Third Person Shooter

Thank you Sega for sending us review codes for the Bayonetta and Vanquish 10th Anniversary Bundle!

Bayonetta came to the West in 2010 and got rave reviews. I’ve owned the game on two different platforms (Wii U, Xbox 360), but this is my first time playing it. The remastered edition is Xbox One X enhanced and offers 60fps at 1440p which can be upscaled to 4K.

Visually, this third person brawler holds up pretty well though the graphics are a little bland and dated at times. The cutscenes don’t show the mouths moving half of the time, but the voice acting is solid. Bayonetta is sexy, playful, and deadly; I can see why many people would like her character. Although she’s a dark witch fighting against weird-looking celestial beings, I enjoyed playing as her; as long as she kept her clothes on that is.

Bayonetta wears a skin-tight black outfit that seems to be woven from her long hair. Her two magnificent guns are holstered at her ankles and she can wield any gold weapon dropped by the celestial minions. The enemies also drop halos which are used as currency to purchase new moves, weapons, healing items, accessories, and more. Many of the mini-bosses leave behind full or partial LP/records which can be used to unlock even more powerful weapons.

As Bayonetta searches for her lost memories and a rare gem, she’ll get attacked every step of the way.  Thankfully, she can hold her own in battle and then some!  With each successful dodge, she’ll unlock “witch time” which slows down the enemy for a short period of time.  This ability will also be required to access otherwise uncrossable obstacles be it water or metal spikes without injury.    When the full moon is in view, Bayonetta can walk up and down walls.  Some obstacles require fast speed or flight and Bayonetta can channel various animal spirits to transform into.  The black panther form is free, but the ability to change into a group of bats requires spending some halos.

Combo attacks are rewarded and encouraged in battle.  The levels are broken down into sections called verses.  The verses are usually concluded by defeating a group of enemies or a boss.  At the end of the battle, you’ll be given a trophy rating depending on how little damage and items were used.  The highest rating is pure platinum and the lowest is stone.  If you play this game in Easy or Very Easy, many of the combo attacks and blocking maneuvers are performed automatically for you.

There are many quick time events where you have to jump or evade attacks in the nick of time or die. If you time things right, you can initiate torture attacks or drawn-out climax attacks. Many of these attacks are sexual in nature. For the battle finishing attacks, Bayonetta’s outfit unweaves itself and transforms into various dragons, birds, spiders, arms, etc. The bare minimum is covered by a few remaining strands of hair. The torture attacks often employ various devices like iron maidens (spiked coffin) or stretching racks. There are some female celestial creatures that jiggle their breasts while being tortured.

Not only are the attacks cruel, but they’re incredibly gory and you’ll often see enemies dismembered and bleeding everywhere. Fortunately, the celestial beings you’re fighting against are not very angelic or good looking to begin with. Jesus’ name is mentioned as a blaspheme, but the main deity in this game is Jubileus who resembles Shiva. There are references from many religions in this game.

The weapons shop is hidden away in a bar called “The Gates of Hell”. Like many bars, you can see people there drinking and smoking. Almost all of the characters use vulgar language with the exception of a little girl named Cereza. It’s nice to see some innocence in this game, but the rest of it is definitely not for kids.

If you don’t mind the foul language, nudity, blood and gore, Bayonetta is undeniably fun. I can see why this game has received a sequel and an anime movie adaptation. Given the content in this game, I’ll probably skip on those though.

Binary Domain was released in 2012 towards the end of the industry’s cover-based shooter phase. It took that core gameplay and added a branching storyline with consequences and a voice-control gimmick to stand out in a market saturated with cover shooters. Time has shown that this direction, while certainly bold, didn’t execute very well. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.

Binary Domain takes place in a future where robots are now capable enough to act human. They’re all over the place, filling in the labour gap created by billions dying to global warming. Everything is peachy until one man discovers he is actually a robot programmed to think he is human, decades ahead in technology, and a clear violation of a robot equivalent to the Geneva Convention. As a member of an elite military squad, your job is to infiltrate an isolationist Japan and retrieve the one scientist capable of creating such robots. There isn’t much more to the setup than that. Stylistically, it’s a little over-the-top, the way Japanese-developed military action games tend to be; think along the lines of Vanquish or Metal Gear Solid here.

As you play through the story, you’ll also be interacting with your fellow squad mates. They’ll ask you questions, and you’ll respond. Unfortunately it’s really not as deep as the suggested prompts might hint at – all it amounts to ultimately is whether you agree or disagree with your squad mates, which correspondingly increases or decreases their trust in your abilities. Getting squad mates to trust you affects who lives and dies in the end, but ultimately does not affect the overall story. In the abstract, the “Consequence System” doesn’t feel like it’s doing anything meaningful here, but when lowering expectations for an action game, it might be considered moderately robust.

As you’d expect from a cover based shooter, the game is all about corners, doors, and chest high walls. You run from one spot of cover to another, and pop out to take pot shots at enemies. The weapons available in the game are a small but focused selection, and you pick out two squad mates, although the AI barely does anything useful.

But that’s about where it ends for much of Binary Domain’s level design. Almost the entire game is lacking in any interesting combat spaces; it’s just one continuous corridor with very little branching or large spaces for any interesting flanking manoeuvres. Some of the combat spaces seem large and open, but those encounters are still functionally a corridor. Sometimes you have to push forward, sometimes you have to defend, but the enemies are all still going to funnel in through one corridor. Voice commands issued to squad mates boil down to “advance” or “retreat.” The only reprieve from this is the few boss fights and set piece encounters. There are a few other segments that switch it up, with variety including racing through sewers on jetskis, rail shooter segments, and stomping around in a giant mech; it’s almost as if the developers didn’t have enough faith in the core cover-shooter mechanics. To be fair though, modern triple-A shooters are still doing this, so perhaps this is a criticism of the industry rather than on Binary Domain.

The controls are also finicky. Using an Xbox controller is a no-go – the setup tool doesn’t allow rebinding and the in-game is a mess. I ended up using keyboard; the default bindings are a mess and depart heavily from the convention for no good reason. Voice control – the other gimmick in the game to set it apart from the crowd – is extremely finicky. Most of the time the game won’t recognise that you’ve issued a voice command, and when it does, it will probably process it as the wrong command. I did a quick check online for this, and it turns out the voice command was also universally panned. In short, don’t bother with voice, it’s a waste of time and you only need the default prompts anyway.

