Now this is a fun shooting game. You run around killing bugs that are from another world. Not story heavy, just big-assed bugs are here and it's time to kill them.

You get to upgrade your weapons and armour and have a choice of different troops to fight the aliens with be they heavy guys with massive weapons or small, light armed soldiers that can fly in the air for a set amount of time. I definitely recommend this if you just want to play a game for fun. Not managed to get into multi-player yet, but that will most likely enhance the fun. You can also revive teammates like in SR3.

Edit: Though I have still not completed this game and really need to get back to it sometime, for the moment I have far too many games in my backlog to give this a look in as of yet. I'll certainly give this an update later when I give this a real good girl and even finish it!

If you're unfamiliar with Earth Defence Force the concept is simple - you're living out the plot of a B-Movie where earth is being invaded by a billion bugs, aliens, robots, and kaiju. You are a member of the EDF tasked with killing every single one on foot with an M15. Lock and load soldier.

Known in the community as 'the American EDF game', IA introduced the three new classes which have gone on to become a series staple, but that's about it. The core of the gameplay is there, but the entire thing takes place in a single location, the zany variety of weapons is missing, and the classes haven't really found their feet mechanically yet leaving Wing Divers feeling fast but weak, Fencers too slow to live, and Air Raiders are mostly useless.

The games are known for bright colourful and silly scenarios with comical radio chatter as HQ bumble around figuring out about the invasion, but IA went for a much darker more serious tone, everything is gritty, and the story ends on a bleaker note. All of the levity and fun from earlier games is completely absent. They tried to make the banter between units more silly but this just become incredibly repetitive as you trudge through endless empty tunnels and large stretches of war-torn city.

I ended up beating the game on hard which was a slog and without the weapon variety, the location variety, and the fun cheesy tone of previous games it was a dull grind all the way through. The only saving grace is they got the basic gameplay feel right. If you're new you should grab EDF 5, or World Brothers - or just wait for 6 to come out. This one is very much old news and has been improved upon.