Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable

Just because a game looks and sounds like it's from 1996 doesn't mean it's bad.

Unpretentious in the extreme, comical by accident, irritating when it wants to be. [Issue#229, p.80]

EDF is a perfect fit for the Vita, despite not being a perfect game. It's set up for portable gaming, it doesn't feel like it has been a cheap port with little effort. If you can see past the price point then it is more than worth the space it will take up on your memory card.

The biggest issue here, sadly, is the price. When this launched on Xbox 360, its faults could be excused not only by its big heart but also by its small price-tag: at £25, the original was a budget game in both outlook and its impact on your wallet. So why, well over five years later, is the Vita version being sold full-price at £34.99?

Quotation forthcoming.

However, the $40 price tag is a bit steep, especially considering that the original Xbox 360 version sold for a budget price when it was released. Still, if you want a game that you can pick up, play for five minutes, and put back down again, there are much worse alternatives than Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable.

All in all, I had a great time playing through the campaigns again – with the collectible nature of the game and character power-ups for armor and weapons it's a great game for a little break from reality. I found the $40 price point to be a little expensive myself, especially when I bought my original game for $20… but if you have some money to drop, it might be worth it to give it a spin.

Under an almost PS2 visuals, there's a great game. It's extremely fun and addictive, and if you missed its original release on Xbox 360, you can grab this version that adds new levels and enemies, and even a new character that will give a twist to its gameplay. Don't let the graphics mislead you.

Features the same flaws and polish issues that marred the original, but also has the same addictive combat that leaves you yearning for more.

It offers nothing outside of mindless shooting and gun-looting. But that's also why I admire it. It's a throwback to an era when technology limited storytelling and games were simpler. EDF 2017 is not a deep experience, but it's a very pure one.

It’s far from a perfect game, but it is extremely entertaining and Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable is proof that the joy of playing a game is far more important than graphics and physics. If the developers had put just a little more time in fixing some of the bugs and the presentation it would have been an instant classic.

Monotonous, stupid and downright ugly. But all drawbacks asides, EDF 2012 succeeds in one thing - it's amazingly fun. There's an unmistakable feeling of panic at all time, and players needs to keep moving while thinking strategically. A bit to pricy though.

Struggling to merit its steep price tag, EDF 2017 Portable delivers just as many brow-raising moments as it does good times. Luckily, the latter outlasts the problems you'll encounter. The game is more fun than it is "good"--especially in co-op.

Sixty missions to conquer on five difficulty levels with two completely different characters adds up to potentially more than one hundred hours of game bundled in this portable package. But would you want to stick with it that long? With little in the way of plot, and repetitive foes and level design, this is a game that can hardly claim to have depth.

A briefly brilliant bug hunt, then. Just don't expect the war against these aliens to last. [March 2013, p.115]

Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable is a fun game that has lost very little in this edition for PS Vita. Unfortunately the price is too high and this is a big problem that makes it advisable only to true fans of the franchise and the genre.

On one hand the game has a load of technical problems, and is severely lacking in polish. However, it's almost impossible not to enjoy the game when you're knee-deep in dead bugs, taking on an alien spacecraft with a rocket launcher and an assault rifle.

Still feels fresh, inspired and unlike anything else. No other developer has bothered to make something like it - a rarity in the video game space. Earth Defense Force 2017 is still the only game for destroying giant bugs and office complexes - blemishes and all.

EDF2017 has a particular magic that defies logic. If you've played the original to death, you may simply want an excuse to play the game again despite the disappointing renovations in Portable. Hell, I'm in that camp myself, so I won't talk you out of it. Just make sure you have some friends lined up for co-op ahead of time.

Forty dollars is a lot to spend for such simplistic and repetitive gameplay, but its position as one of the few shooters on the Vita goes a long way toward making up for this considerable shortcoming.

Earth Defense Force 2017 is not really a good looking game, nor is its sound anything to hold in high regard, but it gets a lot of its gameplay right, and somehow this quirky title always seems to show up at just the right time on a system to let us know that yes, loot-heavy action RPGs are still a total blast to play - even if other publishers out there haven't bothered to fulfill our wishes for more of them.

An extremely simple arcade shooter that has a good amount of technical issues but, at the same time, offers an engaging co-op multiplayer mode.

After playing this game, we know now it is aimed to a very specific audience. If you like a gunfight where you don't even have to release the trigger, then Earth Defence Force 2017 Portable is for you. On the other hand, if what you are seeking is a deeper experience, this game may not be enough.

A third person shooter that appeared what seems a lifetime ago on the XBOX 360 and is now available on Sony's hand-held console. The shooting gets boring fast and the graphics are a little bit sickening. [February 2013, p.90]

EDF 2017 Portable is a bad game with a ton of charm, more than it has any right to be. The game is a technical mess from start to finish, but all of that is overshadowed by the quirky charm and addictive aspect of the experience. Killing hoards of insects and robots is just a ton of fun, even if it isn’t a pretty sight, and I mean that in the technical and literal sense.

The biggest flaw in EDF (other than graphics and gameplay) is the pricing. Charging more for a six year old game than you did on release is a tough sell for something so clearly rooted in the "budget" category from Day 1.

I had a ton of fun with Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable, and, as long as you don't try to take it seriously, there's actually an enjoyable experience buried under all these layers of campy schlock.

Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable remains one of the most demented, wild-eyed shooters you'll ever play. But as funny, ragged, and carefree as it is, until it's available at a lower price it's hard to recommend to anyone but those who revel in flawed cult classics.

Its B-movie charm is beginning to sag and this revamp of the Xbox 360 hit fails to make the most of its enhancements – or charge an appropriate price for them.

Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable is the equivalent of a gun safety demonstration where the instructor accidentally shoots off a finger; it's still a lot of fun, often in spite of itself. For better or worse fans of the original cult classic will find their game 100% intact, but with minimal upgrades and an insane price tag it's tough to recommend to any audience.

Not everyone is going to appreciate the deliberate humor or the bad acting found in EDF 2017 Portable, but those who want a solid arcade shooter that offers plenty of challenge are sure to come back for more.

The quick and easy multiplayer for up to four players is a real asset, particularly with friends taking advantage of the Vita's voice chat support. Suddenly a brainless two-gun game turns into a loadout challenge for players attempting difficulty levels a notch too high, deciding who's going to hang back with the sniper rifle and healing drone.

Everything about EDF 2017 is a slog. Graphically atrocious and sonically awful, low-res buildings comically disappear after being grazed by heavy weaponry. While the bugs and bots twitch and spasm around their own character models, the bipedal robots are the worst offenders here, often getting caught up in their own limbs. [March 2013, p79]

This is a game that wears out its welcome several hours into the show. Eight hours of the same mindless killing of identical waves of bugs is a tiresome ordeal. Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable is a game with too much filler and not enough ambition, packaged in bargain bin wrappings.