Earth Defense Force / Chikyū Bōeigun by Sandlot MEGATHREAD

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Because I'm a massive EDF fan, here's a catch-all thread for discussions about Earth Defense Force / Chikyū Bōeigun (and might as well also cover Sandlot's lesser known games like Gigantic Drive / Robot Alchemic Drive)!

It's really impressive how well the PS2 era games have stood up to their later counterparts, evoking the same sense of scale when facing down hordes of monsters, albeit with more NPCs to flesh things out. The first games in the series I played were EDF Insect Armageddon (it's really bad) and EDF 2017/CB3, followed by 2025, 4.1, and 5. I then went and checked out the PS2 games afterwards and had a ton of fun with them. My thoughts on the games I've played are as follows, I'm curious to see what others thought of each game.


Monster Attack (eu) / Chikyū Bōeigun (jp):

I played the very generically named English release for this. Really fun, the only downside the game has is the framerate which at times takes a serious hit due to pushing the hardware to the limit, but remains very impressive for a a PS2 era game with its scale! EDF 2017, the third game, really does feel like a good reimagining of this one.

One thing I wondered he missions were really quiet due to the lack of NPCs and voice work; does the Japanese version have more mid-mission dialogue I wonder?

I was really impressed with the robot designs in this one! They felt pretty cool to tackle, even coming from EDF 2017 and 2025. Weapon selection wasn't bad either considering it was the first game and had fairly limited options compared to later games that flesh out Ranger weapon selection. The game is definitely easier than later ones in the series though, in part because no enemies have specific weakpoints you need to hit to damage them. All the major boss enemies can be hit anywhere to take them down.


Global Defence Force (eu) / Chikyū Bōeigun 2 (jp):

Only played a bit of this so far, but it feels like more of the same as the first PS2 game with new enemies and maps, so pretty good stuff! Having a second character class to play as along with double the weapons also really fleshes out the game, and it's interesting to see that they were every bit as crazy powerful as Wing Divers are in 2025 onward. I remember introducing some friends to EDF 4.1 and they wondered if it was cheating to play as a Wing Diver due to how mobile and powerful you were, and I'd have to explain that no, flying classes with crazy energy weapons have been around since the second game!


Earth Defense Force 2017 (na) / Chikyū Bōeigun 3 (jp)

The shift to the much more powerful Xbox 360 meant that the game could actually run at a decent framerate without too many issues aside from really enemy-dense maps. You also had a LOT of chatter from NPCs with you now, making it feel like a really lively game. Splitscreen co-op sadly didn't get mid-mission revival it seems until later games, but other than that it's a ton of fun and there's a huge variety of weapons to play with.

It's the last of the Japanese developed games that has automatic lock on missile weapons that fire and forget instead of needing you to manually lock on, which makes them really effective for run 'n gun tactics.

The last mission against the Mothership is an incredible visual spectacle the first time you experience it and really does a good job of evoking the desperate one man army feel the game goes for.


Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon (na)

My first exposure to the series. I thought it was pretty cool, but then I played the other games and learned the error of my ways. The only really positive thing I have to say about it is the controls for dodging are probably better than mapping dodge and jump to the same button. Also, the armor designs are very cool, and the lady doing the voice acting for ops is 10/10 quality. Turns out Parminder Nagra is a fairly major TV and Film actress, no idea how she got recruited to play a role in a budget game, but she nails it.

There's a LOT that's fundamentally broken about the game though, like a whole laundry list of major issues:

• Waypoint based mission structure. Instead of the freedom of a sandboxy open map with no objectives aside from survive and kill everything, you're constantly forced to run from Point A to Point B, minimizing how much you can freely explore and appreciate the map.

• Enemies are a lot smaller and faster. The hordes are also considerably less dense, and enemies spawn by just popping up around you, seemingly from random spots at times if you take a long time getting to the next waypoint. It makes it feel a bit like you're constantly picked away at while being surrounded on all sides.

