Earth Defense Force 6 Preview: Absolutely Loaded With Bugs (in a Good Way)

ign.com:

There aren't that many arcade shooter series left, folks. They've started to vanish, along with the middle-tier game developer and the dodo. There is, however, Earth Defense Force, the unapologetically arcade-y shooter that puts you and maybe some friends up against unending hordes of giant insects, alien invaders, robots, flying saucers, and extra-large kaiju in a battle to mow down the enemies of Earth no matter how many blocky collapsible buildings get leveled in the process.

Yes, this year will see the international debut of Earth Defense Force 6, a game which series fans in the West have long awaited after its 2022 Japanese release. At five years since EDF5, I'm happy to say that after spending plenty of time with a pre-release version of the English edition, this is a pure iteration for the series that takes the gameplay of EDF forward with tweaks and twists while not disrupting the core features from EDF5 that really worked.

It's still EDF at its core, certainly: Blow through missions, tweak your weapons, find favorites, find upgrades, get chewed up by a horde of monsters, get better, roll credits, unlock a new difficulty, and start the grind over against bigger nastier enemies with your new bigger, nastier weapons. There's a story here, but it's more of a B-movie story experience about laughing at the silly characters while getting ragdolled by giant ants, and any important story stuff is going to get repeated by random NPCs six or seven times because this is not a super-high-touch, pay-attention-at-all-times prestige television story or game. This is a chase-high-scores-on-the-couch, dead-tired-with-buddies-after-work game series.

The four Earth Defense Force classes have gotten some great tweaks. The classic grunt infantry Ranger retains its flexibility and raw damage potential, gaining a new backpack slot for grenades and having all the turret weapons move to its lineup. They can also now mantle over obstacles, their sprint seems a bit faster, and their