Earth Defense Force 6 Review

thesixthaxis.com:

The Earth Defense Force series has always embraced the inherit silliness of its alien-blasting premise – any action game that prioritises singing alongside gunplay, definitely doesn’t take itself too seriously. For EDF 6, that embrace has become an aggressive yet surprisingly tender cuddle, and it is, without doubt, the most bombastically bonkers and brilliant EDF yet.

For those who have never played an EDF game before, the set-up is simple enough. You and your team of fellow players (four players online or two via local split-screen) must shoot your way through each level from a third-person perspective, clearing the mountains, cityscapes, and fields of their alien invaders. Foes are many and varied, from hordes of giant ants to armoured gun-toting anthropomorphic frogs and swarms of deadly flying drones. Levels are fairly small environments and can be played in no more than fifteen minutes, ensuring the pace of the game is fast, frenetic, and highly addictive, not least because the combat is completely over-the-top explosive madness. Let’s face it, blowing an alien soldier through the side of a building with an enormous rocket and then seeing the rubble to collapse on their prone form will always be a delight.

There are four different player characters to choose from: an all-purpose Ranger, a flying jet-pack equipped Wing-Diver, a support-calling Air Raider, and a heavily armed and armoured Fencer. There have been a few tweaks made to each class, though nothing earth-shaking. Rangers continue to be the best all-rounder, their ability to deploy more vehicles to drive is a welcome addition. Wing-Divers meanwhile have a far more generous energy meter from the offset, allowing the player to fly to the top of a tower and rain down laser beam hell on the enemy below. Air-Raiders now utilise drones to deploy most of their attacks, ensuring a huge amount of weapon and item variety for players prepared to take on the challenge of not using any proper guns. Finally, Fencers