2005 · Sandlot · Shooter · Third-person shooter

Global Defence Force

PlayStation exclusive

The second game in the The Chikyuu Boueigun series, renamed Global Defence Force for its English release (similarly the first game was renamed Monster Attack for its English release).

Released: 28 July 2005
Platforms: PlayStation 2
Genres: Shooter Third-person shooter
Developers: Sandlot
Publishers: D3 Publisher
Modes: Local multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Third person

About

Global Defence Force is a 2005 third-person shooter video game developed by Sandlot for the PlayStation 2. It was originally published as The Chikyū Bōeigun 2 in Japan by D3 Publisher, as volume 81 of the Simple 2000 series of budget games. It was later released in Europe by Essential Games, the brand created by D3 Publisher to publish Simple 2000 series games in Europe.

Players assume the role of a member of the Earth Defense Force and fight giant insects and other enemies who have invaded Earth from outer space.

›Story

The game takes place two years after the 2017 war of Monster Attack, with the Ravagers (known only as "Invaders" in the English translation) repelled after the destruction of their Mothership and the Gigantors thought to have been exterminated. The introductory cutscene states that the Earth Defense Force was established in the aftermath of the first war with the Ravagers, which rather contradicts Monster Attack saying it already existed before the first Ravager invasion.

Reports come in of Gigantor sightings in the city of London, and what begins as a cleanup effort soon becomes a struggle for survival as massive numbers of Gigantors emerge across the world. A giant above-ground hive appears in Japan practically overnight and powerful Flying Ants emerge to attack the terrified population, with the EDF's initial assault on it proving futile.

As the situation becomes more desperate, the EDF deploys its forces underground to track down and destroy the Queen and end the Gigantor threat once and for all, but they are interrupted by the sudden arrival of a Ravager fleet centred on another Mothership, the same kind that wiped out militaries across the world in the 2017 war.

Keywords

aliens
giant insects
spiders

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Global Defence Force is a third-person shooter featuring large play areas and waves of mecha and giant insects. Players control either a foot soldier (Storm-1) who uses conventional weaponry such as assault and sniper rifles, shotguns, and rocket-propelled grenades or a jetpack-equipped soldier (Pale Wing) who uses energy-based weaponry. Most of the game's missions are cleared by eliminating all enemies present, starting with giant ants on earlier stages and eventually progressing to giant lizard enemies. A number of vehicles such as a tank, helicopter, and a hoverbike are available in some missions for players to board and attack enemies with. However, only the Storm-1 unit can use the vehicles.

A total of 300 different weapons are available between the two characters, but players are limited to carrying two weapons during missions. Weapons are unlocked by picking up containers dropped by enemies. Every weapon picked up during play will add a random weapon of the character's to the selection, duplicate weapons are discarded. Armor chips and medical kits, also dropped by enemies, increase the character's maximum possible health and recover lost health respectively.

Reception

Global Defence Force received little press attention in the West. The few reviews the game received were generally positive; Games Asylum's Matt Gander described it as "one of the PlayStation 2’s best budget buys". In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of one eight and three sevens for the PS2 version; and one eight, one seven, and two sixes for the PSP version.

The PlayStation Vita re-release of the game, published by Xseed Games and retitled Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders From Planet Space, received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Destructoid's Jed Whitaker wrote that the game "has enough original content to keep it feeling fresh alongside the other recent releases in the series", and that it was "easy to recommend to Vita owners looking for some campy over-the-top action in spite of its flaws." In Japan, Famitsu gave the Vita version a score of three sevens and one nine for a total of 30 out of 40. During the 19th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Earth Defense Force 2 for "Handheld Game of the Year".