TheEarth Defense Forceseries has existed in some manner for over 20 years at this point, with each new entry warmly embraced by diehard fans and passed over by those who don’t care for its lackluster graphics and absurd B-movie premise.Earth Defense Force 6is unlikely to convert anyone who hasn’t been impressed byEDFso far, but the sheer amount of content will ensure that it quickly becomes a favorite for longtime fans.Earth Defense Force 6has been out in Japan for two years, but nowEDFenthusiasts elsewhere can finally play the latest entry in the long-running series.
Earth Defense Force 6is about the last remnants of humanity fighting alien invadersand giant monsters on a war-torn Earth. What proceeds is an incredibly cheesy sci-fi plot that will greatly appeal to franchise fans and those that playedEarth Defense Force 5, but will do little to impress newcomers. As theEarth Defense Force 6story plays out, players will be subjected to an endless barrage of genuinely atrocious dialogue, though that is part of the charm. In one instance, someone over the radio said, “Only a few monsters remain,” and then someone else immediately chimed in with, “We wiped out most of the monsters. Only a few remaining!” In another case, this gem of dialogue was uttered: “Monsters are coming from underground! Did they just come from underground? Did the monsters dig an underground tunnel?“Earth Defense Force 6is imitating B-movie schlock and the dialogue definitely achieves “so bad, it’s good” status. And this is exactly in line with previousEDFgames. Rest assured, anyone that considers themselves a fan of the franchise will be right at home withEarth Defense Force 6.
Earth Defense Force 6is very similar to previous games in the series beyond its purposefully-silly story and dialogue. Like in previousEDFgames, giant enemies spawn all over the map and the goal in most missions is to wipe them from existence. MostEarth Defense Force 6missions consist of running to red dots on the mini-map, shooting everything, rinse, and repeat. It becomes repetitive pretty quickly, especially with nearly 150 missions in the base game alone, but it’s good in short bursts and there’s definitely a ton of fun to be had here. There’s a certain novelty to shooting a bunch of giant ants, wasps, androids, aliens, or whatever with ridiculous sci-fi weapons while simultaneously blowing up every building in sight.
TheEarth Defense Force 6arsenal is quite varied, with new weapons constantly unlocked as players progress through the missions. There arestandard machineguns and shotguns, but there are also Lightning Bows, drones, giant hammers, exploding spear guns, laser cannons, and the list goes on. Now, it’s not always clear exactly what kind of weapon players will need when going into any givenEarth Defense Force 6mission, and that can lead to some frustrations. For example, players may choose a weapon and character combination that doesn’t account for long-range, and there’s not really a good way of knowing if a mission is going to have long-range enemies until they show up in it.
There arefour character classes to choose from inEarth Defense Force 6: Ranger, Wing Diver, Air Raider, and Fencer, all with their own pros and cons. Rangers are the standard, run-of-the-mill soldier types, whereas Wing Divers are like over-the-top anime girls, complete with rocket packs. Wing Divers offer some of the best mobility out of all the classes and are useful in almost any mission scenario, so they’re always a solid choice. Air Raiders, meanwhile, have a weapon that lets them direct drones to attack specific enemies, and they can also call in devastating air strikes. And finally,Earth Defense ForceFencers come equipped with exosuits that allow them to wield larger weapons than their counterparts.
Earth Defense Force 6players are stuck scrolling through bland-looking menus while picking the gear that they want. The game’s outdated presentation extends to basically every facet ofEarth Defense Force 6. While there’s some spectacle to seeingGodzilla-like kaiju monsterslumbering through a city, the textures in the game are stuck two generations in the past, and the character models are nothing to write home about.EDF 6’s poor graphics may be a trade-off for the high level of destructibility in the environment, but the buildings all tend to blow up and collapse in the same way anyway, so that aspect of the game loses its luster before too long.
Rest assured, anyone that considers themselves a fan of the franchise will be right at home withEarth Defense Force 6.
Of course, some would argue that the bad graphics, like the bad dialogue, are part of the charm, and I can definitely see that argument. Even so, anyone hoping forEarth Defense Force 6to take proper advantage of thePS5 hardwareis going to be disappointed. Regardless, all ofEDF 6’s faults are a lot easier to forgive when playing through the game with a friend, and luckily, the co-op support is rather comprehensive.
Earth Defense Force 6 Features Split-Screen and Online Co-Op Options
Earth Defense Force 6is one of the rare modern games withlocal split-screen co-op, letting players demolish thousands of aliens and monsters with a friend on the couch. Split-screen co-op partners can’t unlock trophies, which is a bummer, and the split-screen camera is awful and unwieldy, but it’s still nice to see the feature included at all. There’s also online co-op for up to four players, but unfortunately, I was unable to test the game’s online capabilities for this review. But since four players would mean having access to all four classes and a wide range of weaponry, it seems like that would solve the problem of going into missions without the right gear and having to restart.
It wasn’t really relevant to my time with the game since I didn’t play online, but I did noticeEarth Defense Force 6has a clever quick-chat feature. Various canned phrases can be selected by simply sliding your finger on theDualSense’s touchpad, which should make communicating with randoms who you don’t want to voice chat with quick and easy. Otherwise, the game doesn’t do much to take advantage of the PS5’s unique features, which is a shame.
At the end of the day,Earth Defense Force 6is moreEarth Defense Force. It delivers everything longtimeEarth Defense Forcefans could want, though people that haven’t been impressed by the series so far are not going to care for this entry either. Anyone hoping forEarth Defense Force 6to take theEDFfranchisein bold new directions may be disappointed, but it’s sure to please longtime fans, and it’s a great option for those needing a new co-op game to play with friends.
Earth Defense Force 6launches July 25 for PC, PS4, and PS5. Game Rant was provided with a PS5 code for this review.
