Earth Defense Force 2017 landed on the Xbox 360 in 2006 with giant ants, giant spiders, giant robots and UFOs, and it made no apology for any of them. Sandlot developed it, D3 Publisher put it out, and the follow-up to Global Defence Force became the first game in the Earth Defense Force series to reach North America. It was also the first title based on D3’s Simple series of budget games to make that trip.
Trailer, via IGN.
An Unnamed Captain in Storm 1
You play an unnamed Captain in Storm 1, the Japanese unit the EDF counts as its best. The story starts in 2013, when scientists receive radio waves from deep space and learn that extraterrestrial life exists. Two years later, the Earth Defense Force is established as a unified multinational military organization in case the aliens prove hostile.
In 2017, first contact arrives. Hundreds of unidentified flying objects appear and hover over major cities, led by a massive mothership positioned over Tokyo. Giant acid-spitting insects resembling ants begin assaulting civilians.
The EDF attempts an air assault on the mothership. Alien UFO gunships thwart the plan. Command deems the operation a failure, and the surviving EDF forces abandon the cities to begin a guerrilla campaign in rural areas.
The Nest Beneath the Countryside
While patrolling the Japanese countryside, Storm 1 is told by command that an extensive alien nest is being built underground. From this nest the aliens can spawn an infinite number of bugs and bypass EDF defenses. Intelligence from Scout Teams shows a single alien Queen at the center of the nest, and its destruction will stop the production of the rapidly multiplying bugs.
Storm 1 assaults the nest with the help of all available Ranger Teams and kills the Queen. A few days later, Storm 1 assists a Scout Team monitoring the mothership, which has landed on the Japanese coast and appears dormant, damaged and defenseless. Oddly, it is observed sucking in huge amounts of air and releasing carbon dioxide, implying the ship is more than a synthetic machine and may be the hive intelligence controlling the aliens.
That is the plot, and it is all the game needs.
Over 150 Weapons and Four Vehicles
The arsenal carries Earth Defense Force 2017. More than 150 weapons run from assault rifles and sniper rifles to rocket launchers, grenades and laser weapons, and only two may be selected for each mission. Some levels contain vehicles you can commandeer:
- A tank
- A helicopter
- A hoverbike
- A bipedal mecha
Every building is destructible, and the game charges no penalty for collateral damage. A building will crumble after a single hit from a rocket launcher or grenade. Other EDF soldiers can be recruited or followed, and they attack enemies on sight. Five difficulty levels raise the challenge, and higher difficulties drop more effective weapons, which encourages players to repeat missions. Armor enhancements function as permanent maximum health bonuses and drop along with healing items.
Split-Screen Beside the Swarm
The Xbox 360 version includes two-player split-screen multiplayer, playable cooperative or versus. That mode is what keeps the disc in the tray. Fighting a swarm next to someone on the same couch is a different game from fighting it alone, and versus turns the destructible cities into a weapon.
The game outlasted its console. Earth Defense Force 3 was the best selling Games on Demand game in Japan for 2009. It came to the PlayStation Vita in Japan on 27 September 2012, then went digital-only in North America on January 8, 2013 and in the PAL region on January 16, 2013. A port arrived for the Nintendo Switch in Japan on October 14, 2021.
Repetition as the Design
The case against Earth Defense Force 2017 is easy to make and largely fair. The levels repeat. The weapons are a grind. The visuals and performance belong to a budget release, which is what this is. A player who wants a modern shooter with a campaign that respects their time will bounce off the first hour.
The case for it is that the repetition is deliberate. Fifty-three levels exist so the harder difficulties have somewhere to send you, and the weapon drops exist so that returning is worth it. The pleasure of a B-movie is not the plot. It is the moment the ants come over the hill.
Why the Score Sits at 7.3
Earth Defense Force 2017 is not a great shooter by the standards of its own era. It is a great toy. The destructible buildings, the 150-plus weapons, the four vehicles and the split-screen co-op add up to something no polished competitor offered, and the series built a following on that foundation for the next fifteen years.
The score reflects that split. IGDB’s critic aggregate across six outlets sits at 7.3/10, and this review reaches the same place. The flaws are real, the fun is real, and neither cancels the other.
Hard Numbers
- Release: 2006, Xbox 360 (also Xbox One)
- Developer: Sandlot
- Publisher: D3 Publisher
- Genre: Third-person shooter
- Levels: 53
- Weapons: over 150
- Vehicles: 4
- Difficulty levels: 5
- Multiplayer: 2-player split-screen, co-op or versus
- Critic aggregate: 7.3/10 (IGDB, 6 outlets)
What matters is not the aggregate itself. It is that a budget game about shooting giant insects across 53 levels, with over 150 weapons and every building destructible, found an audience that kept it alive through a Vita release in 2012 and a Switch port in 2021. The mothership over Tokyo is nonsense, the Queen is nonsense, and the acid-spitting ants are nonsense. The game knows it. That is why it still works.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
