Reviews from

in the past


only took three and a half years, but through my innovative technique of playing a handful of missions every four months I have finally taken down this beast. absurd how structurally lazy this game is: 89 single-player missions, all back-to-back with no side quests or key quest system or any sort of progression/organization beyond "play a mission and then unlock the next one." it should be obvious that most of these missions bear more than a small resemblance to one another due to the comparative dearth of maps and enemy types, so throwing the player into this many mandatory missions just exacerbates the repetition. sure, this is a game oriented around an endless grind for weapon and armor drops, but evidently the game's bounty of missions vastly exceed the bounds of the game's weapon pools given that identical pools appear in many of the missions on a given difficulty and rarely give new items. the weapon level drop curve is such that even running the first couple of missions on inferno, the highest difficulty, primarily gave me weapons I already had from midgame on normal, three difficulties below it. this would be more bearable if at least the weapon pools between all four classes were shared... but they aren't, so good luck if you played through the campaign with one class and would like to switch on the next difficulty up, because you won't have shit to work with. the developers recognized these unforced errors because edf5 rectified a fair number of them (primarily shared weapon pools and an upgrade system when you pick up a dupe), but it stings a bit that this entry completely fumbles these elements here.

I'm dedicated to fencer (the armored suit class) through and through, and in this particular entry fencer gets an essential (if perhaps not intended) dash cancel that lifts the weight of the rest of the game on its back. by firing the otherwise mediocre javelin catapult directly after executing a side dash, the ending lag of the dash will get overwritten with extremely fast javelin recovery frames, enabling quick dash spam across the battlefield. a couple weapon types possess the side dash as an auxillary ability, with perhaps no one more busted than the blasthole spear lineage, which provide rapid-fire, high-DPS shots at close range. the synergy is quickly clear: hit-and-run tactics with the spears and the dash cancel can easily depose even spongier enemies as long as one manages their cooldowns. of course, if this was the whole gameplan, the game would stale over such a long campaign, but luckily the fencer uniquely possesses switchable item sets. I kept a mid-range cannon and long-range mortars on deck in the other set for most of the ride as heavy artillery to deal the majority of my long-range damage, and since these remove the incredible mobility of the javelin/spear combo, you have a comfortable role trade-off to deal with in each fight. switching sets can't be done willy-nilly, and outside of wakeup animations most recovery lag will keep you from swapping, preserving the commitment of the most truly heinous fencer weaponry. the sluggish movement of the fencer normally would not necessarily be fun to use, as it would submerge the game into wading through enemies and tanking shot after shot, but this particular dash-cancel wrinkle helps sell a hot-and-cold playstyle that one rarely finds in a third-person shooter.

scenario-wise, probably one of the best examples I can think of where simply mass-spawning identical enemies makes for very solid encounters. although my brain would like to call it a TPS musou, it really hews closer to a wave shooter or arena shooter due to the centralization of the battle around the player character. you may enter with allies to assist you, but they rarely last past the first wave, and thus the game devolves into controlling the mass of enemies following you and you alone around the map. at its worst, it's a lot of kiting, either soothed by the need to stop to unleash your best weapons or agitated by the need to build up a healthy distance from the enemies before you unleash your best weapons, depending on how you look at it. only the cheap fodder succumb to pure tracking tactics, however, and with enough alternate opponents that lockdown certain parts of the map, roam, or patrol, you can find yourself properly flanked in a way the fodder can't do alone. of these the most fundamental are the hectors: large bipedal robots with an assortment of heavy weaponry and shields. getting in one's sights can subject the player to anything from full-map range plasma shots to short-range sheets of sparks, the latter of which portends poorly for any fencer player clamped to the ground by it. the variety of these and the use of different AI routines for each make hectors an essential flavor for any environment, especially maps with lots of enemy spawn points. other large enemies are equally fascinating (the segmented quadruped deroys and their long-range leg melee are rather fierce), yet the bosses tend to make clear how much of the game relies on hundreds of adds running around the screen at once due to their gigantic hurtboxes and rudimentary behavior. perhaps this is why the final boss opts for a much smarter strategy of smothering the earth with artificial ceiling of weaponry, with the top hurtbox only accessible when openings in the ceiling plates have been cracked open.

this game sets out to do its thing (big fuck ass waves of big fuck ass enemies vs a couple of wife guys/gals with guns) and does it so well, genuinely incredible fun, moments of genuine "what the actual fuck" all over the place, and it sometimes actually made me feel the dread of the absolutely awful situation this game actually is about lmao
so glad i finally was able to play it after almost 10 years of wishing to do so (i unfortunately didnt play it online at all)

Lots of fun, sometimes you wanna just shoot big bugs with big guns. The dialogue carries this game so hard

AMO MATAR INSECTOS GIGANTES


TO SAVE OUR MOTHER EARTH FROM ANY ALIEN ATTACK
FROM VICIOUS GIANT INSECTS WHO HAVE ONCE AGAIN COME BACK
WE'LL UNLEASH ALL OUR FORCED WE WON'T CUT THEM ANY SLACK
THE E.D.F DEPLOYS

All difficulties. All weapons. 999 hours.
This is the best co-op shooter on the market.
Playing on the two highest difficulties with minimum AP and a maxed out arsenal is fan-fucking-tastic.
Just be sure to bring your own soundtrack.
(Absolutely do not drown out the NPC dialogue though, it's a necessary part of the experience.)

