At Xseed’s booth on the E3 show floor, it was clear how hard they’re looking to push the Earth Defense Force series. As a title with a strong cult following in Japan, its handful of Western releases on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PS Vita filled a need for giant insect blasting, but with Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders From Planet Space on Vita, and Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair for PS4, it’s clear that the publisher is looking to push these games into the forefront of their line up. After spending some quality time with each game, it’s easy to see what all the excitement is about.
Starting with Earth Defense Force 2, this handheld title serves as a remake of what’s considered the game that established the series’ current game play mechanics. As a third person shooter with a wide variety of military grade, or sci-fi inspired weapons, players can choose their fully customizable soldiers, establishing their look and class before they go into battle. Ranging from the standard soldier, to explosive experts, and the thrilling Palewing, which adds a jet pack for flying over the battlefield, each set up forces you to approach missions differently.
But once you’re on the battlefield, the over-sized bugs that fill the cities can overwhelm you easily. Navigating the large, yet contained city was one of the highlights of my play through, being able to run through or fly over these buildings as you destroy dozens of alien insects. As the fights become more intense and buildings start to crumble, scrambling for health packs and power ups become just as vital as avoiding damage, since you’ll quickly get overwhelmed, even on normal difficulty. It’s hard to believe that higher difficulties exist, because surviving on the default settings was hard enough. If nothing else, we know we can expect a challenging and exciting shoot em up, using arcade inspired game play that’s perfect for on the go gaming.
When moving over to Earth Defense Force 4.1, most of what was great about the handheld version held true for this PS4 remake of the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the fourth game. With more weapons, improved graphics and a bigger city supported by even more enemies, the boost in the presentation was instantly apparent. After trying out a variety of weapons, my PS4 play through had me settle with a beam based sniper rifle combined with the Palewing class, raining down satisfying punishment on my mutated enemies. In fact, it wasn’t until my overzealous style led me to shooting into a building at point blank range, killing myself with my own blast!
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As one of the biggest surprises for me on the floor, these Earth Defense Force games were some of the most fun I had with a game at E3. Their simple to pick up and play, no nonsense mechanics made it easy to just jump in and start going to town on giant monsters, while managing to be punishing if you aren’t careful. It’s easy to see why the series has the following it does!
With each game launching in the fall, we’re eager to see how both titles progress. Check back with us for more on Earth Defense Force, and the rest of the games of E3 as news becomes available.