Giant ants, spiders, and other alien bugs are taking over the world, and it’s up to you to stop them. Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is an over-the-shoulder, third person shooter where you blast all manner of giant creepy-crawlies. It’s available for Xbox 360 and PS3 (360 version reviewed here).

Earth Defense Force has two main gameplay modes. In the Campaign, you take on a variety of progressive missions to move the story along (what little plot there is). In most of these missions, you just have to stay alive and blast as many bugs as you can. But sometimes you’ll have to shoot certain insect leaders or robots, meet up at rendezvous points, or use explosives to blast anthills.

In Survival Mode, you just have to blast as many insects as you can and try to stay alive for as long as you are able. Both modes can be played with one player, or split screen co-op, or with even more players online with Xbox LIVE. The game is a lot more fun with more players.

There are different armor types you can select in the game, and you can level up your armor and unlock new ones by completing missions. Each armor type has different kinds of weapons, defense, and speed capabilities. Heavy armor can take a lot of hits and has plenty of firepower, but at the cost of speed. While the Jet Armor lets you move fast, but is low on defense.

Insect Armageddon may not be as complex or fulfilling as other 3-D shooters out there, but it does provide a simple, fun little arcade style experience. Anyone who enjoys movies like Starship Troopers should have fun with this.

Kid Factor:

Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Animated Blood, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, and Violence. Sure the game is violent as you mow down killer giant insects, but most of the blood is just squishy green bug guts. Most of the language and suggestive themes come from the chatter from your teammates as you fight. I’d be OK with kids a little younger than teens playing this if they are comfortable watching modern science fiction movies, and especially if they have an older player with them in co-op.

Tags: Game Reviews