• Anthills can't be destroyed by being shot at from afar. You HAVE to run up to them and lay an explosive charge... and the timer for setting it up is reset whenever you're hit by anything. The spawns from anthills can be temporarily slowed by shooting them, but they reopen super fast and will instantly spawn a wave of enemies after opening, meaning the only way to close them is to run in and risk hits while laying the explosive (or hope your NPCs cover you well enough to keep hits off you). It feels really sloppy, and also discourages long ranged combat as a tactical option since you're constantly railroaded through missions forced to deal with anthills up close.

• There's a measly 15 missions compared to the 40-50 the average game has. They all last a fairly long time, but a lot of it is running from one waypoint to the next, and the lack of any short, simple mission (mission 2 in most games) where you can go in to just test new weapons is annoying. There's "remixed" versions of the missions you can unlock and a survival mode, but the remixed versions just replace some enemy spawns with different spawn types. This tends to mean more ticks, which are probably the most annoying enemy in any EDF game due to how small they are and how damaging they tend to be.

• Map size varies tremendously but due to shield walls everywhere, it's usually much smaller and cramped compared to your average EDF game. There's several missions early on where your movement is heavily restricted, even compared to the average underground mission in EDF 2017.

• Sniper Rifles can't accurately be hip fired (some of the later ones the Jet gets might apparently improve this, but the ones from level 1 to 4 all appear to have awful aim unless using the zoom function).

• Grinding for the next upgrade and weapon tier eventually takes FOREVER and it feels like you're stuck with the same loadout for 10 maps in a row. You instantly level from 1 to 2 on your first mission, 2 to 3 isn't too bad, but 3 to 4 takes a fair bit of time with it only getting downright painful from there. You have to replay a ton of missions or skip ahead to another difficulty to hit level 5, the cap for Normal mode. Progression in late Normal, and later difficulties feels like it's at a snail's pace, meaning you're stuck with the same limited weapon pool for a very, very long time, instead of the constant, linear progression of new weapons as you work your way through the game.

• Random weapon drops from boss type enemies can be for any class, and are often inappropriate for your level. Every now and then you'll score a really useful one though, and there's several that are better than the ones you automatically get when going up a weapon tier.

• Your NPC allies are idiots and often will actively run into the corner of the map for no reason. I had this happen twice on my last playthrough, where instead of following me they insisted on hanging out in one spot until all the enemies wandered over and died. One time an NPC died INSIDE A WALL where I couldn't get to respawn in. Respawns heal back to FULL HEALTH so timing it so an NPC can respawn you actually seems to be a useful strategy in missions with low health drops. It also encourages silly strategies like deliberately killing a low health NPC just to respawn them at full health. Health pickups do heal your NPCs too as it does for Rangers in 4.1, but health items feel fewer and farther between.

• Wasps can grab you and their grab attack is 100% inescapable. You're totally reliant on an NPC to shoot it off you. The attack is mercifully rare, but if no NPC is near and alive to save you (or decides to fail miserably at crossing a bridge to get to you) you're gonna die as you can't mash out or shoot your way out of this grab. Apparently this happens even on the unlockable mode where you can play solo without NPCs! >w>

In summary, it's a bad EDF game and can be ignored entirely compared to the vastly superior EDF 2017 and EDF 2025. It's on Xbox 360 and PC, and the PC version has all the same issues, while offering EDF 4.1 and EDF 5 instead. Just play those, they're way better.


• Earth Defense Force 2025 (na) & EDF 4.1

Amazingly fun game. 4.1 is a remastered version with more NPCs in missions, heavily rebalanced weapons (particularly for Air Raider who has some major tweaks and nerfs in Limpet Snipers and Wireguns), improved mechanics for Rangers and Fencers (who can now roll through obstacles), and smooth 60 FPS framerate on PC, making for a really fun online or splitscreen experience.

The class system is amazing and the Fencer in particular is a lot of fun to dash around with and smash through enemies. Still retains the classic classes for use too, if you want the more mundane feel of the Ranger for instance.

2025's framerate on the Xbox 360 isn't great compared to 4.1 so you're not missing out on much by playing only 4.1, but I do like to revisit 2025's missions as they were pretty much all retooled in 4.1. Coop is a lot of fun too, and the revival system where you trade half your health to respawn an ally, but can't do so if your health is critical and flashing red (like 10% left) is a good system and makes for some fun, strategic cooperative play. It can be intense to be the last man standing in a team and manage to pick everyone back up and save the day!


