Access all of our TGS 2018 coverage here!
Giant ants, a spaceship armada, and anthropomorphic frogs. This is not a description of a sci-fi B movie, but Earth Defense Force, a series of third person shooters by D3 Publisher.
Earth Defense Force is well known for its campiness. Just take a look at the first trailer for their newest installment, Earth Defense Force 5. Set to the tune of Beethoven Symphony No. 5, the trailer shows giant ants falling out of the sky, really bad blood animation, and comically terrible voice acting.
Earth Defence Force 5 has been out in Japan since December 2017, and it will eventually make its way to the western market in late 2018. When it launches, the game will have two editions, standard and deluxe. The deluxe version will include all future DLC, as well as extra missions, weapons, and more content. Both versions are available to pre-order on the PlayStation Store.
Other than Earth Defense Force 5, D3 is also releasing another Earth Defense Force spin-off, Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain. It has the same feel, and the elements that are quintessentially Earth Defense Force. Hiliariously gigantic enemies, alien spaceships, and delightfully campy dialogue. Just witness this epic trailer.
There is one big difference,however. The graphics have received a significant upgrade from Earth Defense Force 5. While that game looks like it belongs in the late 90s or early 2000s, Iron Rain’s graphics looks newer and crisper, like a game designed for the PlayStation 4.
We’ve had a brief go at the TGS demo build and as expected, it was built upon the silly, over-the-top blasting of giant ants, and robots rampaging through a city. There were some pretty funky physics at play too, which is very apparent when the ants “flop” clumsily over low-rise buildings, and the way they fall upside down when they die did looked comical. Yet, despite the silliness of it all, there’s just something addictive about shooting away mindlessly at hordes of giant adversaries, with a wide range of weapons at the player’s disposal.
Both games will feature 2-player split-screen co-op play as well as 4-player online modes. Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain is expected to be released sometime in 2019.
Access all of our TGS 2018 coverage here!
Yonk is a geek who is fortunate enough to have an equally geeky Star Wars fan for a wife, who owns a LEGO Millennium Falcon encased in a glass coffee table as their home’s centre-piece.
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