Earth Defense Force 6 Review, let’s defend the Earth from alien monsters!

The series Earth Defense Force It’s been around for over twenty years now, and in that time it’s built up a following of diehard fans who’ve managed to get hooked despite its mediocre technical performance and absurd B-movie premise.

Earth Defense Force 6in this sense, remains faithful to these characteristics and is therefore unlikely to be able to convince a non-fan of the series to approach it through this new chapter. On the contrary, fans of the saga will find in this title everything they loved in the previous incarnations of the series.

Back to the Future…

Earth Defense Force 6, released in Japan two years ago and only now available in Europe, sees humanity on the brink of extinction due to an invasion of alien creatures. With this premise the crazy plot of the work unfolds, which continues the events of Earth Defense Force 5among a series of dialogues bordering on the ridiculous but which enrich the work with that trashy charm that distinguishes the entire series.

The first handful of missions see us players and a motley crew of survivors hunting down the last surviving aliens after the events narrated in the fifth chapter, before the invaders play their trump card: time travelwhich will change the course of the conflict in favor of the aliens. The player and the rest of the survivors will then be forced to travel into the past, during the events of Earth Defense Force 5, which will justify the narrative massive reuse of assets from the aforementioned episode.

As mentioned above, Earth Defense Force 6 is very similar to previous games in the series. As in previous chapters, players will have to face giant enemies that will appear within the game mapsThe ultimate goal in most missions is to eliminate the threat with gunfire.

Most missions consist of running towards the red dots on the mini-map, shooting everything that moves, reloading your weapon and repeating. The experience will become immediately extremely repetitiveand the fact that they are available well 150 missions all so similar to each other It doesn’t help to enrich the experience. On the positive side, however, there is an incredible variety of enemies and weapons, as well as situations in which we will be immersed during the missions.

The arsenal of the game It’s quite variedwith new weapons unlocked as players progress through the missions. There are standard firearms, but there are also Lightning Bows, drones, giant hammers, explosive spear guns, laser cannons, and other increasingly insane instruments of death.

The great variety of guns does not always make it clear, however. which type of weapon is the most functional in certain missionswhich can be downright frustrating at times. For example, there’s no way to know if a mission will have enemies to fight with long-range weapons until the mission begins. Choosing the wrong weapon before a mission can therefore negatively impact the experience.

There are four character classes to choose from: Ranger, Wing Diver, Air Raider and Fencerall with their own pros and cons. Rangers are the standard, common soldiers, while Wing Divers offer some of the best mobility and are useful in almost any mission. Air Raiders have a weapon that allows them to direct drones to attack specific enemies and can also call in devastating air strikes, while Fencers are equipped with exoskeleton suits that allow them to wield more imposing weapons.

…for a title that remained in the past

As you explore the various menus in search of the best equipment to use in battle, you will realize how dated they are. In general, the title is obsolete in every aspect and, when kaiju-like monsters lumber through barren cities, it becomes even more obvious that Earth Defense Force 6 it stops two (if not three) generations ago.
The poor graphic component of the work could be a compromise for the high level of destructibility in the environment, but the buildings they all tend to explode and collapse in the same wayso this aspect will show all its limits in a short time. Added to this are numerous bugs (monster corpses might fly like crazy balloons across the game map) and inexplicable frame rate drops given the obsolete technical sector.

We tried the title on PlayStation 4, but the situation on PlayStation 5 is equally dramatic. Regardless of these factual flaws of the title, when you approach it in the company of a friend the situation changes slightly. The game It is one of the rare modern ones with local split-screen co-op modewhich allows players to face thousands of aliens and monsters with a friend physically at their side.

There are problems here too, however, as the partners in the split-screen co-op mode can’t unlock trophies And the camera has several problems which make the experience, in some instances, quite unpleasant. There is also a Online co-op mode for up to four playerswhich allows each player to choose a different class, which solves the problem of accessing some missions without the correct equipment.

This mode is certainly the best one to play this title. The game also has a quick chat in which you can select various predefined phrases simply by sliding your finger across the controller’s touchpad, making communication with other players online easier.

In conclusion, this chapter offers everything that a fan of the series would like, for better or worse. Anyone who hoped that this new installment would take the franchise in bold new directions may be disappointed, but it’s sure to please longtime fans and is a great option for those looking for a co-op title to play with friends. The problem is, with titles like Helldivers 2one wonders how much sense there is in investing time in a title like this.