Earth Defense Force 6 Review – More Than Helldivers at Home

Earth Defense Force is a series proudly stuck in the past, holding its head high as it adheres to the video game stylings of yesteryear with ample B-movie charm. And it has every reason to do so because it’s a damn good time despite its dated design and janky delivery. Earth Defense Force 6 is the latest of the long-running titles and it is every bit a worthy addition to the lineup, even if it may not do much to entice newcomers to enlist in its rough-around-the-edges ranks.

As someone who first experienced D3 Publisher’s series on the Xbox 360, playing Earth Defense Force 2017 (which came out in 2006) and Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon, it has become somewhat of a guilty pleasure over the years when it’s time to mindlessly mow down swathes of extraterrestrial creatures for hours on end. It’s the same reason I, and many others, enjoy the likes of Dynasty Warriors. Earth Defense Force is essentially a sci-fi shooter Musou game. In that context, it’s not too hard to see the allure, assuming such games are of any interest to you to begin with.

Earth Defense Force 6 picks up shortly after Earth Defense Force 5, with the remnants of humanity hanging on after narrowly defeating the Primers. Despite the win, the survivors still have some monster cleanup to do. So it’s off to take down lingering aliens with extreme prejudice for the EDF. Business as usual. However, the aforementioned victory is short-lived, as somehow Palpatine Primers returned. More specifically, those nefarious and relentless invaders made use of time travel wizardry to undo mankind’s remarkable accomplishment. And that leaves us, the players, yanked back into an alternate past to fight for our lives in a remixed EDF 5 campaign, making all that is old is new again across a staggering 147 missions. Side note: as far as asset reuse justification goes, it truly doesn’t get any better than this.

Keeping it Classy

In round two of Earth versus aliens, players will strap into the boots of one of four classes: Ranger, Air Raider, Wing Diver and Fencer. The Ranger is the standard boots-on-the-ground soldier, equipped with various firearms, launchers, grenades and so on. The Air Raider is more of a support class, able to call in airstrikes and pilotable vehicles. This time around, the Air Raider is also accompanied by drones to help thin the herds of enemies, which means the class remains viable in underground missions. The Wing Diver takes to the skies with their jetpacks to rain death upon their foes with lasers and other high-tech weaponry. The Fencer is a heavy weapons specialist strapped into an exosuit capable of dashing around and wielding large weapons, such as a vibrohammer.

There is an absurd amount of weapons in the game, all of which slot into one of the four different classes. As players run rampant across the open battlefields, the carcasses of the recently annihilated horrors drop green crates that award random weapons—white and red crates also drop that award health and increase armor, respectively. The weapons gained, which can be leveled up, can range from incredibly effective to hilariously useless. For example, my Ranger got his hands on a “tortoise” missile launcher that took forever to lock on and would eventually send the world’s slowest moving missile inching towards its target. Assuming it ever made contact with the intended target, the explosion was notable but nowhere near worth the setup time. Later, my Ranger obtained a different missile launch that could quickly lock on to two targets simultaneously and did serious damage upon impact.

While the entire game can be played solo, the class-based nature of Earth Defense 6 makes the four-player online co-op (or two-player local splitscreen) shine as everyone plays to the strength of their character while working against the onslaught of space fiends. Having a Fencer send a volley of projectiles from his blasthole spear into encroaching balloon-headed robots while a Ranger uses his machine gun-mounted motorcycle to target the legs of a giant, rampaging kaiju is certainly a sight to behold. The more friends, the merrier the warfare against oversized spiders, UFOs, copyright-friendly Godzillas and everything else the invading forces try to throw at the EDF in frighteningly large quantities.

B-Movie Charm and Harm

While throwing down with giant wasps and beam-blasting robots that wouldn’t look out of place in War of the Worlds can be a great time, Earth Defense Force 6 isn’t without it’s flaws. It is the video game equivalent of a B-movie, after all. That means there is a certain level of jank to be expected. Players and enemy animations are rigid at times. Simply watch any one of the giant ants awkwardly navigate the frame of a building and you will instantly understand. When it comes to the negative impact of such stiffness, your mileage may vary.

That B-movie vibe extends to the production value, too. The game won’t be winning any awards for its visuals. In fact, Earth Defense Force 6‘s muddy textures are often reminiscent of the Xbox 360 era in which I was first introduced to the series. Sure, they are an improvement, but the gap is slimmer than you might expect across nearly two decades and two additional console generations. And despite the lower graphical fidelity, the game had performance dips at times when there were too many explosions and gibby extraterrestrial bits falling to the ground alongside crumbling buildings.

In spite of its technical shortcomings, Earth Defense Force 6 manages to uphold the single most important tenet of any video game: being fun. It’s one of those games that you might have found yourself drawn to on the shelves of Blockbuster (RIP) or GameStop (RIP soon) when looking for a way to kill time over the weekend. It’s silly, over-the-top fun that is perfectly comfortable in its own skin, never pretending to be more than it is: a wacky sci-fi romp filled with enough explosions to make Michael Bay sweat.

Earth Defense Force 6 Review Verdict

Editor’s Note: Earth Defense Force 6 was reviewed on PlayStation 5, and a copy was provided to us for review purposes.