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Suit up soldier, the Primers have returned, Earth is under siege and it’s up to the EDF to save what’s left of humanity. It’s another in a long line of games, butEarth Defense Force Sixis arguably the best game in the series so far.
The new game takes what made EDF Five great and just pours more stuff on top of it. The games bursting at the brim with content, and with some hefty DLC mission packs coming in the future, it’s worth diving into this classic Bandai Namco fixture. So if you’re a curious newbie, or an EDF Veteran looking for a new fight, then here’s whether Earth Defense Force Six is worth it or not.
Earth Defense Force 6 Review
Whilst it seems like Earth Defense Force Six just came out this year, its beenout in Japan since late 2023and it had a pretty popular reception.
Over here in the West, we’ve also beenrelatively positive about the gamewith the usual crowd like IGN giving it aseven out of ten, and God Is A Geek withfour out of five. So it’s gone down as well as expected.
Over on Metacritic EDF Six is sitting on a respectable73 percent with a generally positive responseover on Steam from a pool of about 4,000 players. So it’s scoring pretty well across the board.
It’s worth mentioning that EDF Six’s Steam review scoredipped significantly recentlybecause of backlash to Sandlot (the devs) requiring you tolink an Epic Store accountto the game despite it selling through Steam. But, the devs are activelylooking at removing thisfeature going forward.
Over here at The Gamer, ourFeatures Editor Jade Kingtackled the game for reviewand she had plenty of praise and constructive criticism forthe sixth mainline installmentof this now long-running series.
“Earth Defense Force is a B-movie in video game form.”
Top of Jade’s list was thesatisfaction of blasting aparthuge hordesof bugs, bots, aliens, and more for hour after hour.
Jade noted that the gamefleshed out the traditional classes. And whilst she also praising it for beingfaithful to its successor, and the multiplayer being enjoyable and chaotic. Jade added that itsrigid adherence to the classic EDF structureis what also undermines it at times.
Repetition and anoticeable amount of paddingin the missions bothered Jade and thelack of deviation in the mission parametersdid grind down her enthusiasm. Noting that whilst the original four classes are nice,there needs to be something new added, especially sice we’ve had six EDF games by this point.
But overall it was apositive opinion, with suggestions of adding somenew minor featuresin future games such as a lore catch-up, bestiary and a new class or two.
EDF: Iron Rain didintroduce new classes to the franchise, including one that could summon and ride giant insects. But they didn’t stick with it going forward and insteadreverted backto their four traditional classes.
How Long Does It Take To Beat?
If you’re looking for along-haul horde gamethen Earth Defense Force Six is a good place to start. How Long To Beat has it sitting on an average of45 to 48 hoursto finish the game’s story, what little there is, but in most cases that may take you quite a bit longer.
EDF games like to throw indifficulty spikes as roadblocks out of nowhere. Plus, with multiple difficulties to play on and four classes to max out, you’re looking at around200 hours minimumfor a completionist run.
There are alsoDLC mission packscoming that are around50 hours each, so that’s anextra 100 hoursthrown on top should you decide to pick them up.
According to those who have had early DLC access, the new mission packs contain the most weird, fun, andbest weapons in the EDF franchiseso far.
What Does It Cost?
So one of the biggest pains of being a fan of Earth Defense Force is thatthe games do not come cheap. Whilst there are a fewbargain bucket versionsand spin-offs, the big ones that are considered the best are on the pricey end. For Earth Defense Force Six you’re looking at the following costs for picking up the game.
49.99
63.64
EU
58.33
On average, with the base game, thatslightly high financial barrierto entry works out to around three bucks per mission. With over149 missions, tons of weapons, gear and two upcoming mission packs that are about50 hours apiece, you’re definitely getting your money’s worth.
What Players Are Saying?
Now that we’ve taken theproverbial dipstickto the wider gaming community and our own professional review of the game, it’s worthchecking in with other playersthat just picked it up for fun:
Quirky Chaotic Horde Shooter - Robert Edwards
Earth Defense Force isJapan’s answer to the horde breaker genrewith all the inventiveness andidiosyncratic quirksyou’d expect from a nation that gave Godzilla citizenship. Occasionallyimpenetrable in its story telling, the moment to moment gameplay ofchaotic bug battlingis what sustains your interest, but even that can get wearisome after dozens of familiar feeling engagements
So overall it seems that if you’re looking to get into the Earth Defense Force series, or are a veteran of the franchise that’s looking formore of the same old stuffbut with a few new tweaks. Then Earth Defense Force Six is definitely worth picking up. It’s afantastically fun horde shooterthat needs more eyes on it.