Perhaps the one saving grace in this game is the enemies. The enemies in this game are all robots. Binary Domain has hulking giant set-piece robots for spectacle fights, small swarms to harass the player, and plenty of robot soldiers. But the most interesting thing is the mundane looking robot soldiers. We’ve seen humanoid enemies before in hundreds of military shooters. What sets these robots apart though is their resilience. They can continue fighting after their limbs are removed. More specifically, they fall over as you’d expect from a dead target – only to crawl around out of sight and ambush when you advance. This is something that I’ve yet to see from any other games with robots. (And if you know of any such game, please do leave a comment.)

The aesthetics aren’t anything special. Broadly, the game takes you through a fairly plain highway and underground, then into a brightly lit upper city that hints of a dystopia. The visuals are what you’d expect for a game released in 2012. You’ll become very familiar with the sound of bullets pinging against metal and the soundtrack is nothing memorable.

Binary Domain has violence aplenty, as should be expected from a game with a military thematic. It’s technically (almost) all aimed at robots, but as mentioned in the story synopsis, some of these robots are programmed to think they’re human. While these specific robots are never the target of the player’s violence, they still appear and act very much human. One of these is beaten up by a lynch mob. It should be noted that in the final boss fight, you must face off against humans in mechs, one of whom will suicide with a gun to the head. These scenes are all very graphic in their depictions.

Characters will dish out a liberal dose of swearing. There are no F-bombs in here, but there is certainly a lot of s***. Early on the the squad will pass through a red-light district in the slums; it's a small area and interactions are minimal, but you have your street prostitutes and pole dancers as you'd expect. Halfway through the game, the player can also sweet talk one of the squad mates into bed, although it’s just a fade to black. You work with a criminal gang to get around quietly. The entire story premise is a subversion of the Japanese government, although it’s implied they’ve been reduced to being a corporate puppet and are hostile to the international community, so this might be considered in a similar light to acting against a terrorist government.

I played Binary Domain because I had heard of the unique resilience of the robot soldiers from a thread about interesting video game gimmicks. It delivered on that gimmick, and not much else. In the end, I felt like I was really watching a movie while being shepherded along through snippets of interaction. While I enjoyed my run with the robots, I can’t recommend this game beyond that enemy gimmick. If you’re still on the fence about it though, I would instead recommend the movie Vexille. It’s not related to Binary Domain, and it’s a very different story, but it’ll cover most of the same themes in less time and be a lot more entertaining with a similar-enough style of storytelling.

Thank you Ascanio Entertainment for sending us this game to review!

Crash Force is an extremely fun third person shooter with hovercrafts. There are three maps, and nine hovercrafts to play as. Each map and craft are different in their own way, and that’s what I like about this game.

The three maps (unless you count the tutorial and practice range maps, then there would be five) each have names, but they are a little bit long. The first one feels like a spaceship or a laboratory with multiple floors. The second one is a desert-like area with a pond and a small base. The final one is a forest with a temple in it. One problem is that the first one seems to be chosen on “random” a lot more than the other two. When I played Crash Force, I only saw the other two maps once.

There are skill trees to upgrade your hovercraft, but those have a problem, too. You need special upgrade points to use them, and I’m pretty sure the only way to get those is through online play. Nobody seems to play online, so you can’t use the skill trees. You can also customize your crafts, but you need to unlock that through online mode, too. I asked about this in the steam discussions, but since they haven’t been used in two years, I don’t think I’ll get a reply. There are over a hundred discussions, but again, they are deserted. So if you decide to get Crash Force, you probably won’t have any luck talking to the developer.

There is this bug that makes all of the settings you have turned on, turn off once you launch Crash Force. You will have to go into settings again and hit “apply.” They are already selected, which is weird, so that’s all you have to do. It’s not game-breaking, it’s just annoying.

There are plenty of Steam achievements. You can get one very easily, because there aren’t very many requirements for each of them. You can get some by winning a game using a certain hovercraft, or by destroying somebody else’s craft by crashing into them. But some achievements require online mode. Obviously, you probably won’t be able to get those because of the fact that the online mode is deserted.

You can get lootboxes, but they seem to be broken, because I won a game, it said I got a lootbox, but I didn’t actually get anything. If they worked, you probably would be able to use the skill trees. But they don’t, so your hovercrafts are not getting any upgrades.

There are 3 modes (excluding the tutorial), which consist of quick play, casual, and shooting range. Quick play is the online mode that is pretty much unplayable. Casual is just a team deathmatch game with bots, and shooting range is where you can practice with different hovercrafts. There is also a mode that is locked, but all I know about it is that it requires online mode..

Morally, Crash Force is fine. There is obviously some violence, but that is expected from a third-person shooter. You can’t see the people inside the hovercrafts (if there is anyone in there), and no blood is shown, so you can’t say anyone is killed.

Crash Force is really fun, and I would recommend it to many people (if you have friends to play online with; if you don't, then this game is not recommended). If you like racing games or shooters like this, then Crash force is definitely for you.

Cloud is Final Fantasy VII's iconic hero, known for his huge sword and being a man of few words.  Vincent Valentine played a minor role in Final Fantasy VII, but that's about to change in Dirge of Cerebus.  In this game we learn about Vincent's past and how he must save the world from Shinra once again.  

Many characters from Final Fantasy VII make an appearance including Cid, Barret, and Yuffie.  Caith Sith is a playable character for one level that requires stealth reconnaissance.  The rest of the time is spent with Vincent wielding his handguns from a third person perspective.  You can change to a first person mode which is almost too easy with the auto targeting.  When you do melee attacks, the game will revert back to a third person perspective.   Since some of the enemies have strong defenses, melee attacks are not uncommon.

Most of your enemies will consist of Deep Ground soldiers (elite Shinra soldiers) and snipers.  There are some robots, giant bugs and hyena like creatures too.   Many of the bosses are airships but there are some Materia enhanced warriors willing to fight you too.  The bosses are surprisingly tough, but they usually have a weakness or a predictable pattern.  One chain gun wielding boss decided to pick a fight with me while being surrounded by explosive barrels.  After shooting those barrels, he was quickly dispatched.  The environment can work to your favor, so pay attention.

There wasn't a whole lot of room for exploration as many paths were conveniently obstructed by debris or locked doors.  Many paths are temporarily blocked by electronic gates that become unlocked after you find its key card.  Sometimes the key cards are just accross the map, but they are usually dropped by a tougher than normal enemy. 

Besides finding key cards, there are various optional objectives like locating data discs and rescuing civilians and friendly World Regenesis Organization (WRO) soldiers along the way.  At the end of every level you are scored on various attributes like accuracy and by how many objectives you have successfully completed.  You can put your score into experience (recommended) or convert it to gil (money).  Before starting the next level you are given an option to buy healing potions, ammunition and weapon upgrades.  