After the grim over-seriousness of Insect Armageddon we're back on form with 4.1 TSoND. For those who need a recap Earth Defense Force puts you in the role of a soldier who must kill a billion giant insects, robots, aliens, kaiju, and UFO's that are invading the planet. It's ridiculous in premise and gameplay, but what may first appear as a silly and simple shooter is surprisingly nuanced in every way.

4.1 standardises the four base classes of the game introduced in IA - Ranger (basic soldier), Wing Diver (high speed flyer), Fencer (lumbering artiliary), and Air Raider (vehicles, mechs, and air strikes). It also introduces new ridiculous enemies like the godzilla-esque Ergines and the equally ridiculous Balam Walking Fortress mecha you get to pilot to fight them. It's also a relief to see a return of the light hearted comedy from radio chatter and mission briefings, a gigantic 800 weapons to unlock, and 80 missions to grind at.

The gameplay in this series remains incredibly consistent and its biggest strength. It's an arcade style 3rd person shooter with infinite ammo, you have to tactically reload and dodge the billions of incoming attacks while hosing down the never ending army of spiders, ants, robots, and flying ships that dominate the horizon. It's an intense, frantic, and challenging inundation of sheer numbers that I can't get enough of as you desperately fight for your life.

As you play you can grab armour and weapon crates that unlock new guns and decrease the damage you take permanently (1 point at a time). The weapons range from practical and fun to ridiculous and silly with bouncing ammo and nuclear bombs that fly comically slow.

The EDF formula remains simple, as long as the gameplay feels right it can handle a lot of issues around it but thankfully 4.1 gives us a nice graphical update, a return to the older styles of game, a fun variety of new gear, tweaked classes, and even more silly monsters to ravage.

At this point 6 is about to come out, and 5 is a perfectly fine upgrade to 4.1 so there's little need to jump on this ship now but at the time it was a welcome return to form.

very fucking fun. Graphics are bad in a good way and friends had a good time playing it

This game is dumb, in a good way. Play it with friends.

Угловатый графон из 2005 года? Худший ИИ союзников, который вы видели в игре за 900 рублей? Какая-то японщина с неудобным меню?

Да, но не об этом вы будете думать, когда через вас будет перешагивать огромный робот, разрушая по городскому кварталу каждым своим шагом.

Всю игру японцы вам будут пытаться вынести мозг. Насекомые-убийцы? Сделаем их гигантскими и в несметном количестве. Инопланетные роботы? Одна нога будет размером с небоскреб. Вражеские дроны? От их обилия не будешь видеть солнечного света. Босс собрался тебя атаковать? Будет стрелять в тебя из нескольких десятков пушек одновременно.

Никакая другая игра не передаст ощущения, будто ты в фильме "Звездный десант". Когда ты, играя простым рядовым солдатом, смотришь как вдалеке с холмов к тебе тянется туча гигантских муравьев, ты думаешь: "Да вы наверное шутите! Хотите сказать что мне придется сражаться со всеми ними?"

В игре есть 4 класса бойцов. Не очень много для игры, которая постоянно хочет тебя удивить, но каждый из них совершенно не похож на другие. Можно сказать, что это не 4 класса, а 4 режима игры. Либо отстреливаешь врагов как обычный пехотинец. Либо летаешь по всему полю боя и фигачишь энергетическими шарами. Либо ездишь в танках и мехах, периодически вызывая орбитальные удары. Либо ходишь медленным тяжелым солдатом в экзоскелете с миниганом и мортирой (и это только в одной руке).

На первый взгляд кажется, что боевая система реализована лениво и аркадно. Бесконечное количество патронов, разноцветные ящики с лутом, выпадывающие из жуков, невнятная анимация перезарядки, одинаковые модельки оружия для многих пушек. Но когда открывается доступ к новым пушкам, то понимаешь, что имеешь дело с одной из самых хорошо реализованных оружейных систем в играх. Посмотрите например как реализован миниган: отдача, разброс, траектория, огневая мощь, звук - все как надо. А когда стреляешь из ручной пушки, то ощущаешь именно то, что отправляешь в полет несколько тонн стали. Каждое второе оружие здесь - уникальная машина, которой приятно пользоваться, и аналогов которой вы не увидите в других играх.

Большое количество оружия в игре (разработчики заверяют, что около 800) не просто для галочки. Оно именно разнообразное и для разных ситуаций, стилей игры. Ты можешь 2 часа проходить уровень, выбрав не подходящее оружие или пройти за 3 минуты, выбрав нужное.

То же самое с уровнями. Их не просто много (около сотни), но они еще и отличаются разнообразием задач, тактик, сквозь них проходит даже некий сюжет. И если в начале игры вы просто мочите жуков, то в дальнейшем все становится интересней, эпичней и разнообразней.

