Review: Earth Defense Force Iron Rain (PlayStation 4)

Rating: 8.8
Author: Jim Smale

by Jim Smale · Published April 11, 2019 · Updated April 11, 2019

The year 2040. An action TPS where you will become one of the EDF soldiers and fight against the invaders from outer space which ruined the world.

Pros:

Decent graphics this time around with more detail.
18.62gb download size.
Platinum trophy.
Japanese and English voice.
Action shooter gameplay.
Co-op both offline split-screen and online 4 player co-op.
Full stats screen complete with filters and sections.
Two views- close and far.
Four difficulties-easy/normal/hard/hardest.
3 save slots.
Fully destructible environment.
Practice area.
Crystal’s-drop from enemies are colored and represent health and currency.
Loot chest drop will contain a new weapon.
Character creator-custom face with sliders/body types/customise uniform/mask/abilities and voice type.
Still full of cheese from the story to the dialogue.
Quick recover button from ragdolling.
You get 30 seconds at the level end to pick up crystals.
Badges to put on your uniform are locked to tasks in the game.
A lot of clothing unlocks.
New PA gear (suit) unlocks as you play.
Enemies blow up better than before and just behave better.
All new monsters and creatures to face against.
Clear Hud and a mini-map that shows enemies and drops.
Items-you can equip X amount (dependant on PA gear allocation) of unlockable items like health, boosters, vehicles, turrets, etc.
Plays like an action film.
AI troopers play a bigger part, you can heal and resurrect them and they fight with you.
More aggressive enemy AI.
DS4 speaker tells you about low health.
Day/night locations.
Great set pieces.
PA gear determines stats, item capacity and what power you have.
Weapons have a rating. (rareness)
Can replay levels.
Overdrive-fast reloads and you heal. You build this up by attacking.
You can ride the creatures!
Clearer progression.
Fun to play.
Supports online and split-screen co-op.

Cons:

Difficult.
Not very good tutorial.
Bad hit detection.
Projectiles can go through walls.
Clunky controls.
Have to quit out to change gear.
A lot of trial and error in regards to knowing what gear to use.
No dedicated dodge button.
So easy to ragdoll.
Slow reloads.
Not the best item descriptions.
Slow loading times.
Enemy AI can be too aggressive at times.
Invisible wall issues.
Unlocking is slow.
Too many currencies to keep track of.
A lot of clothing unlocks.
No leaderboards.
Corpses can stop moving and being able to shoot through them.
Horrible controls on enemies.

9/10

Graphics - 9/10
9/10

Sound - 9/10
8/10

Accessibility - 8/10
9/10

Length - 9/10
9/10

Fun Factor - 9/10

8.8/10

Summary

For many years I have loved the earth defense force series. It is cheesy, its camp and so much fun to play. It’s like Hi De Hi meets Starship Troopers and its just brilliant fun. Enter Iron Rain, different devs and a different take on the game series. Thankfully it still maintains the cheese, the game still has many of the signature entries but mixes them up. Now you don’t have a handful of trooper types to pick, you, in fact, get 2 but then earn more by playing through the game, yes it has a couple of new classes and yes you can finally ride on the creatures from ants to cockroaches to scorpions. It’s not fun riding em mind as the controls are grim but still. Co-op stays the same as always by having split screen and online Co-op. The most notable upgrade is the graphics by far. All the enemies look better, the destruction is back to its manic ground leveling brilliantness. So all in all the game still has the bad controls but introduces more good than bad. Items really do make a big shift in pace. Being able to spawn vehicles, heal and res the team really does bring the game a lot of favor. In short, it’s EDF but not as we know it. I actually prefer it to the originals and that is saying something!