Jukeboxes can be found in almost every level and they serve as storefronts.  I don't think they play music though.  Since I emulated this game on my PC, my audio experience is a bit marred by the stuttering in the cut scenes.  The voice acting was good and I did enjoy the final boss music even though it was in Japanese.

The movies look amazing and were on par in quality to Advent Children.  Given the release dates of the movie and this game, they were probably done at the same time and by the same studio.  The character models look good and were probably cutting edge for the PS2 back then.  The rest of the game world was a bit bland and unimpressive.  Granted, the dreary colors may have something to do with the planet being out of balance and in danger again.   

The game play is a bit on the average side as well. You have to shoot your way past enemy soldiers, fight a boss, rinse, and repeat.  The unfolding story and beautiful movies make it worth while in the end.  In order to understand the characters and back story of this game you have to be familiar with Final Fantasy VII.   

Cid has his usual quirks like smoking and cussing up a storm.  Of course, violence is a given and Vincent Valentine makes revolvers look cool.  Lastly, like many games these days, the females have less clothing than their male counterparts.  If you don't mind those issues or average gameplay, Dirge of Cerebus does have a good story to tell.  You just have to be patient to get through it all.

Thank you D3 Publisher for sending us this game to review!

My love affair with EDF started when the previous publisher of the series, XSEED Games, sent us both the PS4 and Vita versions to review back-to-back. (To be fair, had I known these games existed earlier, I probably would have squeed then, too.) Once I started playing them, I quickly realized that these were just what I was missing in my life: any reason at all to shoot lots of powerful weapons at lots and lots of giant insects without any regard for the collateral damage. Neat!

If this sounds like a bad B-movie, that is quite intentional. As a matter of fact, the voice actors are likely told to do just that - overact and make it sound as ridiculous as possible. And they do a wonderful job doing just that, which adds so much to the charm of this game. I am so glad a humorous cheese-fest crosses cultural boundaries as well as it does.

My experience with this series only goes as far as those two other entries (and the PC version of 4.1). So I can't speak to the much older ones, or the PS3/Xbox 360 releases in the past. But what I can say is that EDF 5 is a solid evolution of the series, but also just that - an evolution. If you have played recent previous entries, you pretty much know what to expect. If not, then you could easily read my EDF 4.1 review (here!) and, after reading it, virtually everything that review says about that game also applies here. I'm not sure I'd call that a bad thing, as the previous games are great, but it's something to be aware of. If you are sick of EDF 4.1, or if you didn't enjoy those, then this game is not different enough to change your mind.

With all of that said, what is Earth Defense Force? Well, it's a third-person shooter where you (and potentially, up to one other buddy locally, or three others online) work to save the human race from alien invasion. The invaders take many different forms, including giant insects, toads (new!), flying saucers, and who knows what else, while you blow them to smithereens. You get to do this as one of four different classes: the Ranger, Wing Diver, Air Raider, and Fencer, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

The Ranger is your standard soldier who carries a couple of different, high-powered weapons with him. He shoots, things go boom. One change new to this game is support equipment. Rangers have one slot for this. These include things like improved stats via armor, or vehicles like tanks, helicopters, or bikes.

Wing Divers are your female characters, and they specialize in mobility. They have always been my favorite, because I don't care what you look like if you can fly. Their weapons and flight/movement are all reliant upon energy. Once that drains, you are more or less a sitting duck. New to this game are upgradeable plasma cores, which can allow you to have a larger pool, recharge more quickly, fly faster, and likely quite a bit more that I haven't discovered yet.

Air Raiders are the support class in EDF. They can be incredibly powerful, but they have very few (if any) direct-fire weapons. But, they can call in air strikes. What more needs to be said? They can also heal, bring in vehicles, and quite a bit more. I am not a very good Air Raider (I need my pew pew), but a good one can be a fantastic asset to any team.

Fencers are a unique class, in that they have more weapon slots than any other class, but are also strange to maneuver. They are actually a heavily-armored soldier, wearing what is essentially power armor. They can be really cool, but take a bit more practice and skill than your everyday Ranger. Recommended for advanced players. They also have support equipment, which is new to EDF 5.

Other than just the various classes, wacky enemies, and frantic action, the other main draw to keep you coming back is the many varied drops, especially weapons. Armor drops increase your max hit points; it goes up based on how many you pick up on each level. Weapon drops, however, are the real hook. Depending on your map and difficulty level, drops can vary in power significantly. There are tons of different weapon types, as well as levels for the weapons themselves. Each class also has to be powered up individually. So, if you make a very powerful Ranger class, but want to level up an Air Raider, be prepared to go back to much earlier levels to do so until you are buffed up on both weapons and armor to be able to handle later levels.

Thankfully, one of the mitigating factors to this, which is new in EDF 5, is that armor drops are shared now, and a small number of weapons will always go to a class other than the one you are using.  While most still go your primary active class at that moment, now, when you want to try a new class, you are not completely starting from scratch.  This is more than a small tweak to EDF 4.1's formula.

Another significant quality-of-life improvement is that they made most classes faster with dashes or runs, and pickups can be grabbed from a larger radius. Typically, the Wing Divers always grab everything, which is fine, but now, every class is much more useful in collecting loot. Another huge annoyance from before was that if you lost the level, no matter how far along you were, you got nothing from all of your efforts. No armor, new weapons, or any of it. Now, in EDF 5, you get to keep a fraction of what you earned before death. It's great, because you don't feel like you wasted your time any longer.

Technically, the game runs pretty well on PS4 Pro, but I was surprised to see that it clearly is not running at a 4k resolution. It may be 1080p, or something in between, but it's not 4k. Nevertheless, the frame rates are great, which is far more important in a game like this. I will say, though, that I have been absolutely spoiled by the PC version of EDF 4.1. That port is fantastic, and runs and looks so great in action, with a perfect frame rate at 4k (with a powerful enough PC) that I wait with bated breath for an announcement of EDF 5 for PC. Let's hope it happens.

During your time blowing things up, you often hear voices and announcements over the intercom, which are sometimes quite humorous. You also occasionally may hear the Infantry units shouting "EDF! EDF! EDF!" The voices will sometimes say other things less appropriate, including words like 'd*mn', 'h*ll', and 'sh*t'. This, along with the music and sound effects, keeps tensions high as you try to wipe out the invading force with prejudice. There is enemy blood, but mostly in the form of purple splashes. When humans get hit, blood also splatters. If it wasn't obvious, there is plenty of violence, especially weaponized (guns, cannons, etc.) as you blow the baddies to bits. The Wing Diver's uniform also reveals their midriff, and they have really tiny and tight shorts.

