Bug Hunt!

Part of the wonder – or at least the fascination – with computer games is their ability to suspend everyday things….like commons sense, disbelief, and the laws of physics.  We can rove the universe in faster than light vessels, change our size as necessary, and fight mammoth-sized bugs.  All of these things are quite impossible, but we accept them anyway because it is enjoyable and games would be poorer without them. The good news is that if you happen to be a fan of battling over-sized bugs, your luck’s in; Earth Defence Force 2025 is coming to an Xbox 360 or PS3 near you soon.

Earth Defence Force 2015 is a follow-up to 2009’s Earth Defence Force 2017 – can you see what they’ve done there – which was developed by Sandlot and published by 3D Publisher for the Xbox 360 and the PS Vita.  The original game revolved around the Earth becoming infested by giant insects from space intent on wiping out mankind….for some undisclosed reason.   The gameplay followed the antics of “Storm 1”, a Japanese fighting force seemingly made up of big-eyed and breasted Manga-babes engaged in combating the many-legged enemy.  Just for the record, apart from insects lacking opposing digits, being unable to metabolise oxygen with increased size, their exoskeleton’s have a cube-root ratio on size whereas an endoskeleton has only a square root ratio, meaning that the insect would be crushed under its own weight as it grew to man-size.  But, regardless of the physics, enormous insects driving mechanoid beasts it was, and Earth Defence Force 2025 dishes up more of the same by the ladle-load, only with bigger – almost impossibly large – guns.

Playing in third person as one of four possible soldier classes with different skills and attributes, the game has enhanced destructible environments which means that you can level whole cities as you turn your rocket launcher or particle beam weapon on humongous beasts.  There are also an array of vehicles such as tanks and helicopters that you can commandeer to hurtle around your environment, and troops who you can drum into your force.  The game features a ton of side missions attached to the main gameplay and promises many happy hours of whacking giant wasps, spiders and ants, who all have their compound eyes on our glistening blue home, though why a genus that is as crap at handling water as insects are, would want to seize control of a planet that is composed of 70% is as much of a mystery as how they grew to such elephantine proportions.

And another thing – while 2025 may sound a long way off, bear in mind it’s actually only eleven years away, so I guess an awful lot is going to have to happen in a very short time.   Keep watching the skies.

Earth Defence Force 2025 is due out soon, and we’ll keep you up to date on info.