Microsoft has unveiled the free games that Xbox Live Gold members will be receiving in May as part of the Games With Gold offers. On May 1st, players can pick up Marooners for the Xbox One. It will be available until May 31st. The Gold Club 2019 Featuring PGA Tour will arrive on May 16th and hang around until June 15th.

The free Xbox 360 titles, which are backwards compatible on the Xbox One, include Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon (May 1st to 15th) and Comic Jumper (May 16th to 31st). There aren’t really any standout titles this month on either the Xbox One or the Xbox 360. It makes you wonder when Microsoft will begin recycling previous releases.

April was actually pretty decent Xbox Live Gold players. It included releases like the classic Star Wars Battlefront 2, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, Outcast: Second Contact and The Technomancer. If you hurry now, you can still pick up all of the above, except for Star Wars Battlefront 2 classic.

The PC trailer for Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is here. Check it out and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

The nonstop action gameplay in Insect Armageddon is the fastest and deadliest in the series. To arm the soldiers, players can purchase weapons or nab weapon pick-ups dropped by special enemies and can earn armor upgrades with each level gained. In addition, the game also features a six-player Survival mode that pits a human squad against a nonstop onslaught of the largest enemies the aliens have to offer. New Detroit’s giant bug problem is unavoidable, and mankind’s last hope lies with the Earth Defense Force to defend the world from the insect swarm, even if it means blowing up the entire city as part of the extermination process.

D3Publisher has announced that Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon will be making its way onto the PC via downloand on Steam during the 2011 holiday season. To accompany Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon, where players take on the role of the world’s elite soldiers that engage in nonstop bug filled arcade madness, four all new DLC weapon packs will be available for purchase at the 2011 holiday launch.

Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is developed by Vicious Cycle.

We reviewed the Xbox 360 version in July. You can check the full review here.

Too much?

When I popped in Earth Defense Force – Insect Armageddon, I though to myself, well this isn’t going to be any good especially with a price tag of $39.99 for a new copy, but boy was I wrong.  This game is endless amounts of fun and although the campaign is short the fun certainly does not stop there with a Survival mode and a Campaign remix mode.  To top it off you can have up to three players destroying giant sized insects in co-operative mode in the campaign modes while Survival mode lets you play with up to six players c-op.  Don’t worry couch co-op friends their is of course a split screen local co-0p mode.  Sure killing giant insects does not sound as fun as actually doing it, but when you are in the middle of a swarm of ants the length of a one story building or so, things change.

Now the whole game takes place in a city so there are building all around you.  Not a problem as the environment is completely destructible so at times when you need to get to an area by destroying a 12 story building, sometimes it’s just fun to blow them up and watch them collapse to dusty rubble.  When it comes to what weapons you want to destroy these buildings with… well there are A LOT, with that being an understatement.  There are over 300 Weapons in the game as well as four upgradable armor types.  With four different Classes or ‘Armor Types’ as the games calls them, you can play each level as either the same class or a different one, while leveling them up in your goal.  The nice thing though is that no matter the class you play, you can still unlock weapons and things for other classes, but you must be a certain Tier to use the usually better weapons which you can only get to by playing that class.

I’m Peter Pan Bitch!

The four classes or Armor Types are Battle, Jet, Tactical and Trooper with each of them having their own good as well as bad qualities.  For instance, Battle is a monster that just looks like he was made to cause massive destruction but he is slow, but can use the most devastating weaponry the game provides, while he also has a shield and does not receive damage from his own artillery.  Jet can fly, but only for a short period though get a high vantage point can be a big plus, however as the fastest class, he has the lightest armor protection.  There then  Trooper who is the only one who can wield any weapon in the game and Tactical  can lay down mines, turrets or sensors as each class has both their good qualities as well negative ones.  With each class being able to use specific weapons that can be found by being dropped by boss-like enemies being defeated, so in a way the game even has a loot system.  You will have the option of choosing between the following weapon types; Assault Rifle, Grenade Launcher, Machine Gun, Rocket Launcher, Missile Launcher, Shotgun and Sniper Rifle.

