Earth Defence Force: Insect Armageddon Review

                                Earth Defence Force: Insect Armageddon Review.

Earth Defence Force: Insect Armageddon is a much better attempt of nailing the so-bad-it's-good vibe in Insect Armageddon. Much has been updated, but the charm of the original EDF remains. Enemy bugs and robots are familiar, but have all been improved to behavie in a more dynamic and aggressive way. Four different class types are available this time around, alongside a basic RPG-style levelling system that adds a clearer sense of progression. 


It's certainly a more competent game than Earth Defence Force 2017, but it's interesting to see how these improvements have impacted the game's overall tone. Insect Armageddon isn't a naturally terrible game, which means it has to be more self-aware when it's being intentionally bad. Switching from daft naivety to being openly tongue-in-cheek is a tough transition, but the team have really nailed it, especially in terms of the knowingly silly voice acting throughout.

The visual improvements on show are huge - but vitally this never hampers the ludicrous quantities of enemies that EDF games are famous for. The legendary slowdown isn't entirely gone, but the scale of destruction it's caused by is glorious enough to make it wholly forgivable. When you do finally get toward the end of the game, you'll be seeing some serious destruction.


Enemies and explosions get bigger, and that's about as deep as things get. It's easy enough to finish the game on normal difficulty in less than 7 hours, but that's just the beginning: With four classes of EDF soldier to level up and three difficulty settings to go at, you're looking at around 30-40 hours of gaming to get all the achievements. That's probably too much of a grind to play alone, but get some friends involved and this is no-frills co-op gaming at its best. 

Classic split-screen co-op makes a return, but it's the Xbox Live co-op that ensures longevity. Health pick-ups are instantly shared, and allies can be revived in the field - a crucial change that lets you dip into harder difficulties than you'd usually be comfortable with. Whilst the survival mode off-shoot supports up to 6 players over Xbox Live, the main campaign disappointingly only supports 3 people at a time.


Earth Defence Force: Insect Armageddon provides giant bugs and massive robots. Incorporating the new changes goes a long way to fixing most of EDF 2017's problems without damaging any of the dodgy aspects that made it so wonderfully wonky. If you're in the market for some mindless co-op nonsense, Insect Armageddon's comes highly recommended.


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Crysis 2 Review

In Crysis 2 you're Alcatraz, a man who escapes death in the prologue, only to wake up in a new prison, the Nanosuit 2.0. From that point on, Alcatraz might as well not exist. He's a mute hero, operating on gravel-voiced orders grumbled into his ear by the surprisingly clued-up suit. The suit proves early on who's in control - it even freezes your body early on for a couple of mini-tutorials. 


The suits various modes let you carry out objectives in your own style. A tap on the right bumper makes you invisible, allowing you to flank, stealth-kill, or completely avoid your enemies. The left bumper springs you directly into armour mode, allowing you (in the easier difficulty settings, at least) to wade through the battle zone, kicking cars around like some kind of man-mental. 


Less amazing powers include power jumps, massive throws and sprinting - all of which drain the energy. Run out of energy at the wrong time, and you'll be visible, prone, and unable to sprint. Leaving you to be an easy target.
The single-player campaign rewards those who're determined to experiment. 

The suit will occasionally offer you tactical options, overlaying waypoints on the map, and giving you a short description of what you can do there. Flank, Get, Use, Resupply, Stealth and Ambush are self-explanatory regulars - LedgeGrab, Explore and Observe are slightly more oblique clues.


When the aliens arrive then it's time to fight. The Seph drop Nano Catalysts which can be used to boost your suit. Armour enhancements, footstep tracking and stealth upgrades. The AI is not always consistent, with nearby enemies being oblivious, and miles-away enemies spotting you the second you come out of cloak. 


Crysis 2's greatest fault isn't limited options, it's the fact it lets you get away with being boring. Even with that, the single-player is great fun. It's around ten hours of battling along an increasingly out of alignment New York.




As you progress, streets rupture, buildings tilt and fall, and ploughing through it all in the Super Punchy Jumpsuit is both massively empowering, and intelligently balanced by the need to manage its energy levels. There are all the first-person staples you'd expect - manning a tank turret, vehicle sections, taking down a helicopter - but it's that suit that makes Crysis its own game. 


The multi-player can have Sixteen suits battling it out and makes for some of the most exciting, angry, and satisfying action you'll ever have. Stealth allows snipers to camp virtually anywhere, although there's a small balancing touch - firing from stealth will, for a fraction of a second, create a blinding flash to put you off. Switching out of stealth and into armour is a vital skill.

Crysis 2 is in short a brilliant game, but does have it's weaknesses and if the mode-swapping suitplay hadn't been so strong, it might have dragged the game down. But the story and combat is strong enough to carry you through, and if you can handle the competitive multiplayer, the Nanosuit will bring a whole world of different and exciting tactics to your online game.




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