I'm actually playing quite a variety, but at this point I really need to get another one of these articles out and this is probably the best talk-ative game fit for one that I'm currently playing. Somewhere along the path of working on Dragon's Quest Heroes, occasionally nibbling at some fun replays on Transformers Devastation, working on Yoshi's woolly world when I can, laughing at the silly and dumb but kind of fun for it Cabela's African Adventures, AND also enjoying Hardware Rival's launch I've also worked up the desire to go back and played an old game I've barely touched: Earth Defense Force 2025 for the PS3. That's what's been truly on my mind these past two days, and its a good deterrent from running out and paying $50 for its newer counter-part that I don't actually need but have been hearing so many good things about.
EDF started for me with Insect Armageddon, which is funny because people hate that one and I still have a hard time seeing why. IA was the first to truly advertise itself for me at the right time, show up in the press, and impress me with trailers promising tons of raw destruction, jetpacks, and giant monster alien bugs. Sounded perfect. I picked it up one day by chance when I was able to get whatever and only thought this looked good out of the new releases, and was told how lucky I was to get just the last copy at my local gamestop. Never been told that (except later last year where Witcher 3 had the same effect), so I felt like it must have been a really good game to have sold out despite its limited marketing. I'd love to talk all romanticized on how it truly was a lucky sign and things were meant to be fantastic, but it didn't mean much in the end. I was initially kind of disappointed. Instead of being this masterpiece of cheese and destruction that felt like a good old crazy shooter, it was just kind of... barren. It sacrificed EVERYTHING for that mentioned premise of big bugs, destruction, and unlimited ammo. All the other systems in place were just so shallow. Gunplay was spray and... well spray. Just hold the fire button down, and occasionally reload or switch weapons. Classes really just weren't appealing (which included the very limited jetpack class, essentially tossing that fun out the window), destruction felt kind of flat along with the guns themselves, and the bugs didn't do a whole lot except for a few that were just plain annoying. Still I played it and kind of went dull to the sense of what value it did offer. I embraced the excitement in boss fights, loved the hilarious intel chatter, and kept pushing on the next level daring the game to show me a city that would truly fall apart by an amazing show of collateral damage between me and the bugs.
Word got around that a better EDF was coming soon. The "real" creators were getting in on it, PC fans were begging for a port to replace the "crappy IA version made by bad western devs" and whatnot. So I thought to myself, wow I have no clue what went wrong with IA, but if these guys invented and know the concept better than I really have to get in on this game and see how its really done. To this day I still don't see hardly any differences, and in fact IA still has some superior features. I ultimately understand two key things at best: IA's objective based gameplay was a step back, and their game was very short by comparison. That much makes good sense at least. However it seemed fairly the same in general so I just waited for a fair price for this one. By the time I finally got it, I just... really didn't do much with it. I fought up to about level 6, experimented a tad bit, but felt like the spiders annoyed me way too much and I'd rather take a quick break... which turned into leaving the game cold for months. Now with word on how 4-1 looks, runs, and plays I would actually really like to try it out. However its just a re-imagined and better 2025, so... *boots up the game*
I'm really now in a better mindset for this kind of game right now. You enjoy the mindless rampage, laugh at some goofy dialogue, and treat difficult replays of past levels like a chance for ARPG style loot drops. Its a fun, even if highly repetitive, mix and the game so far has been paced just right to introduce some crazy scenes in at the right moments. I just now made it to the 12th level where space ship drones fill up the entire map to a near crashing point and just wreck everything, and its crazy. They zip around so fast, and fall so hard that its like watching alien bumper cars play out over your head... only to end by bringing the building beside you to rubble. Moments like that are just awesome. With the framerate going into practically 10fps range, and the bad PS2-esque graphics, I know the PS3 can do better (and no the count and destruction isn't THAT good) and I wish the game had been better optimized, but its playable enough to be fun. I will definitely be happy when the 4.1 version is more easily accessible and runs smooth on better tech, but until then I've got a lot of work to do on this one. Going to try out some of the other classes soon as well, I think I have the hang of this enough so that I know what to do with them. I think I finally found the right mentality to get back into this game, and so hopefully with Yoshi and DQ balanced in mind, I'll be enjoying some good 'ol bug smashing for a for some time. Can't wait to see the part where dragons come into this.
 |
| EDF! EDF! EDF! |
No comments:
Post a Comment