Earth Defense Force 5 is an excellent sequel, and tons of fun, just like its predecessor. If you have a gaming PC, just get 4.1 for now (or wait for 5), as the price is great, and it's so much better than the console versions. If you are a console owner, then there is no reason not to get this game if you like crazy, over-the-top action - if it sounds like it will be fun to you, it probably will be. By showing this game to my friends and family, I personally have been the cause of at least a half-dozen sales for the PC version of EDF 4.1. These games really are that much fun. If the appropriateness issues don't unsettle you, then I highly recommend a good look at Earth Defense Force 5. The EDF deploys!

While I can’t say I’ve ever seen a cheesy ‘50’s B-movie, I’m pretty sure I know what to expect after playing Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon. Ridiculous monsters, convoluted plot, over the top action—yes, I’m confident that the team over at Vicious Cycle Software watched just a few too many cheesy 1950’s movies during development. I’m also confident in saying that the end product of all those late-night monster movie marathons paid off.

Imagine a game that combines third-person shooting with Starship Troopers (think humans vs. giant bugs), light RPG elements, and the craziest shoot ‘em up title you can think of. Earth Defense Force (EDF) is that game. Unfortunately, I doubt you’ve ever played it since it was never brought to the U.S., and the same goes for its sequel. However, the third installment finally saw a release in the form of Earth Defense Force 2017, and it was glorious. With its combination of split-screen co-op, dozens of weapons, and outlandish premise, the game was adored by critics and gamers alike. Not everyone loved it though, as its diverse ratings will show, but those able to get past its outdated graphics and somewhat repetitive nature found a satisfying experience.

 This latest installment hasn’t changed too much from its predecessor, but there are some noticeable improvements. The game’s objective is still to shoot thousands of giant alien bugs, robots, and everything in-between. Using tanks, bipedal mechs and an entire arsenal of weapons, you must rid the city of this alien infestation, even if there isn’t much of a city left afterwards. I mean, with all the rockets flying around, you’re bound to hit a building or two, and Vicious Cycle was kind enough to make the entire city destructible. Buildings, cars, random objects lying on the ground—everything can be destroyed, and it looks and feels awesome, especially when compared with the last title.

The graphics have received a much needed upgrade, along with just about everything else. Three new character classes, survival mode, and online multiplayer make this a definite step above 2017. It’s unfortunate that there is significantly less content here (more on that later), but it’s so well polished that I still feel my money was well spent.

Think of EDF as a B-movie. It’s ridiculous, cheesy, and a blast to play with friends, but with no plot to get in the way. And when I say ridiculous and cheesy, I really mean it. This game is a budget title, and it wears it like a badge of honor. The game cost $40 at the time of release, does NOT include an instruction manual or tutorial, and contains three different languages on its case. The voice acting (if you can call it that) sounds like something out of a Japanese monster movie; the graphics are stylized and without much detail, and objectives rarely deviate from “kill everything that moves”.

For any other game, this would be an immediate turn-off, but Insect Armageddon embraces it wholeheartedly. Every mechanic and “flaw” here works to serve the game’s purpose: shooting legions of alien bugs and robots. All of the artistic elements (graphics, story, and sound), while somewhat lackluster, help to reinforce the gameplay in some way. The “simple” graphics prevent slowdown, and audio cues are used to alert you to an enemy’s attack. The story, which can be summed up by “you’re a soldier, so go kill stuff”, helps cement the B-movie feel.

Unfortunately, just like a B-movie, it doesn’t last long. There are 15 campaign missions spread across 3 chapters in addition to 6 survival maps. The game encourages multiple playthroughs to level up the four classes on different difficulties, and a remixed campaign can be unlocked, but it’s still a quick game. Unless you have a good group of friends, I wouldn’t plan on spending more than 10 hours killing bugs and leveling the city.

Don’t get me wrong, though; it’s amazing while it lasts. There’s nothing quite like destroying the city with a rocket launcher while flying around in your jet armor, or playing as any of the classes for that matter. There are three new classes (and four in all) in Insect Armageddon: battle (can use a shield and wield larger weapons), tactical (can deploy turrets, mines, radars and other equipment), the aforementioned jet, and the returning trooper armor (best all-around).

As you progress through the campaign, each class levels up and gains new weapons and abilities. New weapons can also be found on the ground after defeating a high-ranked enemy. This is where the problems start. Now, each of the four classes has their own set of weapons, which none of the other classes can use. When the player picks a weapon up off the ground, there is no indication what class it’s for. It wouldn’t be a problem if it was always for the class currently being used, but it’s not. I had to go to the character selection screen and go through all the guns to find out what I had unlocked.

This problem is exaggerated even more by the rarity of finding new guns. Compare it to trading cards: in the beginning, you’re finding new cards all the time. But as you acquire more and more cards, half of the cards you buy are duplicates. That’s how gun pick-ups work here, and it’s not efficient at all. After a certain amount of time, maybe one-fifth of the guns will be new. It’s frustrating to defeat a challenging boss and be “rewarded” with a gun you already have

But I can only rant for so long, because I’m overjoyed to say that not only does split-screen multiplayer return, but online play is also available. The entire campaign can be played cooperatively (two players), both online and offline. The survival mode can also be played in split-screen mode (two players), but the six player online is the real draw.

Anyone can pick up and play Earth Defense Force. With its relatively simple controls, straightforward objectives, and great split-screen and online modes, EDF makes for a great game to play with friends. And since the campaign is rather meager, that’s probably where you’ll be spending the most time playing. The option to play with random people is present, but players without an internet connection should take note.

It probably should go without saying, but not everyone is going to be able to enjoy this game. Not because of gameplay (though it’s possible), but because of entomophobia, otherwise known as insectophobia, or fear of insects. Ants, spiders, hornets, and ticks are encountered throughout the course of the game, and while I don’t believe they’re “scary”, not everyone will agree. Green or orange blood gushes out when bugs are shot. Cursing is frequent with b*****d, d**n, and h*ll used throughout. Unfortunately, the game’s photo gallery also includes seven hidden pictures of women in skimpy clothing. The pictures need to be unlocked via a secret code, but it’s an odd inclusion nonetheless.

I cannot adequately describe how enjoyable this game is. Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is a game in the purest sense of the word. No gimmicks or complexity; just you, a completely destructible city, and an army of bugs to slaughter. It’s not a long game, and there’s more objectionable content than I was expecting, but it’s a ton of fun and worth checking out—as long as you’re not squeamish.

-Nate DaZombie

Thank you D3 Publisher for sending us this game to review!

