Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable

About Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable

Sandlot and D3Publisher released Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable for the PlayStation Vita in late 2012. This version remasters the original game with seven extra levels and adds the fan favorite Pale Wing character. You play as an unnamed Captain in Storm 1, the elite EDF unit tasked with stopping alien invaders. The story starts after first contact in 2017 when a massive mothership hovers over Tokyo. Giant acid-spitting insects attack civilians while UFO gunships thwart your air assault. Your squad must abandon cities and switch to a guerrilla campaign in rural zones. It is a chaotic shooter built for handheld play with both single player and co-op modes available on the Vita platform.

Gameplay

You spend every session blasting thousands of bugs, ants, and wasps while dodging acid rain and laser fire. The controls feel responsive enough for fast movement across open fields and ruined city streets. You switch between heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, and anti-tank weapons to clear out hordes that seem infinite. Pale Wing lets you fly above buildings with a jetpack to drop bombs from the air or strafe targets below. The game supports up to four players in online co-op for chaotic team destruction. A typical session involves running, shooting, reloading, and dodging until your ammo runs dry. You complete objectives while managing limited resources and trying not to get crushed by giant alien ants or shot down by UFOs.

What Players Think

PlayPile users have logged an average playtime of 14 hours per completion with a 78% main story finish rate. Metacritic holds the title at 68 out of 100 while our community ratings sit at 3.9 stars from over 2,400 reviews. The dominant mood is "Chaotic Fun" appearing in 65 percent of recent posts. Players frequently mention the sheer volume of enemies as a standout feature that feels overwhelming yet satisfying. Criticism focuses on repetitive level design and occasional frame rate drops during heavy combat. Achievement data shows only 12 percent of players unlocked the Platinum, suggesting high difficulty in later stages. Review snippets often praise the weapon variety but note the story lacks depth compared to other shooters.

PlayPile's Take

This title works best for people who want mindless shooting action without deep narrative complexity. The price on the Vita store remains affordable at ten dollars. You get access to all original content plus the new Pale Wing mode and seven extra missions. Achievements are challenging enough to keep you playing past the main campaign. The game shines when friends join via online co-op to cause maximum destruction together. Avoid this if you prefer tactical stealth or slow-paced strategy games. The lack of story polish might annoy some players but the constant firefights make up for it. Grab it now if you enjoy spraying bullets at endless waves of aliens on a portable device.

Storyline

In 2013, radio waves from deep space are received by scientists, revealing the existence of extraterrestrial life. Two years later, the Earth Defense Force, a unified multinational military organization, is established in case the aliens are hostile. In 2017, first contact is made when hundreds of unidentified flying objects suddenly arrive and hover over major cities across the globe, led by a massive mothership positioned over Tokyo. As the EDF is mobilized, giant acid-spitting insects resembling ants begin assaulting many civilians. The main character is an unnamed Captain in Storm 1, a Japanese unit regarded as the EDF's best. An air assault by the EDF is attempted on the mothership, but the plan is thwarted by alien UFO gunships. This operation is deemed a failure, resulting in the surviving EDF forces abandoning the cities to begin a guerrilla campaign in rural areas.