Earth Defense Force 6 review

By this stage it should be clear whether you’re going to like Earth Defense Force 6 or not, as it is pretty much set in stone what you are going to get from each instalment. Knowingly ropey-looking run and gun chaos, which is run through with a wonderful B-movie feel, and a script that will often make you laugh out loud in its banal stupidity.

In short: I love Earth Defence Force.

Since picking up the magnificent Earth Defence Force 2017 via Japanese import in 2006, I have been an avid fan of the series and its bug-popping, giant robot-blasting fare. Hell, even when they handed over to a Western developer for the amusingly named Insect Armageddon, it was a fun time.

This here sequel purports to be the 6th canon title in the run, but who is counting at this point? Essentially, 6 is a souped-up version of Earth Defence Force 5, with a load of crucial improvements and additional content to set it apart. It has been out in Japan for a while now, and many fans myself included have been hankering for this conversion. It does not disappoint – and even if you aren’t a series obsessive like me, as long as switch part of your brain off and don’t go into it blind expecting a triple-A graphical tour de force, then chances are you will enjoy it too.

For the uninitiated, the EDF games play out as a series of third-person missions, with the rules laid out that you choose a class of soldier and weapon loadout for each and attempt to not only work your way through the story but to get a superior rank on each level, which brings with it unlockable weapons and upgrades. The harder difficulty you choose, the richer the rewards. But this also means the enemies are tougher, more aggressive, and in much greater numbers. The series hasn’t really deviated away from this tried and tested template since its inception, and that is because it works, and becomes very compulsive.

The only real difference in terms of the way each class plays this time around is the introduction of a third throwable weapon type on your loadout, and the fact that your characters now automatically traverse obstacles and can run by holding down an analog stick – something which definitely improves manoeuvrability and gameplay overall. There are parallels to be drawn with recent roguelike games where you keep going back in to dungeons to level your characters and weapons, so you are better prepared next time in.

The gameplay couldn’t be more simple: you just kill everything that moves on each stage with the aim being to save mankind from being rubbed out by the alien menace, which ranges from giant creepy crawlies to giant kaiju robot monstrosities. From the classic giant ants to questionable takes on the likes of Godzilla, you will probably never get tired of finding new stuff to fire the multitude of different guns at. The enemies come at you in their droves – a reference point could be the Dynasty Warriors series and its many offshoots; however you get plenty of ordnance to deal with them. With four different soldier classes to choose from, a huge variety weapons including many brand-new ones to the series, and vehicles to use, there has never been a more diverse set of options in terms of executing supreme levels of alien carnage.

The four classes are diverse and feel very different to play. I have always been a sucker for the bog standard Ranger – essentially a one man army who can run, gun and leap around, that is simple to learn and without any bells and whistles to master. The aerial abilities of the Wing Diver take things to the skies, whilst the Fencer goes a bit Armored Core with a power-focused mech that can melee as well as use big guns. Rounding out the quartet is the Air Raider, a support class who can call in (you guessed it) air raids and target enemies from airborne satellites.

One of the things I have always loved about the series is that some of the weapons and vehicles are absolutely useless in certain circumstances. It is possible to pick a selection of guns that will be so ineffective that you may as well be stepping out onto the battlefield in your underpants with a pea shooter. As you grind and find more of the crates that contain new gear, you will also discover weapons that will make you almost invulnerable when revisiting earlier stages with more grunt. As always with this series there is nothing more satisfying than when your loadout clicks and you become a death dealing war machine, sending those pesky ants scattering in a hail of explosions, or finally take down some War of the Worlds-esque spacecraft with a well aimed rocket launcher.

The game is bags of fun on your own with plenty of replay value thanks to the ridiculous number of levels, unlockable content and difficulty levels, and diversity of things to kill, but it really shines in its top-drawer multiplayer options (four players online or in couch and online split-screen co-op). This is unquestionably the biggest and best EDF yet released.

Historically, the games have always been a little ramshackle, as I have alluded to. There is a bit of pop-in and slowdown, and the graphics are not going to trouble the best available on your home consoles or PC, but I did notice that this is a definite improvement. I even played a chunk of Earth Defense Force 6 on Steam Deck and things move along at a fair old clip, with far less of the traditional slowdown and performance issues that I have experienced before. It is still utterly ridiculous at times, and some of the physics will see players and enemies catapulted all over the place, buildings being razed to the ground and the screen awash with explosions, alien limbs and chaos. As is par for the course: with Earth Defense Force 6 the voice acting is hilarious, there’s some cheesy dialogue, loads of shouting, chanting and singing, and a vibe that doesn’t take itself seriously at all. It is brilliant.