I have found that the Earth Defense Force (EDF) series is one I discovered perhaps far too late, but I am glad I have regardless. There is just something that feels right about blasting away at hundreds of aliens in the form of giant bugs, space ships, huge robots, and so on. The main series is developed by Sandlot, and are masters at bug-ridden mayhem.

For those not in the know, Earth Defense Force is a third-person shooter where you (and potentially, up to one other buddy locally, or five others online) work to save the human race from alien invasion. The invaders take many different forms, including giant insects, flying saucers, and who knows what else, while you blow them to smithereens. You get to do this as one of four different classes each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Every so often, especially after the huge growth of the series after recent popular entries, the guys at D3 decided that they wanted to see how another team can do with the reigns of this iconic alien-blasting franchise. Sandlot gets control of the mainline entries, like EDF 2, 4(.1), 5, and so on. Iron Rain, like Insect Armageddon before it, is being handled by a different team; in this case, the guys over at Yuke's, currently famous for their varied WWE wrestling games. They took this opportunity very seriously and spent a lot of time trying to make this game just right while also giving their own take on the series.

Unlike the very Japanese-focused mainline games, this one takes place in America, and was simultaneously released in Japan and in the West. It is set quite a bit into the future, in 2040. In that span of time, the EDF developed new suits (that somewhat closely resemble the old ones), but rather than being character or sex specific, everyone can use the new PA (Physical Augmentation) Gear. Every player can be customized, and capabilities are not tied to cosmetics. You get to choose your colors, face, sex, hairstyles, and so on.

There are four kinds of PA Gear. The first is the Trooper, which is the standard infantry that closely resembles the Ranger from previous entries. The second is the Jet Lifter, which is a portable jet pack that resembles the formerly female-only Wing Diver. The Heavy Striker is very slow, and is similar to the Fencer, except in my opinion, much better. The Heavy Striker carries two weapons at once... and does crazy damage. The Air Raider's functionality has been folded into every class, since anyone can summon vehicles now. What replaces it is the extremely cool Prowl Rider. You can ride your very own giant insect! If this wasn't enough, you can zoom around town like Spider-Man, or perhaps even more accurately, Attack on Titan's omni-directional mobility gear. It can be a bit clumsy at times, but it's also extremely cool.

Each class has an Energy Core that they use to power their abilities. For most, it's movement related; dashing, flying, rolling, and grappling all cost energy. Once energy has been depleted, you have to wait for it to recharge, and this can put you in quite a dangerous position, since you are usually quite a bit slower while recharging. Once per level you can press in on both analog sticks and activate Overdrive.

Overdrive is very powerful because you have unlimited boost energy while it's active. This is especially useful for the Jet Lifter and Heavy Striker, since they have unlimited flight and shield usage during this time, respectively. But what is really something is what happens to the Prowl Rider - this is when they summon their giant bug to control! You can choose between a giant ant, a giant spider, and a giant scorpion. They all have different roles and are fun to play.

I love how weapons are earned by completing levels rather than semi-randomly. If you beat a level on a specific difficulty, your reward can be a bit more predictably planned for. I also like it how each weapon is shared between all PA Gear. What this means is that if you really like a specific rocket launcher or minigun, then you can take it with you no matter what class you choose. With that said, I found certain weapons, especially those with very slow reload times, to be best suited for the Heavy Striker. Why? Because you have more armor than any other class in the game, so you can take tons of hits. And when you can pound enemies with two of the super slow but powerful chainguns - things die, and fast. I loved that combo!

When comparing it to the other entries, which is nearly impossible to avoid, a couple of things came to mind while playing. The first is rather obvious - the graphics are way, way better. Of course the frame rate still drops a lot when tons are on the screen, but even still, this is, by far, the best-looking game in the series. The other is that it plays subtly slower than EDF 5 (or even 4.1). It's really hard to put your finger on, but the wonky physics that you have gotten used to over the years of playing Sandlot's creations are just different here. I wouldn't say bad different; just different.

I will say that this game uses a lot more 'earth tones' than Sandlot entries. The game overall is less saturated and bright. I assume it was going for a more realistic feel to go with all of that graphical fidelity, and to an extent, it succeeds. It just contributes to the subtle feeling that it just isn't quite the same. Another contributor is that the characters are far more serious. That is not to say that there is no campy silliness going on; there is. But listening to the banter in EDF has always been a source of much laughter while playing; here it's just a tad more serious - not always, but a bit.

With all of that out of the way, is it still fun? Yes, it is. At first, I wasn't sure I would like it; I didn't like how it felt, and battle was just not as engaging, and I found it wicked difficult. (Level 9 anyone?) But once I started to really get a good feel for the new weapons, the new systems, and how the classes worked, I started to enjoy it a lot more. I still prefer the Sandlot entries, but there is definitely fun to be had here as well. The EDF-loving community overall seems to prefer EDF 5, and I would agree, but this is not a bad game by any means. There is plenty of fun bug-smashing to be had here.

Technically, the game runs pretty well on PS4 Pro, but I was surprised to see that it clearly is not running at a 4K resolution. It may be 1080p, or something in between, but it's not 4K. Nevertheless, the frame rates are great, which is far more important in a game like this. I will say, though, that I have been absolutely spoiled by the PC versions of EDF; while no announcement has been made about Iron Rain coming to PC, there is a very good chance it will happen with the success of their previous entries on PC.

I found the appropriateness to be somewhat predictable, with lots and lots of violence against alien invaders.  In what I believe is a first for the series, you sometimes do actually shoot at other humans, as you have to deal with the human rebellion, which is new to the series.  I do find the idea that other factions may not like the way that the EDF is dealing with the alien invasion interesting.  The voices will sometimes say things less appropriate, including words like '*ss', 'd*mn', ‘b*st*rd’, and 'h*ll'.  There is enemy blood, but mostly in the form of various colored splashes.  If it wasn't obvious, there is plenty of violence, especially weaponized (guns, cannons, etc.) as you blow the baddies to bits.  (Buildings, that presumably other humans live in, are usually collateral damage.  This doesn't seem to concern anyone.)  Female soldiers can choose to have large breasts (there are selectable body types) and wear a tight upper body uniform.  I noticed some references to a 'hot' woman, but I am unsure if there are other suggestive moments, as the game is quite busy most of the time.

Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain is a very good spinoff to the Earth Defense Force series, and a good alternate take.  It doesn't have quite as much content as Sandlot's entries, and I also didn't appreciate being told to stay in the combat zone, as that was something I almost never ran into in a normal EDF game, so at least some game levels must be quite a bit smaller.  If you are looking for your first EDF experience, I would recommend 4.1 or 5.  But if you are looking for something along the same lines but with a different twist, I don't think you can go wrong with Iron Rain.  It's a very solid (if not spectacular) entry into one of gaming's more silly pursuits - killing bugs, and lots of them.  If the appropriateness issues don't invade your comfort zone, then I recommend taking a good look at Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain.

Thank you TheGameWall Studios for the code!

Spy_Bugs is a third/first person shooter where you control a bug with a gun, flying around shooting at other bugs. You fly around a room that's the same scale it would be to a bug. You can walk around on the ground or fly, where you're put in a third person perspective that you can toggle to first. It's a bit disorienting because it's not an immediate change; instead it slowly goes in the direction you're pointing.

There are two types of bugs in this game: Giant Hornets and Jewel "Beatles". Yes, it is spelt like the classic band instead of the actual bug. To keep sanity I'm simply going to spell it as beetle. These bugs have the same primary guns, but different secondary guns. You fire primary guns by using the left mouse button; it shoots instantly and does a fair amount of damage. You can fire secondary guns by using the right mouse button. Instead of being an instant shot like primaries, secondaries have to charge up. But the benefit is that they do more damage than primaries.

There are two ways that these bugs are different from each other. Each have their own stats, for example Hornets are faster and do more damage per shot but have less health than beetles. Each bug also has a different secondary weapon. Beetles have a Plasma Cannon, a weapon that shoots a long beam at objects, while Hornets have something called a "behead" weapon, which I haven't gotten to try. More on that later.

There's three modes you can choose from; quick play, custom match or training. I've only gotten to try training, which is a short 3-minute training mode with the beatle that teaches you how to fly, making you get off the ground and fly through some rings. It then teaches you how to land and shoot at objects with the primary and secondary guns. Now this is good and helps you get ready for the real game. Now we get to do some quick play against people, right? No. See, that's where the critical flaw in this game comes in. It's dead.

Spy_Bugs is an early access game that hasn't had a development update in three and a half years. The online community is dead and as such is not playable. The only thing you can experience is the short 3 minute training map that has almost nothing in it and only allows you to play as the beatle. After you've completed the minuscule amount of objectives you can only just fly around the level. And after about 10 minutes, that gets old. And there's really nothing else about this game that makes it enjoyable. The graphics are bad, the textures seem on par with something released in the mid 2000s. On highest quality, the game still looks awful and runs pretty bad. But oddly enough the lighting is okay. There's one annoying dubstep track that only plays when you're in the title screen and besides that, there's nothing else. This game is like a skeleton, there's something that could have been good in it with the bug mechanics but there's just nothing in it to keep anyone entertained.

Overall I just cannot recommend this. The flying is clunky, there's no music, the graphics are bad and unoptimized. Plus with no online community the game is dead.

- Remington

Several years ago, my siblings and I spent hours on our PlayStation 2 playing a game called Star Wars: Battlefront II. The game was a perfect culmination of two things we loved: Star Wars and video games. It was easily one of our favorite games based on a popular franchise. About ten years later, EA announced that they were rebooting the Battlefront games in a style that was more akin to modern shooter games. The result was gorgeous, but very bland. After receiving much criticism, EA took a second shot at Battlefront that featured significantly more content. While the results aren’t perfect, the final product represents a fun time and a massive improvement over its predecessor.

The new Star Wars: Battlefront II’s upgrades are immediately clear. Instead of featuring four to five worlds based on the Original Trilogy, the game features sixteen worlds based on all three Star Wars eras. This instantly gives Battlefront II an artistic advantage. Not only is there more variety, but the worlds look much more like something out of the movies than the original. The 2015 game used the Original Trilogy’s limited special effects as an excuse to make empty worlds based on generic themes (such as a desert or a forest). This is thankfully not the case with this one. Not only are there more creative worlds from the Prequel and Sequel Trilogies, but the same worlds from the first game have much more Star Wars-specific features. For example, Tatooine actually takes place in the bustling city of Mos Eisley instead of just an empty desert.

But the game does not only improve on the level design. Because it takes elements from all the Star Wars movies, there are significantly more characters as well. Finally, we can play as characters such as Yoda and Darth Maul in glorious HD graphics! After all the updates, pretty much all of the most important characters from the Star Wars universe are now playable, including Obi-Wan Kenobi (my favorite character since I was a kid). You are also able to play as troopers from all the eras. First Order troopers, clone troopers, Resistance soldiers, and droids join the roster, making the battles more interesting. Unlike the Heroes, though, the standard troopers are playable only on planets from their respective eras. For example, clone troopers cannot be played as on Jakku and Stormtroopers cannot be played as on Kamino.

Battlefront II also adds a number of new offline modes that makes the game feel more complete. One of the most common criticisms of the last games was a lack of a campaign mode. This time, however, there is a full canonical story dedicated to the time between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. The plot follows Iden Versio, the leader of the Inferno Squad, an Imperial Special Forces unit. After seeing the second Death Star blow up above the atmosphere of Endor, she now has to find out how to deal with the war afterwards. While telling the story from the perspective of an Imperial is interesting, the story itself is rather boring. It’s not only a bit short; it just doesn’t contribute anything special to the saga. I’d still say it’s better than nothing, though. Being able to play the game against CPUs with straightforward objectives is still something that has benefit, even if the context isn’t that great.

A couple of other offline modes include Battle Scenarios and Custom Arcade. Battle Scenarios are fun because they present challenges with specific rules. Sometimes they require you to play as a certain character. Other times, they will limit what kinds of weapons you can use. Each Battle Scenario has three difficulties and is separated by Light Side and Dark Side. Custom Arcade, on the other hand, is a good way to set up your own rules. You can pick any world, what kinds of characters are available (heroes, troopers, or both), how many enemies there are, and how difficult they are. Both Battle Scenarios and Custom arcade support two-player local multiplayer, which is nice for those of us who grew up on local play.

Of course, all of these offline modes are practically extras compared to the online modes. Battlefront II, like its 2015 predecessor, is a game that emphasizes online multiplayer. There are over ten online modes. Most are trooper based, but there are some modes for heroes and some modes for spaceships. The modes present a good amount of variety. I personally enjoy playing Heroes vs. Villains, a 4 vs. 4 multiplayer match where everyone plays as a main character from the saga.

Perhaps the most interesting, though, is the recently added Capital Supremacy. This mode features Command Posts like the original Battlefront II. This time, however, the fight is a bit more complicated. By capturing Command Posts, the teams gain points and fill a meter. Once their meter is full, the team flies up to the opposing team’s battleship and tries to destroy it. If the team trying to destroy the ship fails, both teams go back to the battleground and try again. There are a lot of layers to this mode, which makes it feel like a full-scale, realistic war.

