Review: Earth Defense Force 5 (Steam)

Earth Defense Force 5

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Become the Soldier of EDF and Save the Earth This is an action TPS which features the furious battle between the alien beings and ‘Earth Defense Force’ called the EDF. You will become one of the soldiers of EDF and exterminate the numerous huge enemies. Protect the peace of Earth.

Pros:

  • Really nice graphics.
  • 20.557GB Download size.
  • Steam achievements.
  • Full controller support.
  • Four save slots.
  • Graphic settings-Fullscreen, Letterbox, Resolution, AA, Shadow and Anisotropic filtering.
  • Three modes- Offline, Online 1-4 co-op, and 2 player split-screen.
  • Opening tutorial mission.
  • Four classes- Ranger, Wing Diver, Air Raider, and Fencer.
  • Loadout- Weapon 1, Weapon 2 and plasma color. Can customize your character by changing the color of your suit.
  • Full stats screen.
  • Can rebind controls.
  • Customize controls for each individual class.
  • Five difficulties- Easy, Normal, Hard, Hardest and inferno.
  • Cheesy voice work.
  • Every class means you play the game completely different making it feel like a new game!
  • Addictive what with random loot drops.
  • Bugs now blow up into a million pieces and leave goo behind. Corpses can be blown apart.
  • Enemies drop 3 types if crates- Health/armor/weapons and adjust stats and unlock new weapons at the end of the level.
  • In-game chat shortcuts.
  • Minimap- Shows enemies and drops.
  • Server browser for online that shows hostname, ping, difficulty, etc.
  • So much fun to play!
  • A corny story as always.
  • Co-op mode uses your singleplayer save and vice versa.
  • The co-op runs surprisingly well.
  • All-new enemies and bosses.
  • Impressive enemy counts on screen.
  • Weapons use a charge limit so excessive use will render them useless until they cool down.
  • Some buildings can be blown up.
  • Cool locations from towns to the countryside.
  • Over 100 levels!
  • 100s upon 100s of weapons to unlock.
  • You can increase the effectiveness of your weapons by using them or by finding higher level weapons.
  • A full level breakdown that shows any unlocked weapons and if they are new or improved and how.
  • Goes with the Starship Troopers approach to alien combat and it works!
  • Levels are huge.
  • AI can help you, they can also die which is actually a good thing.
Earth Defense Force 5

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Cons:

  • Cheesy voicework won’t be for everyone.
  • Slowdown does happen a lot.
  • Never sure on mission progress/length and it can just end.
  • Not as much enviromental destruction as previous games.
  • Still has bad rag-dolling when you get hit making it quite frustrating on higher levels.
  • Not easy to filter multiplayer rooms.
  • co-op online is a separate save and file than your singleplayer.
  • The online profile shows your game percentage, missions, weapons favored, etc and this info is shared on rooms in the server which feels detrimental as you get instantly judged.
  • Default controls are awkward as anything.
  • The camera switches to key moments for cinema action effect but actually causes a jarring effect and when returning to action goes all wonky.
  • No split-screen options.
  • Higher difficulty options are locked until you finish the game once.
  • More of the same.
  • Missions could do with more description on enemy type so you can get at least one weapon that will work.
Earth Defense Force 5

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  • 8/10
    Graphics - 8/10
  • 8/10
    Sound - 8/10
  • 9/10
    Accessibility - 9/10
  • 9/10
    Length - 9/10
  • 10/10
    Fun Factor - 10/10
8.8/10

Summary

They could call these games Starship Troopers the game and it would describe it perfectly. You get to shoot massive bugs all over Japan and have an amazing time doing it! From giant ants to jumping spiders to cave systems to metropolises, The game takes the now staple formula and jacks it up to maximum! Co-op is a four-player affair and a ton of fun if you can get into a game or attract people to join you. Having all your info on the show feels bad as starting out is rough with you showing a dismal 0% game completion despite finishing the main game solo many times over. Anyway, they don’t let you blow up as many buildings as before but it is fine as I personally play as a wing diver so I am flying all over the place. Yes, I am somewhat biased to these games as I own them all and have finished every single one. This installment to me really ups the ante and provides so many hours of entertainment. The voice work is so cheese but also so entertaining. You don’t come to EDF for the story and if you want a story you will get one but it will be shallow not that fun thing. Splitscreen works well and the game still suffers from slowdown but the enemy presence is defiantly increased with a rather impressive on-screen enemy count. The loot drop system is as addictive as ever and man the game is just fun pure and simple. Pick a couple of guns and go shoot bugs, Come on! EDF EDF EDF!!!!

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!