard to understand how the series goes from being a budget-priced console release to a full-priced handheld game.

All that said, I got a lot of enjoyment out of the EDF 2017 Portable. Whatโ€™s more, I expect to continue to get lots of enjoyment out of it into the future. From that point of view, itโ€™s hard to argue that the game isnโ€™t worthwhile. So if you donโ€™t mind paying a slightly steep premium to get some building-destroying, bug-blasting fun on your handheld, then take the plunge and download this game immediately.

Grade: A-
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