Some actions games are stylish, and some action games are brutal...Some action games are colorful
and fantastic, and some are atmospheric and creepy....Some action games test your skills
to the max...and others seem made to piss you off.
But then there are also some action games that are dumb.
JUST.
PLAIN.
DUMB.
The Chikyuu Boueigun 2 is a dumb action game...but that doesn't make it BAD.
On the contrary--it's badass.
Like Bruce Campbell badass.
Just like with movies, at times us gamers need to take a break from more intelligent,
thought-provoking media, and shut off our brains with some dumb, badass action.
The Chikyuu Boueigun 2 is the kind of game you wind down to after a long day, kill hundreds
of things, and blow stuff up without the need to stress more than a single brain cell.
The game was released in Japan in 2005, developed by Sandlot and published by D3 Publisher.
It is volume 81, yes 81, in D3 Publisher's prolific SIMPLE SERIES 2000 line of budget
games, named so because each title in the series retails for 2000 yen minus tax, which
amounts to about 20 US dollars.
Translated into English, "Chikyuu Boueigun 2" is "Earth Defense Force 2," so I'll use
that to refer to the game from this point on.
It never came to North America, but saw a European release under the name "Global Defence
Force."
In fact, several SIMPLE SERIES 2000 titles were published by D3 in Europe under the Essential
Games designation.
This game takes place in 2019, two years after Earth Defense Forces repelled an alien invasion
that caused mass mayhem across the globe.
The recovery efforts have progressed at an alarmingly fast rate, and order is restored
across the world.
The EDF, which suffered many losses from the previous conflict, has been rebuilt.
Humanity has enjoyed two years of peace, but suddenly the alien invaders appear once again,
deep from the earth and from vast distances across space.
Earth Defense Force 2 puts you in the role of one of two characters--a normal EDF ground
trooper, or Pale Wing, an elite unit that takes advantage of alien technology cultivated
from the previous invasion.
Each character can equip two different weapons at a time and have unique skill sets, which
have their advantages and disadvantages.
The EDF foot soldier is pretty agile, can jump high, and has a nifty dodge roll that
is an essential part of his play style.
He can also commandeer vehicles, but they are pretty useless and only worth using as
a means of escape.
Pale Wing by comparison is slow, does a pathetic little hop, cannot roll, cannot dodge, and
cannot use vehicles.
She makes this all up, though, with a sweet jet pack that makes her extremely mobile and
deadly in the air.
The ground trooper uses standard human artillery--machine guns, shotguns, rocket launchers, sniper rifles,
and the like.
Each weapon has infinite ammo, and pretty much any weapon can be used to complete any
level.
However, some weapons are better to use depending on the situation, and choosing the best ones
means considering a variety of different factors, such as damage per shot, rate of fire, and
reload times.
Sometimes you'll want something to shoot flying objects from afar, and other times you'll
want something to mow everything down at close range.
Pale Wing's arsenal consists of optic, energy-based weapons, some of which resemble conventional
arms, but many which truly feel alien and experimental.
Ammo is also infinite, but reloading, as well as use of the jet pack, deplete Pale Wing's
energy meter, which gradually replenishes over a short period of time.
It is important to keep an eye on the energy meter, because if you run out of energy completely,
you are often left helpless while waiting for the meter to fill up again.
The default controls use a very dated, impractical control scheme that ignores use of the right
stick entirely.
Thankfully, you can switch over to a "technical" control scheme, which is pretty much the standard
way shooting games are played these days, utilizing the left stick to move, the right
stick to aim, and the shoulder buttons for everything else.
This is really the only way to play the game, in my opinion.
Using the ground trooper is fun and has a standard run-and-gun arcade game feel to it--fast,
frantic, and at times a bit generic.
Playing as Pale Wing, however, is a completely different experience, flying around and using
some truly magnificent weaponry to crush your foes.
There are 71 missions and five initial difficulty levels that are shared between both character
types.
The goal of nearly every mission is to simply kill everything on the map.
At times this is annoying because there may be a straggler or two that wandered off away
from the action, but thanks to a mini map, you'll be able to find these guys with ease.
The enemies, levels, and set pieces are inspired from a variety of popular sci-fi--you've got
giant bugs attacking the city, robot invaders reminiscent of those found in War of the Worlds,
some Godzilla rip-offs, and a giant, city-block-destroying mothership like the one found in Independence
Day.
If you've ever dreamed about shooting Godzilla in the nuts point blank with a shot gun while
also being attacked by three giant spiders, three giant giant ants, and a giant space
ship, well...this is the game for you.
Seeeeeee?
Dreams do come true.
Finishing a level will reward you with a medal depending on the which difficulty and character
you completed it with.
If you complete all levels of all difficulties with both players, a final difficulty setting,
impossible mode, is unlocked.
Difficulty does not stack, so this process is incredibly time consuming and only for
the truly dedicated EDF 2 players.
Also, while the five standard levels of difficulty are available from the start, it is only really
feasible to start off on the normal or easy difficulties and work your way up little by
little.
Enemy health, damage, and aggressiveness are increased exponentially with each mode, and
it is basically impossible to complete anything above normal from the start.
Thankfully, you will be able to tackle the harder difficulties over time by increasing
your character's health and collecting new, more powerful weapons.
Killing an enemy will sometimes drop one of four things--a small first-aid kit, a large
first-aid kit, armor, or a weapon box.
The first-aid kits restore health during a stage, the armor will add one point to the
player's maximum hit points, and the weapon box adds one random weapon to your arsenal.
Weapon finds become progressively better as you advance through missions and take on higher
difficulties.
Additionally, EDF 2 supports 2-player couch coop, and for the most part makes level completion
much easier.
Unfortunately each player's field of vision is hampered significantly by the vertical
split screen.
Earth Defense Force 2 sports some low-res textures that recall memories of the N64 era,
in game objects often have low polygon counts, and there are other weird technical glitches
here and there...but despite those things, I think this game looks great, mainly due
to its grand scale.
It's amazing that Sandlot was able to put out a game like this on the PlayStation 2
and with such a small budget at that.
Everything is huge, and at times there are so many things moving on screen it truly feels
chaotic.
Sure, at certain points, there is some massive slowdown, but more often than not, the frame
rate remains pretty stable even during some of the more epic battles.
Gameplay is simple and solid, and except for a few stages, never feels too dull or monotonous.
This game was also ported to the PSP in 2011, which was only published in Japan.
EDF 2's sequel was released exclusively for the Xbox 360 in 2006, and saw a release in
North America the following year as Earth Defense Force 2017.
Story-wise, it's a prequel, and lacks many of the features of its predecessor.
There is no Pale Wing, there are less missions and enemy types, and many of the same stages,
music, and sound effects are recycled from EDF 2.
It's still a great game, however, and is definitely worth picking up.
If you need to whet your appetite for dumb, badass action games, Earth Defense Force 2
is the game for you.
Check it out!
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for videos like this one.
Thanks and take care!