Playing online can prove to be both fun and challenging. Though it’s difficult to get into the action amongst players who have been at this a while, the game makes it easy to level up your characters. You can earn experience points for killing enemies, hitting enemies, “playing the objective,” and even dying (which the game refers to as “sacrifice”). While dying might seem like a cheap way to gain experience, it helps level the playing field for new players. Leveling up characters allows you to purchase Star Cards, which unlocks special abilities. You can also upgrade your Star Cards so that their effects are more potent.

Playing online or offline will earn you credits, which can be spent to unlock costumes, emotes, and victory poses. Credits are more difficult to earn quickly offline, though there are still certain challenges that can earn credits faster. This brings me to discuss the infamous loot box controversy. Before the game was released, EA had announced that they were going to have loot boxes that would provide players competitive advantages. This caused an outcry, with several people claiming that this made the game into a “pay to win” kind of game. EA thankfully removed this before the game was released, but the damage was already done. Though you can spend real-world money to get things in the game, the only things you can get are purely cosmetic. I for one have only spent about $45 on the game: $25 on the disc (the game is even cheaper now than when I bought it) and $20 for two months of PlayStation Plus so I can play online. Truthfully, this is the only thing that bothers me regarding money. I think it is unfortunate that, aside from PC users, players are required to pay for an online service so that they can experience the majority of features. Still, given how cheap the game is by itself, paying for online isn’t as bad as it could have been.

While I don’t find the financial aspect of the game to be that problematic, there are a few other notable problems. First, I felt that the physics took some getting used to. After playing several hours of Destiny 2, which has pretty realistic physics, I was surprised at how much floatier this game felt. I eventually got used to it, but it still doesn’t have the same gravity that the Destiny games have. Another issue I had was that this game is a major data hog. As of right now, it requires about 100 GB of data to play online. I have a larger storage capacity, so it worked out fine. But without one, it would eat up about one-fifth of my PlayStation 4’s data. For those of you who have a PlayStation 4 Pro (or an Xbox One X), this shouldn’t be an issue. But for the rest of us who bought the original systems, the amount of data this game takes is annoying at best. Finally, Battlefront II requires a solid internet connection to be fully enjoyed. Though some modes like Blast or Heroes vs. Villains can perform fine under most circumstances, larger modes that have forty players need really good internet. Sometimes it worked for me; other times it didn’t. I believe this is because multiple people were connected to the same router, but sometimes it seemed like it struggled when I was the only one using it.

There are a few moral concerns for the game, though none of them branch beyond what is common for Star Wars. Characters yell in agony as they get shot and killed by lasers. Jedi and Sith can slice people with their lightsabers (which, like most Star Wars games, function more like baseball bats). None of the violence is graphic, though. As with anything involving Star Wars, the Force is present. It should be noted, though, that the Force is only a gameplay element and is not an important part of the story. Some parents might be concerned about how the game emphasizes killing other players instead of just CPUs. There’s nothing sexual in this game, and I don’t recall any sort of language (though some people’s usernames can be inappropriate). Even though loot boxes are no longer able to give you a competitive advantage, they can still pose a risk to younger players. Kids should be monitored on what real-world money they spend on this game. I don’t believe this will be an issue for adults, but it still is worth noting.

The new Star Wars: Battlefront II may not be as fun or as content-filled as the original Battlefront II, but it still is an enjoyable game that is significantly better than the Battlefront that came before it. The game is so cheap now, I would recommend it to almost any Star Wars fan. The graphics, characters, worlds, and multiplayer modes make this game one of the better Star Wars games to have come out in a long time. Unfortunately, there are still the drawbacks from the data requirements and the mandatory online service fee. Even still, Battlefront II is a solid title that serves as a great celebration of the franchise.

Thank you Sega for sending us a review code!

Vanquish was originally released in 2010 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles. In 2017, this title made its way onto Steam and has been well received. Like the Steam release, the 10th anniversary edition has been remastered to support 4K graphics at 60FPS.

This game takes place in the near future with a space colony that has been captured by the Russians. This space colony has a solar microwave transmitter that has been used to attack California and New York will be next if the American government does not surrender. Instead of surrendering, a group of space marines led by lieutenant colonel Robert Burns is dispatched along with your character, Sam Gideon, who is a soldier for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Sam is equipped with a high tech suit that can glide on the ground for short amounts of time and can slow down time when it takes damage. You’ll have to utilize various destructible crates and objects for cover. If too much damage is taken, you can restart the mission or reload from a checkpoint. Thankfully, there are plenty of checkpoints so not much progress will be lost. However, you will lose points from your score for each death.

Vanquish is broken down into five acts and can be completed in less than ten hours. There’s a wide variety of missions and plenty of robotic enemies and bosses to take down. In this third-person shooter you can carry up the three weapons and some grenades. My favorite weapon is the laser cannon since it’s quite powerful and never runs out of ammo. It does overheat and can only be used in short spurts. Other weapons include machine guns, rocket launchers, sniper rifles, and disc launchers.

During many of the missions you’ll have some AI support, but taking down the intimidating bosses will rest mostly on your shoulders. Some of your allies will be KO’d and you can revive them by injecting them with some adrenaline. Robert Burns is nigh invincible and can hold his own in battle quite well.

Guiding Sam on his mission is Elena Ivanova who relays critical information and unlocks many of the closed gates and corridors for his team. Whatever doors she cannot open, Sam gets to blow up with explosive charges. If you’re looking for a lot of action and explosions, this game is for you!

Vanquish does have its fair share of content that earns its Mature rating from the ESRB. Though most of the enemies are robotic, there is plenty of human bloodshed and gore seen in high definition. Language is all over the place with many F-bombs and the Lord’s name dropped on many occasions. Last but not least is Sam’s smoking habit that causes him to light up a cigarette whenever he has a breather. In one scene, he was hanging for his life on floating debris while holding a smoke with his free hand.

The visuals look great and ran well on my Xbox One X. The levels are well designed and the compass leads the way to the next objective and counts down the distance between you and your goal. The bosses are huge and usually have a glowing weak spot to set your weapon sights on. The auto-aiming feature is especially useful here!

I must admit that I’m not a fan of Sam’s gruff voice, but I guess it’s fitting with the smoking stigma. Everyone else’s voice seemed good though. The background music and sound effects are well done and make the game very immersive.