When is comes to enemies, you sure have your giant ants, tarantulas and even huge flying wasps which quite frankly a bit frightening… especially if you are allergic to them.  But then come the robots; don’t ask me how the insects have acquired these things but their are giant drop ships that deploy more and more insects to brighten your day.  Then there are huge robots that stomp around town shooting lasers at you while they even deploy insects.  Then there is of course the gigantic 100 foot tall robot that towers over you and wind up have to catch up with just to kill it with out being crushed by one stomp of his foot. Ticks are also an annoyance as they will latch on to you as you have to rip them off.  Each enemy has weapons that are more useful against them as do classes but it is usually the bigger the better.

The campaign is fairly short unless you are playing on the Insane difficulty, which speaking of difficulties there are three of, being Normal, Hard and Insane.  If you are not playing in co-op you still have you two AI partners to help you out and revive you if you get downed, but once you beat the game you can make it even harder by turning the AI off leaving just you and the insects.  While the game can get repetitive, mostly with seeing the same settings constantly, it always helps to play the game co-op which could not be more easy as you either join in on a game or create one and people will join, but if you want to play co-op right away, just click quick match puts you right the action with a team.

Fireworks!

Now there is a Survival Mode that puts you along with five other players up against wave after wave of increasingly difficult enemies and you can only play as the Trooper class. There are six Survival missions being Cornerstone, Shallow Grave, Pain Garden, Original Sin, Marooned, and Double Whammy. How many waves are there exactly and is there an end to it?  Well that is up to you and your team to find out but never the less the game provides tons of replay value.  You can only acquire the highest armor upgrades on the highest difficulty setting so you will have to step up your game if you want to get the most out of it.  Playing through the campaign multiple times is actually the only way you will get all the weapons and armor, so the game will take up much of you time if you can into it.  There is also Remix Campaign mode where you play the campaign with new and different enemy types as well as ones that were there before so you never know what you are going to get making it rather difficult and very unpredictable.

Earth Defense Force – Insect Armageddon was clearly a budget title with flaws such as the sounds not being very impressive and graphics not up to par with triple A titles.  But if you can past all those things and just enjoy what the developers have done with the game it becomes so much fun that you could careless about stupid little things that don’t make this the game of the year.  On to of that if you want to call this a low budget title, then it has got to be the best one I have ever played.  If you are playing the game just to complete one play-through then you won’t get much out of the game, but if you really want to unlock all the good stuff and see what the game is all about with a bunch of friends, than this game is for you.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.

Complete Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon’s single player campaign with the help of this video guide.

***Please note this walkthrough was not uploaded by GamingBolt.com

Special thanks to Youtube user DSPGaming.

Without further ado, let’s begin!

Check out some mech action in Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon. Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is coming July, 22th 2011 on PS3 and Xbox 360.

GB: Which of the problems in Earth Defense Force 2017 are you looking to fix first? The visuals of the game were not quite up to the mark, will that change in Insect Armageddon?

Brian: We didn’t really set out to “fix” anything in EDF 2017, especially since we knew the charm of the original game needed to stay intact. Really, what we wanted to do was bump up the feature set to something that is more widely expected for a title here in the States. Looking at the most popular shooters out there, you would be hard pressed to find one without online gameplay, and there’s a good reason for that; people like to play with other people.

GB: Players of 2017 said that it was best when played with friends, but also hated being restricted to couch co-op. This may still arguably the best way to play with your friends, it’s also limiting, so we really wanted to allow people to connect over Xbox Live or PSN to be able to get the same experience. In the end (after some fans poked and prodded), we got the best of both worlds since we now have online and split screen.

Brian: The graphics of 2017 may not have matched other titles on the 360 at the time, but it was a launch title and it had more stuff on the screen than any other title at that time (and maybe still!). With Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon we were able to take what had been learned on the 360 since then, combine that with the power of Vicious Engine 2, and get to what we wanted; tons of really good looking bugs and jaw-dropping destruction.

GB: EDF 2017 was a best-selling game, pretty much a surprise hit. A lot of expectations are riding on Insect Armageddon. Do you think you can outdo your previous EDF outing?

Brian: Well, if you’re not trying to outdo yourself, then you probably shouldn’t be trying at all. That kind of reminds me of one of those tough guy shirts that say something like “Go Big or Go Home!”

But yes, I do think we can outdo 2017 because we are bringing everything to the table that fans wanted in the last game. Although the last game performed well for us, it did not get wide-spread popularity outside of the press and fans of the series. I don’t think this is just because it had a whacky B-Movie feel to it (I believe that’s WHY people liked it), my guess is that it just didn’t have the features that people were looking for on the Xbox 360 at the time. Everyone wanted their Live and their 50 Achievements and their online co-op play. Well, now we have all of that, the graphics have been kicked up a notch, and we have even more weapons than before. Basically, it’s all that and then some.