Каждый уровень - это большой открытый мир, по которому можно ходить, прыгать, летать. Поэтому, хоть задачи у тебя вполне конкретные, ты ощущаешь себя будто бы в опен-ворлд игре, но при этом не начинаешь скучать из-за неопределенности целей.

В игре поощряется кооп. Многие мощные пушки рассчитаны на взаимодействие союзников. Товарищ поможет навести твою ракету, подвезет тебя на танке, установит для тебя энергетический щит, подзарядит энергией. Оживит, в конце концов.

В общем, эпичная игра. Эпичная в своей проработанности и трешовости. Эпичное оружие, эпичные враги, эпичная разрушаемость, эпично неудобное меню, эпичная цена. Хотя с учетом всех плюсов не такая уж и большая.

It's about as fun as the company you keep. The fencer has interesting movement, but that doesn't hold my attention long. It's kind of unreviewable, at least in my opinion. Leaving a rating off.

Title truly is reflected in Mission 23.

FOR THE PRIDE OF EDF!! EDF!! EDF!! EDF!!

Purely fun-oriented alien wave shooter that uses spectacle and scale to make up for what it lacks in depth.
+ endearingly stupid dialogue with iconic voice acting (special shoutout to all the incompetent army command transmissions)
+ constant escalating battles giving a rather authentic war impression
+ excellent mindless multiplayer experience
+ hundreds of distinct and powerful weapons
+ fittingly grand soundtrack
- barely passable graphics
- pathetic mobility for three out of four classes
- no progression sync between local and online modes
- no weapon drops for other classes preventing spontaneous switching
- significant mission bloat with repetitive enemies and forgettable objectives

Best multiplayer game I've ever played

Lo descubrí de casualidad y me enganchó mucho. Es como una peli de Kaijus pero a lo bruto, matar hormigas, arañas y ranas gigantes (y armadas hasta los dientes) es muy satisfactorio, y tiene momentos muy épicos.

The only game where you have a giant ass laser launcher from Elon Musk in outer space that you use to fight giant ass spiders

Probably my favorite overall game?

An extremely pure and beautiful game

pairs very nicely with paul verhoeven's 1997 film Starship Troopers

maybe these morons shouldn't be fighting giant alien bugs in the first place

I heard a lot of takes, that the best EDF is the latest one. I understand that now, these takes make a lot of sense. It is still mostly fun game with classes, which offer different experience. But I always feel that without additions from EDF 5 it does not feels as satisfying.

You only receive weapons for your class, and there are mostly duplicates by the end of the game without any upgrades. Wing Diver without her dash has still solid mobility, but as not enjoyable as in the next game. But the worst thing is that the game is way more frustrating at times. Placement of tons of enemies and spawners is ridiculous (like in mission 96). Also thanks Sandlot for getting rid of dragons in the next game. Regular dragons are not that bad, although they are a menace for sure. But boss dragon with his damage over time flame, which still gives damage after fading is not something that I would like to see in a game. Also some of the missions with water segments feel unnecessary too.

I still do not regret completing 4.1, but it only makes me interested to get back to EDF5 more. At least OST sounds cooler and unintentional Fencer's dash cancel is bonkers.

It's stupid, it's fun there's big ass insects everywhere


A stupid bug game when you shoot bugs with buds. Cool gear system as well.

They added anime mech chicks in this one. Automatically an extra .5 stars

4th Finished Game of 2023


Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair (2016) (Steam)


Fourth game in the Earth Defense Force franchise, I took advantage of the franchise marathon to play again the Steam version, The Shadow of New Despair is the definitive version of Earth Defense Force 2025 originally released for Xbox 360 and PS3.

EDF 4.1 is a remaster of the EDF 2 remake, officially considered the 4th game in the main franchise and second game post-reboot.

Particularly I would opt for the graphics of the Switch version of EDF 3, here they put a lot of reflection and more realistic textures that the game looks like a 'Ultra Realistic Shader' Minecraft.

Other than that, this version surpasses everything done so far, with 4 different classes, 2 totally new classes: Air Raider, support class that can summon aerial bombardment and support vehicles for the team and the Fencer class which is nothing more than a 'Tank' that can use 2 weapons simultaneously. Game has the absurdity of 825 weapons and 147 missions combining online mode and DLCs (89 in the main campaign).

Best entry point for those who want to start with the EDF franchise which, by the way, is where I started, game currently has versions for PS4,Steam and Switch.


Difficulty: 07/10
Total game time: 18h36
Score: 09/10

To save our mother Earth from any alien attack
From vicious giant insects who have once again come back
We'll unleash all our forces, we won't cut them any slack
The EDF deploys!

This is a great game in the EDF series.
It’s simplistically is what makes this a go to game that you can come back to at anytime. Hundreds of weapons to choose from divided by the four unique classes that feel very different from each other. As someone who hates bugs, it’s so satisfying to watch them explode into smithereens. It’s great if you also like large hoard battles.
The online works fantastic with little to no lag on anyone’s end. My friends and I have a great time on this game whenever we’re on.

The only thing I don’t like is the random weapon drop system and locking the cost of some weapons in some difficulties in the online mode. Other than that, this is a game I’m glad I picked up.