Though Vanquish isn’t terribly long, it packs a lot of action in it. After completing the game you’ll unlock the God Hard difficulty mode. You can also select and play acts in any order you like. I can see why this game is held in high regard and if you don’t mind the language, smoking, and violence, it’s a fun ride.

Thank you Konami for sending us this game to review!

I played very few console games in the PlayStation 2 era, as I was mostly into PC gaming at that time. I got back into consoles a bit later, and I did end up getting both a PS2 and a GameCube, but my PS2 library is rather limited, and I never got into the more obscure titles. I had heard from one of my brothers about this really cool series called Zone of the Enders, and I kept it in the back of my mind as one to check out if I ever got the chance. Sadly, I never did, until now, with the latest PC/PS4 remaster. Being given this opportunity, I made sure to take it!

I have long loved both the Western and the Japanese approaches to giant robots/mecha. I have equal love and affection for Western classics like MechWarrior and BattleTech, as well as Japanese classics like Macross and Gundam. This game, as well as the cutscenes, are so incredibly anime and Japanese that they should be proud. This feels like it could be right out of an anime, and in some ways it is – and I love it.

Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner starts off with an extremely long cutscene. It’s fully animated and looks great, but it’s quite long. Once this completes, you finally do see the main menu. It’s from here that you can choose to switch to VR mode, which can be a bit frustrating, since starting the game from the SteamVR menu doesn’t always do what you want it to. If you are lucky, you will see the game in the desktop theater mode on your headset, which you can then control and so on. I was not so lucky; I had to get past the intro on my desktop, and have one of my kids enter VR mode for me once I got the headset on. Once I was in, it worked great. (Non-VR mode had no obvious problems.)

The game starts when Dingo, who is piloting a mining mech, stumbles upon a strange package that happens to have the Orbital Frame (what they call combat-ready mechs in this universe) Jehuty inside. As (bad) luck would have it, another group shows up and wants to take it from him almost immediately, destroying his mining mech in the process. Not being one to let another just take what he found, he fights back, and keeps it. Of course, that is far from the end of the story. He pursues those who he believes to be bad actors, and gets captured, which then leads to him getting shot – and almost killed, except for the quick work of another who hopes to use his skill in Jehuty to further another goal.

The story takes several twists and turns, and is voice acted with anime cutscenes the entire time. It’s reasonably high quality, though there is some evidence that this was clearly localized way back in 2003, as the general quality of the translation has some ‘huh?’ moments (and things have greatly improved since then). Despite those moments, I was generally able to follow along pretty well, and enjoyed what I played.

The action is a lot of fun, as you are in Jehuty, who can shoot both distant shots as well as move in for in-their-face melee action. Enemies die more quickly up close, but you can also do a lot of damage if you can hit them with a charged shot, which hits hard, but leaves you very vulnerable, as you have to sit still while powering up the shot. A single stray bullet interrupts the charging, also. There are also some alternate weapons, or the very powerful grab. Most of the weapons are situational rather than powerful (though there are exceptions), and use sub energy to use, as do your charged shots. Later sub weapons are very powerful, though. I usually stuck with grab, as you can literally pick up weaker enemies, and throw them into other ones, quickly clearing out an area. I found mastering the grab critical in doing well.

The graphics are a stylized 3D, third-person action game, where you see your Orbital Frame (OF) in front of you, as well as your enemies, and you can see what actions it is taking in response to your button presses. The graphics themselves look very nice, though far from cutting edge. They have style, which is more than enough.

In VR, the cockpit view is really neat. You sit in your seat, and look out of the window of Jehuty. You can see much of what’s around you, and if you look back, you see the seat you are in. I highly recommend having a comfortable chair when you are piloting in VR. In order to compensate for the missing third-person view, they did something pretty interesting. In the lower right of your view, you can see a mini version of yourself, that looks like a holographic projection, along with the location rings, health and energy bars, and all of the stuff you would otherwise be missing in cockpit view alone. The Vive’s display is not quite as clear as my 1440p IPS monitor, so you do lose some detail, but I was amazed with how much fun it is to pilot a mech in VR. Since you don’t have motion controls, some immersion is lost – but it’s still really fun to play.

The downside to playing in VR is that the cutscenes, which are many, are rendered in a rectangular theater-like view, while being in the cockpit is a first-person view. It works, if you expect it, but it is a bit strange at first. It’s probably the biggest evidence that the game was a retrofit, rather than a full-on conversion. Nevertheless, I’m glad they added it – it’s still fun to get to watch baddies get blasted in VR, even though I don’t (yet) own a VR headset that is as clear as my monitors. That, and few VR games are more than little tech demos, so it’s nice to have the option to play a full game this way. There is also a very easy mode designed specifically for VR, since it takes more concentration to fight enemies with a large health bar in VR. Thankfully, I had no motion sickness issues whatsoever in VR in this title.

My biggest complaint, and the only reason I have not completed this game yet, is because of an oversight on my part. You see, I have an admission to make: I have gotten used to modern game design, with fancy cloud saves, and autosaves. The last time I played this game, I got a bit past the half-way point – I put in a good four to five hours, and got past some really tough bosses. Then, I went to quit. I reloaded an hour later, and discovered...

THERE ARE NO AUTOSAVES!!! OH NO!!!

That’s right, I lost about four hours of play time. I had saved once earlier, during a level, and that was the only save data I had – in the second half of level one. I was on the final part of level five. (There are about ten levels, if the walkthrough I checked out is to be believed.) I had incorrectly assumed that it would save my progress, in the beginning of the level I was currently on. This is not so. So, rather than throw all of that time away, and with a busy Christmas season approaching, I had to just go ahead and write this review, rather than start all over. When you do play, please don’t be like me – save early and often, using the Save Menu.

From an appropriateness standpoint, I think the T rating is just fine. There is some blood, mostly in cutscenes. There is death, as the war is very much real, and you are trying to make Earth and Mars better places. There is violence, in the form of shooting and the blades your fancy mechs are equipped with. The words ‘d*mn’ and ‘h*ll’ are used. The ESRB notes a billboard with bikini-clad women on it, that I did not notice. I believe there are hints of romance as well, though I was not able to confirm this (I noted it in a walkthrough).

Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner – Mars is a really fun action game set in a universe with lots of giant robots everywhere that you get to be a part of destroying. Honestly, I had a blast with it. I only wish that I was able to see it through to the end; I hope to have a chance to do that soon. (If this review drastically changes, I’ll update it if needed.) The VR mode is a nice touch as well, which I hope to revisit as VR headsets improve. Honestly, if you think high-speed giant robot combat sounds like fun, I can’t think of a compelling reason not to recommend this title. It’s a lot of fun. Just save early and often!