Earth Defense Force Insect Armageddon

Overview

Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is a 2011 third-person shooter developed by Vicious Cycle Software and published by D3 Publisher, for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows. It is a spin-off in the Japanese Earth Defense Force series, and is essentially an American take on the premise, following the Earth Defense Force as it deploys to fight an invasion of aliens and giant insects in the United States. It has no story or setting connection to the numbered games in the series.

Players take the role of Lightning Alpha, who battles wave after wave of gigantic insect and robot enemies. The game mostly takes place in the city of New Detroit, the target of a concentrated bug invasion. The graphics are much improved, but the game keeps the arcade-shooter feel of its predecessor, and the vehicle controls were fixed, with tanks and mechs that more than one player can man. Credits are collected and spent on a wide range of things.

Over 300 weapons are available. They are bought through a new unlock system that partly replaces the weapon drops of Earth Defense Force 2017, though some weapons are only dropped by elite enemies. There are four armor classes, each with its own functions and gear: Trooper, the all-round standard armor and the only one allowed in Survival Mode; Jet, for flying and aerial attacks; Tactical, the support armor that can deploy turrets, mines and radar dishes; and Battle, a slow but heavy exoskeleton with a portable energy shield. All armor colours can be customised.

Both split-screen and online co-operative play are included, and there is a six-player Survival mode where a squad of soldiers defends against endless waves of bugs. The story is split into three chapters of five missions each. Strike Force Lightning moves across industrial New Detroit to find downed landers, escorts a device called The Cube to a nest in the centre of the city, and fights an Ant Queen to secure the drop zone before the Ravagers shoot down their evacuation ship.

The game was released to mixed but generally positive reviews. Critic averages were 68 for Xbox 360, 63 for PlayStation 3 and 69 for PC, out of 100. In Japan, Famitsu gave the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions four sevens, a total of 28 out of 40. Reviewers called it good fun in co-op but repetitive, and some said it offered little new compared with the earlier games in the series.

Official trailer

Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon: Teaser Trailer, D3Publisher. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Third-person shooter

Developer

Vicious Cycle Software

Publisher

D3 Publisher (North America and Japan), Namco Bandai Games (Europe)

Series

Earth Defense Force

Engine

Vicious Engine 2

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

split screen co-op

Online multiplayer

co-op, Survival mode up to 6

Release dates

Editions

Check out the store

Subscription history

Disc IDs

The serial printed on the disc and the case. It tells you which region a copy is from.

Achievements

Achievements50 (1,000G)

Total

50

Gamerscore

1000

• Amateur AntKiller Kill 100 Ants 5G 98.83% of players
• Welcome to the EDF Kill 1000 Ants 10G 50.61% of players
• Ant Farmer Kill 10000 Ants 25G 15.31% of players
• Newb Kill 100 Spiders 5G 55.71% of players
• Good Start Make it through 5 Survival Mode Waves in One Session 10G 19.44% of players
• Tick Picker Kill 100 Ticks 5G 52.21% of players
• Spider Fighter Kill 10000 Spiders 25G 4.84% of players
• Tick Tock Ya Don't Stop Kill 5000 Ticks 10G 7.12% of players
• Hector? What? Kill 10 Small Hectors 5G 46.29% of players
• Hector Wrecker Kill 100 Small Hectors 15G 14.18% of players
• Hectorcide Kill a Large Hector 10G 45.57% of players
• Regicide Kill a Queen Ant 10G 39.39% of players
• Patricide Kill a Daddy Long Legs 10G 53.84% of players
• Manticide Kill a Mantis 10G 49.73% of players
• Manticore Kill 10 Mantises 25G 26.75% of players
• The Sting's the Thing Kill 10 Wasps 5G 38.33% of players
• War Against Soaring Pests Award Kill 100 Wasps 10G 11.99% of players
• It's a Start Destroy 100 Gunships 5G 59.19% of players
• Gunship Down Destroy 1000 Gunships 10G 16.99% of players
• Fleet Depleter Destroy 10000 Gunships 25G 4% of players
• It's Bomber Kill 10 Bomber Spiders 15G 36.28% of players
• Look What the Rookie Did! Kill 5000 enemies 10G 29.4% of players
• Hangin' Tough Survive 100 (total) waves in Survival mode. 25G 5.81% of players
• Who Ravages the Ravagers? Kill 25000 Enemies 40G 11.48% of players
• Eyes Up! Destroy 10 Carriers 15G 32.88% of players
• Carrier Dropper Destroy 100 Carriers 25G 5.87% of players
• Nesting Instinct Destroy 10 Anthills/Spider Nests 25G 54.76% of players
• Homewrecker Destroy 100 Anthills/Spider Nests 40G 14.85% of players
• Scavenger Collect All Dropped Weapons 30G 4.78% of players
• Smells Like Team Spirit Incapacitate a teammate 20G 45.45% of players
• Campaigner Unlock all armors 20G 64.42% of players
• All Dressed Up... Level up an armor completely 25G 10.67% of players
• Lifer Level up all armors completely 40G 4.33% of players
• High Roller Purchase all available weapons for a single armor 30G 4.6% of players
• Daddy WarBugs Purchase all weapons for all armors 50G 2.78% of players
• Helping Hand Award Revive a teammate 5G 66.68% of players
• Bedside Manner Revive 250 teammates 10G 8.75% of players
• Survive-o-Rama Survive 500 (total) waves in Survival mode 30G 3.33% of players
• Surviving... Get 1000 kills in Survival mode 20G 11.29% of players
• Social Dead Butterfly Get 10000 kills in Survival mode 20G 4.04% of players
• Lander Commander Get 250 kills with the Lander Turret 10G 24.73% of players
• Mechs Master Get 500 kills with the Mech 10G 17.47% of players
• I Heard Them Scream Get 500 kills with the Tank 10G 14.93% of players
• Nothing Turret Get 500 kills with Base Turrets 10G 18.49% of players
• The Architect Destroy 500 buildings 20G 26.66% of players
• Demolition Derby Destroy 500 cars/vehicles 20G 26.12% of players
• Collateral Destroy 500 world objects 20G 54.78% of players
• Chopper's Choice Beat the game on Hard 50G 14.47% of players
• Infernal Master Destroyer Deluxe Beat the game on Inferno 100G 9.25% of players
• Lemon Squeezy Beat the game on Normal 20G 37.52% of players

Playable today

Online

The game has online co-op and a six-player Survival mode over Xbox Live. The Xbox 360 Store closed on 29 July 2024, and Microsoft said online multiplayer was not affected.

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale	Reviews
Metacritic	Xbox 360	68	100	40

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
Destructoid	8	10
Eurogamer	8	10
Game Informer	8	10
GameSpot	7	10
GameTrailers	5.5	10
Giant Bomb	2	5
IGN	7.5	10
Official Xbox Magazine	6.5	10
Famitsu	28	40

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Developer	Vicious Cycle Software
Publisher (North America and Japan)	D3 Publisher
Publisher (Europe)	Namco Bandai Games

Notes for collectors

• Insect Armageddon has no story link to the numbered Earth Defense Force games. It is an American spin-off set in New Detroit.
• Trooper Armor is the only armor class allowed in Survival Mode.
• Over 300 weapons can be unlocked, and Scavenger needs every dropped weapon collected.
• The game came to Windows on December 14, 2011.
• Daddy WarBugs, buying every weapon for every armor, is the rarest achievement on the list, at under 3 percent of players.

Credits

Publisher

D3 Publisher (North America)

Developer

Vicious Cycle Software

Released

2011-07-05

Age rating

T (Teen)

Region

US

Time to beat

about 5 hours