Earth Defense Force 5 review

Sequels typically attempt to polish the rougher aspects of their predecessors. As such, Sandlot, the main developer behind the Earth Defense Force series, has long faced an unusual dilemma. If a follow-up doesn’t make significant advancements, it risks being regarded as a lazy cash grab. But considering the B-movie charm that saturates the franchise, too much polish could endanger the campy ambiance.

Earth Defense Force 5 strikes a careful balance between those two forces. Incorporating several shrewd design decisions and new monster types, the game safeguards its quirky appeal. Although the fifth numbered entry isn’t a tremendous step forward, there’s still plenty of alien annihilating fun across its 100-plus missions.

Porting duties for the Switch 2 release were handled by Yuke’s. This isn’t a remaster, and the nine-year-old game definitely looks its age. But additions borrowed from Earth Defense Force 6 make this the most accommodating version of EDF 5. Subtitles, damage numbers, revised controls, local wireless play, and two-player split-screen are all welcome improvements.

Short on Story, Long on Campaign

As with previous entries, Earth Defense Force 5 doesn’t squander much of its playtime on exposition. The opening missions cast you as a civilian visiting Base 228 when enormous ants breach the facility. After your guide is killed, an EDF sergeant leads you through the compromised base while you learn how to turn oversized insects into pulpy piles of limbs and paste.

Once you reach the surface, EDF 5 reveals its true form. Dozens of enormous creatures skulk in the distance before becoming aware of your squad and start charging your team. The objectives rarely become more complicated than eliminating everything hostile or destroying a particular target. However, Sandlot continually changes the scale and enemy variety of each assault.

Ants are joined by spiders, flying creatures, drones, massive spacecraft, kaiju, and armed humanoid invaders. The latter include giant frog-like colonists that your comrades repeatedly insist look exactly like humans, which is the game’s style of humor. Meanwhile, increasingly desperate radio chatter documents a global war that is going very badly. The combination of earnest military dialogue and ludicrous spectacle remains one of the series’ most reliable sources of laughs. Someone taught the EDF to be in touch with their inner feelings.

Large Populations x Low Intelligence

Using a standard-issue rifle to chip away at a hideous horde remains thrilling, especially brightly colored fluids scatter across the battlefield. But you’ll need to remain vigilant. While individual enemies aren’t tactical masterminds, their sheer numbers make encirclement a constant threat. The frequent armor and weapon crates dropped by defeated enemies provide another temptation, habitually luring you away from a defensible position.

The campaign offers more than 100 missions, five difficulty settings, and over 1,000 weapons and equipment combinations. Although repetition is unavoidable, the steady arrival of new enemies and increasingly absurd armaments helps sustain the extended bug hunt.

A Complementary Class System

Wisely, Earth Defense Force 5 retains the four complementary classes of EDF 4 and 4.1. The Ranger is the trusty all-rounder, with conventional firearms, support equipment, vehicles, and a useful sprint. Wing Divers are an all-female aerial unit with energy supplies that power both their jetpacks and most of their weapons. Their mobility makes them ideal for hit-and-run strikes, although firing too aggressively can leave them grounded.

Air Raiders are the resident support specialists and are able to request artillery, bombing runs, gunships, automated weapons, and vehicles. Their destructive potential can be extraordinary, but several tools require cooperation or at least, careful placement. Finally, Fencers wear powered armor and can carry four weapons in two interchangeable pairs. They initially feel off-putting, but mastering their dash and boost-jump systems transforms them into mobile heavy hitters. Calling them merely slow-moving tanks does do justice for the game’s most technical class.

Stat-Improved Guns or New Ones?

Previous EDF titles required players to cultivate each class separately, grinding armor and building a newcomer’s arsenal from scratch. This outing takes a more generous approach. Weapon and armor crates mostly benefit your current class, but a portion is also distributed among the other three. Collecting a weapon you already possess can improve individual statistics such as damage, accuracy, range, or reload speed. As such, discovering an upgrade for an old favorite can be just as satisfying as finding an entirely new tool of destruction.

In keeping with tradition, you’re only slightly concerned with protecting Earth’s architecture. Nearly every building can be demolished, and leveling an obstructive structure is often easier than walking around it. Unfortunately, movement in alleys and narrow interiors can still feel awkward. Fallen enemy bodies an temporarily impede too by blocking shots or getting you stuck in the scenery.

Vehicles remain similarly temperamental. Tanks provide enormous firepower, but helicopters take patience to master, and motorcycles have a comical willingness to eject their riders. The game also continues to seize control of the camera to highlight certain events. When control returns, you might be staring at the pavement while something angry approaches from behind.

Better Together and Better Organized

Most of these transgressions are easy to overlook when confronting gun-toting frogs or watching a bombing run erase half a city block. Online cooperation supports four players, while the Switch 2 edition adds four-player local wireless play and two-player split-screen on a single system. Each participant needs a console and copy of the game for wireless play, but split-screen bug-hunts only requires one system.

But the most important improvement is less conspicuous. On PlayStation 4 and PC, online and offline mission completion were handled separately. Playing through part of the campaign individually did not unlock those missions for online progression, potentially forcing you to repeat large sections of the game. Switch 2 synchronizes the two, removing an unnecessary division between solo and cooperative play. Thank you, EDF.

Operational Tempo: Proceed at Normal Speed

Visually, the Switch 2 port of EDF 5 resembles the PlayStation 4 game more than a comprehensive technical overhaul. Environments are plain, distant objects have a bit of pop-in, and jagged edges are conspicuous. As with most games in the series, hover, the sheer number of enemies, vehicles, and collapsing structures is outshines the quality of any individual model.

Performance is a little more complicated. Loading is generally quick, and missions habitually provide responsiveness in both docked and handheld mode. But once the screen fills with particles, allies, enemies, and explosions, the variable framerate drops from its 60fps target. Dock play attempts fluidity and is roughly on par with the PS4 Pro version. Handheld mode is less consistent and can fluctuate even before you’re deep in an epic battle.

On the upside, the platform-specific additions are functional even if they’re not essential. Gyro aiming is good for fine adjustments and can also be used with a Switch 2 Pro Controller when in docked mode. HD Rumble 2 gives some weapons and explosions a bit more impact over the standard vibrations of previous versions. There’s no Joy-Con 2 mouse support, which is probably for the better.

But it is disappointing that the old mission expansions aren’t included in the standard release. The two high-difficulty packs are sold separately, alongside an assortment of novelty weapons and vehicles. A lower base price softens the annoyance, but repackaging a nine-year-old game without its DLC isn’t a excusable practice.

Earth Still Needs Extermination

Largely, Earth Defense Force 5’s formula of using a ridiculous arsenal to battle throngs of creepy creatures remains effective. Sandlot introduced enough conveniences and mechanical changes to improve the experience without ruining the low-budget, monster-movie personality. The Switch 2 fixes the divided progression system and adding several sensible multiplayer and control options. And while it’s not the technical showcase the hardware deserves, portability makes this a capable way to enlist in the EDF.

Earth Defense Force 5 was reviewed on Switch 2 with code provided by the publisher. Some
elements of this review were taken from a previous Earth Defense Force 5 review.