GB: Earth Defense Force 2017 was praised so much because of how fun it was, and because of it’s arcade-style gameplay. Will you be retaining the same style in Insect Armageddon or will you go for a more realistic gameplay structure?

Brian: The gameplay is still arcade-style. Entire buildings come down with a rocket or two. A tiny human with a little assault rifle can mow through an entire column of approaching mecha-ants the size of cars. You don’t have to worry about fallout when a nuke goes off near your player. All of these things are the same. The game is still about holding down the trigger until everything is dead or your finger hurts.

GB: EDF games have been known for featuring a wide range of enemies, weapons and mission types. Will we see more innovation in this new EDF iteration?

Brian: With the enemies, we tried to build on what had been done in the previous EDF games. For example, there was no reason to change the way the flying saucers worked because they were fun. We changed the look of enemies a bit to match our style, but otherwise, they are the same. We also added some new enemies, like a mechanical daddy long legs and a praying mantis… those two will definitely give core EDF fans a run for their money.

As far as weapons go, we have more than 300 this time around. We did try to add a little bit of depth (not realism) with the armor upgrade system. In 2017 you had 1 armor style and in the previous Japanese releases, you had as many as 2. In Insect Armageddon, you now have 4 armor styles to choose from. They gain levels and earn abilities the more you use them. You can focus on one armor to maximize it, or jump into different armors depending on the make-up of your co-op group. They all level independently.

As for mission types, the fans of the series will notice that the missions are longer this time around and with some more varied objectives. We wanted the online experience to take a little longer (on average) than some of the missions in 2017 did, so that when you’re done with a mission, you feel a real sense of accomplishment, not just like you’re waiting for more bugs.

GB: Will there be even more vehicle sections in the game? And will there be any other vehicles other than tanks and choppers?

Brian: In Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon, we definitely wanted to address the issues with the controls of the vehicles in 2017, as well as make them more powerful. The premise of the vehicles this time around was that they were supposed to be easy to control and make you feel even more powerful than you already were (which was not easy to do). Also, this way, we could briefly throw even more enemies at you.

To make sure the vehicles felt good, we stuck to just the Tank and the Mech. These were our favourites from 2017 and really played the best if someone else could not get into a vehicle. Now, if you’re playing co-op, everyone in the squad can jump into one tank and man a turret to turn it into a mobile death machine, crushing ants and levelling buildings (on accident, of course).

We also have a number of turret sections, including some level intro sections where you fly in on an EDF lander equipped with turrets for everyone. In some missions you can jump into a number of different turrets (machine gun, anti aircraft, and rocket) and try to hold a position against a massive onslaught.

GB: Will we again have a second playable character in Insect Armageddon?

Brian: Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon has 4 playable armors. The player always plays as Lightning Alpha, the hero of New Detroit, but Lightning can jump into 4 different armor types to mix it up.

We really wanted to bring back the gameplay style of Pale Wing from EDF 2, so we added the Jet Armor. It not only has the ability to fly, but also uses energy to replenish its weapons, the way Pale Wing did. It’s fast and agile, but very fragile, too.

Trooper Armor is akin to the Storm 1 character from previous games. This armor is no frills, but has access to more weapons than any other armor and also has some really nice upgrades that will make him essential in a group. If you could take your Trooper Armor into an MMO, people would be offering you gold to join their group.

The Tactical Armor specializes in deployables; things like turrets, mines, and radar dishes. As the player advances in levels, they will gain access to new turrets as well as a new gadget here and there. This is definitely a cool class for people who want a wide range of abilities.

The last armor type, and my personal favorite is the slow and hard-hitting battle armor. Not only does it get access to some of the most powerful weapons, it also comes equipped with an energy shield and the ability to bug-zap enemies. If that isn’t good enough, when you get too crowded by enemies, you can blow your entire energy pool in an EMP like electric blast that damages everything around you.

GB: Is there anything else you want to tell us about Insect Armageddon?

Brian: I just wanted to say thanks to all of the people who offered their thoughts on the game in the forums and at all of the events. With their feedback, we were able to get split screen co-op back into the game and make some other tweaks that that fans of the series really wanted to see. If anyone has anything else to say, please speak up! We are listening!