Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow Of New Despair Review

As the name of the game implies, Earth Defense Force is all about defending the Earth. Should you enlist to protect the planet? Or is this game better off left to someone else? Check out our honest Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow Of New Despair Review to help you make your choice!

Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow Of New Despair Review

The story of Earth Defense Force (EDF) 4.1 follows up to the previous games finish. It has been seven years since the end of the last game, and the bugs are back. The EDF got the call are are forced into action to take on the giant bugs that are attacking the planet. Though they are caught off guard by the sudden attack, they are still prepared to fight. You play as a key soldier in the EDF and help them push the bugs back from where they came. You have no name, but the other soldiers will follow you into the fight.

Although you have no name, you do get to choose from four different classes to take on the bug swarms. There is the Ranger, The Wing Diver, The Air Raider and the Fencer. The Ranger is the basic class and can only hold 2 weapons, it is mainly used for you to get used to the game. The Wing Diver is the speedy low armor class and it can fly. Air Raiders are mainly used to support other players and can call down vehicles to be used. Last is the Fencer which is heavy armored, duel wielding death machine. The fencer is by far the most difficult to learn and id advised for only advanced players.

No matter what class you use the name of the game is the same, kill bugs. This starts of pretty simple with only giant ants and spiders but quickly evolves more advanced bugs and other enemies. This is pretty fun at first but it quickly fades as you find yourself doing the same things over and over. Pick Class and weapons, spawn in, grab AI allies (or play online), go kill bugs. Though the bugs and scenery may change, this is pretty much all you do all game. If you play online, you might get more enjoyment out of it but for the most part I could only handle hour spurts at a time.

Online works pretty well, no issues finding matches or anything like that. I was totally out gunned in most matches I played in, but it is co op online so that isn’t really an issue. There is a versus mode but it is only local and split screen so I couldn’t test it, missed opportunity in my opinion. Playing co op online is a great way to grind gear and armor though.

That is one thing the game has going for it, tons of equipment and weapons. Each class has different weapons they can equip and each weapon type typically has 10+ types to find and test out. If you get burnt out on a single class or weapon style, you just switch classes and start getting some more weapons. Weapons also have levels, higher levels, stronger weapons. There are some restrictions on missions though, for instance you can’t bring a level 10 weapon into a starter level and just wreck everything.

The game is a remaster of the PlayStation 3 game and it certainly shows. We didn’t come across many stutters in the game so it runs fine, even with the 100s of bugs on screen at once. The game is completely destructible as well, sometimes you need to bring down buildings to make getting to the bugs easier. The sounds in the game are pretty on point for a b-grade sci-fi flick. You get the typical screaming citizens and the over-enthusiastic soldiers in most levels. At the end of some levels you can even hear the soldiers sing the EDF theme song, pretty funny.

The price point is going to be the big killer for this game. It comes in at $49.99 when it seems like it should be a 30$ game. Overall at the price point, I just can’t recommend it to anyone who isn’t big into the franchise already.