Most console games these days seem to have their mind set on providing confusing intertwined plots, multiple strategic routes to the goal and gameplay that gets as complicated as it can get.

Then along comes Earth Defence Force 2017 with a plot so wafer thin that it makes George Bush look like a genius.  Gameplay is pretty straight forward; shoot, kill destroy.  Bigger and bigger hordes of enemies rush towards you and it’s your job as part of the EDF to destroy them and save the earth.

All this could perhaps be a little boring if it wasn’t for the great enemies you find yourself facing off against.  Starting off with killer bugs (Ants, Spiders etc) which don’t sound scary until you realise they’re all about 10 times the size of you and spew bucketfuls of green acid at you whenever you get too near, as the excuse for a story progresses you come up against large spaceships, giant robots, oh and even bigger robots.  Some of the enemies are just huge.

Just as well you have a plethora of weapons at your disposal, including a few vehicles for certain missions.  There are some straight forward grenades and guns, but soon you’ll be finding all sorts of B-movie style larger-than-life guns to shoot down the hordes making their way towards you.

Graphics do their job, though they’re nowhere near the next-gen style of games like Gears of War.  The enemies are all well thought out in design, though sometimes it seems having so many on screen can get too much for the game engine.  Some of the levels seem to be reused as well, which seems like a bit of a cop out at times. 

Music and voice acting are suitably dramatic and often dire for all the right reasons (think 60’s B-movies).   Actually, think B-movie for the whole game and you’ll be spot on.  The visual effects, sounds and the glitches when too much happens on screen at once all point towards a low budget affair, even the price of the game hints at what’s inside.  But just like a good B-movie, you’ll be enjoying every minute of it if you don’t expect it to deliver too much. 

So if you fancy a game that doesn’t require vast amounts of brain power but lets you exercise your trigger finger, you’ll do much worse than picking up EDF 2017.