While some studios will chase realistic visuals and heartfelt themes worthy of Hollywood, the Earth Defense Force series is content to remain the most pure video game rubbish ever created, even after investing hundreds of millions of dollars and years of development time. Earth Defense Force 6’s PS3-era graphics, terrible voice acting, ridiculous plot, and erratic technical performance should not be taken seriously. Developer Sandlot is skilled at creating an outrageous satire that makes Helldivers 2 seem sophisticated in contrast. Like its predecessors, EDF6 prioritizes mindless pleasure over all else and leans into its rough edges and hilarious cooperative mayhem. The outcome is yet another brilliantly funny installment in the ongoing narrative. It is not all sunshine and severed thoraxes, though, even if you go into the game with the correct assumptions. This foolishly lengthy campaign features a ton of repetition, a good number of stages that are duller than funny, and occasionally it verges on being overtly campy. Nevertheless, we could use more of this enormous insect-filled monster fest since it is always a fantastically fun time.
In the incredibly funny cooperative third-person shooter Earth Defense Force 6, you and up to three buddies are dropped into an alien-infested version of Earth. Known as the Primus, these mostly insectoid invaders are a motley assortment of wacky creatures that include giant, wicked Battletoads, flying drones, Godzilla kaiju imitators, enormous, jumping spiders, and more. You will blow these low-res enemies to bits using an expanding array of guns, rocket launchers, grenades, turrets, vehicles, and enormous Gundam mechs—some of which feel wonderful and others which are horrifically flawed experiments—during the 80+ hours it took me to finish the game’s 147 level main campaign. In the incredibly funny cooperative third-person shooter Earth Defense Force 6, you and up to three buddies are dropped into an alien-infested version of Earth. Known as the Primus, these mostly insectoid invaders are a motley assortment of wacky creatures that include giant, wicked Battletoads, flying drones, Godzilla kaiju imitators, enormous, jumping spiders, and more. You will blow these low-res enemies to bits using an expanding array of guns, rocket launchers, grenades, turrets, vehicles, and enormous Gundam mechs—some of which feel wonderful and others which are horrifically flawed experiments—during the 80+ hours it took me to finish the game’s 147 level main campaign.
Most of the time, the absurdity of the story is just as hilarious as you might wish.
The voice acting, which sounds like it was done by some poor people who decided to give video game voices a shot after being rejected by their local improv troupes, is the only thing that surpasses the horribly written tale in terms of dreadfulness. You have no clue how relieved I am, a character says in the most monotone voice conceivable in one scene that almost made me gag. You are correct, my man, I most definitely do not. But there is a lot of happiness in between all of that awful speech and pointless story progression. There is still plenty of the kind of bad-by-design stupidity that EDF does so well, and those moments when it walks that fine line are like gifts that never stop.
Fortunately, Earth Defense Force 6’s outrageous fighting against a variety of hazy enemies is both incredibly entertaining and frequently extremely difficult. Exactly what you want to do is dodge, dash, and soar out of the path while robots, aliens, giant insects, and monsters shock the screen (and threaten the fps).
Verdict
Earth Defense Force 6 is yet another riotous entry in one of the most ridiculous and corny series ever to make very poor use of our fancy gaming hardware. It looks at least a decade out of date, is dripping with plot holes and awful voice acting, and has some of the silliest combat I’ve seen in a long time – but all of that only works to its credit, coming together as a game I’ve happily lost dozens of hours of my life to while giggling like an idiot. Not all of its rough edges add to its charm, though, and an overly long campaign filled with repetitive levels and some irritating design choices work against it.
Another outrageous game in one of the most ludicrous and corny series ever to utilize our expensive gaming technology so poorly is Earth Defense Force 6. Even though it has some of the silliest combat I have seen in a while, terrible voice acting, plot holes galore, and an outdated appearance, all of these things only serve to highlight how good the game is and how many hours I have happily wasted playing it while laughing foolishly. However, not all of its flaws are pleasant; an excessively drawn-out campaign full of monotonous stages and a few grating design decisions work against it.
But when you accidentally blast up your pals with a rocket launcher and send enormous ants hurtling through the air and skyscrapers collapsing into ruins, those things are easy enough to forgive.
