On the one-hundred and twenty-fifth episode of the Barrel Roll Podshow, the guys finally answer the eternal question: “Are you talking about the burger place or the hedgehog?”

Jesse and Adam talk a little more about Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon, but since we covered that in depth last time, they try not to dwell on it for too long. Adam and Jonah gave the 2D Minecraft game Terraria a try, with mixed results. Jesse tries to explain the weirdness found in the Catherine demo, and goes on to tell us why mascot characters need to shut the hell up from his experience with the Ms. Splosion Man demo.

There is even more weirdness when Jonah tries to explain the punchtime explosion present in Zeno Clash and the genre blending of Hinterland. Adam also does his best to explain what is going on in Solar 2, then moves on to the not-Castlevania game Soul of Darkness.

So in other words, we actually played a lot of games this week. Oh yeah, and Monday Night Combat was in there somewhere.

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To be completely honest with you, Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is a very difficult game for me to review. That’s because I’d much rather be playing it than writing about it.

The bugs are BACK, baby. Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon (henceforth referred to as EDF:IA, or just awesome game) is a reprisal of the cult classic Earth Defense Force 2017, though this time by American developer Vicious Cycle as opposed to Japanese developer Sandlot. Some things have changed, but trust me when I say the insect crunching action is just the same, and in some cases better.

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When the world as we know it comes to an end, when alien invaders send their sinister robo-ants to take down all of humanity, when the giant mecha-daddy-long-legs-dropships show up to ruin your picnic, the Podcast Defense Force will be there. “Why don’t you go back home, to space?”

Our “Let’s Play Together” segment makes its triumphant return when Adam, Jesse and Jonah have all had their chance to play Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon. But before that, the guys talk Solatorobo: Red the Hunter and whether or not the character designs are enough of a turn off for Jonah to never want to play it. They also run down the laundry list of indie game tropes with Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time and Jonah returns to the world of Torchlight in hopes of finally completing it before the sequel drops. Because he couldn’t get enough of the underground, he also spends some time with Delve Deeper! (but did he dig too greedily and too deep?)

As per usual, the new releases are discussed at the top of the show and some minor news points are dropped. All this and more on Barrel Roll! #124, “Podcast Armageddon”.

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Earth Defense Force 2017 was a surprise hit for me last year, and quickly became my all-time favorite Xbox 360 title. To many gamers, it had a lot of shortcomings, but its pure arcade action and B-movie style presentation made it endlessly enjoyable. So with a new developer behind the wheel, I wondered how well Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon would fair. From what I played at E3, things seem to be rather promising.

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The dawn of a new year is the time to take a fresh, new outlook on life, and prepare optimistically for what the future has in store. Not for me though! As an aging, bitter gamer I am constantly worried. Worried that the shiny new game everyone’s going on about is going to turn out to be a dud. Even long running, dependable series aren’t always safe. It’s like when you go to a favorite restaurant time and time again, and then that one time they really screw up your order. Sure, you’ll go back again, but you’ll never forget that bad experience. You will always go in more cautious.

So simply enough, this is a list of games in 2011 I am most worried about. Specifically, these are games I really and truly want to be good, but can’t help but fear something might go wrong, for whatever reason. So you won’t see anything like, say, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2, which I have no expectation will be any good to begin with.

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