• Earth Defense Force 5

The starting armor designs suck but mercifully you get proper armor a few missions into the game. I'm not sure I like how playing as one class progresses ALL classes now. It'll appeal to people who don't like the grind and you can just make one save file for each class if you want to grind them all separately. Otherwise, the game's great. The Fencer's changes make him even more crazy, and offers more freedom than heavily encouraging shield and spear as a default combo. Along with 4.1 and 2017 this is arguably the best in the series.

[Lander]

To save our mother earth from any alien attack~

Brilliant series. 4.1 was my first exposure, and is easily up there as one of the best 4-man co-op experiences I've had. I lose count of the ways the game had us cracking up from its sheer earnest goofiness, both intentional and not.
The tongue-in-cheek presentation is a welcome treat, since it's one thing to fill a script with gags, but quite another to build a game where comedy touches every part of the experience.

5 was great fun too - nice mechanical refinements, though the aesthetic didn't grab me in the same way as 4.

Some really memorable encounters in there - fending off a beach invasion of giant robots, kiting innumerable tripods around city blocks, and one particular wasteland map that was just nothing but wasps. Prime real estate for some Air Raider scorched earth tactics.
Love the class variety; I started off with EZ mode Wing Diver, but each one has its own crazy bullshit to discover. Though Ranger is starting to look more and more like the challenge pick next to its peers' escalation of heavy metal, superweaponry and armored core pile bunking.

[Sima Tuna]

From vicious giant insects who have once again come back

I love EDF. 2017, aka EDF 3, was my first exposure. I played the hell out of that on my xbox 360. Then I played 2025 when that dropped. Loved that too. EDF is rather unique, in that performance issues don't really impact my enjoyment of the games. Every EDF game has framerate issues, but they're so fun I never mind.

EDF has an undeserved reputation, like Musou games, for being "mindless." That's not so. Although your weapons have infinite ammo, you must balance your reloads and movement carefully in order not to get destroyed. Enemies are relentless and each has its own simplistic, yet effective AI. Black ants will swarm around you in a loose circle, then spray acid out in an arc so it's hard to avoid. Spiders will jump above, to the side and behind, to more easily catch you with webs when they fire them off. Red ants rush you in a massive horde, and their inflated health combined with overlapping hitboxes makes it hard to stem the tide before they can reach you. If the horde does reach you, they will almost certainly succeed in biting you to death or combo grabbing you.

And these are the simplest enemies. Drones, Deeroys, Colonists, Bees, Shields, Teleporter Ships, Pillbugs... Every unit is unique and each requires a different strategy. The game frequently combines them in new and challenging ways to see how you'll crack the latest tag-team.

I'm a Wing Diver main, so I live for the freedom, myself. There's something about being able to fly from one end of the map to another. Even more so because of the verticality in Sandlot's map design. I love the way Wing Diver gets to slip between, above, around and through buildings while in the middle of a firefight. EDF 5's introduction of humanoid aliens only makes Wing Diver combat more exciting. Wing Diver vs an alien squad is an adrenaline rush I can't get anywhere else. Let them corner you and you're dead. Stop for a moment and you're dead. Run out of energy? Dead. But you absolutely have the firepower and the speed to shred an enemy squad, even if they stay together.

My favorite EDF game is probably 4.1, because I'm not the hugest fan of Wing Diver's charge weapon change in EDF 5. That modification somewhat limits the weapons I feel comfortable taking into missions. It's not that all charge weapons are completely unviable, but the ones that take around 100 energy to charge are a pretty rough ask when I'm in the air. You also cannot fire charge weapons when your energy is gone and you're recharging. One of my primary strategies for recharge cycles is to pull out a fully-loaded weapon and spray it everywhere until I regain my energy. Otherwise, the Wing Diver is too easy to kill without her speed. But charge weapons aren't compatible with this strategy. I realize Wing Diver was buffed in other ways for EDF 5. I'm not crazy about those. Infinite flight with the dash button feels overpowered, and not entirely in a good way. Spamming one button to fly forever lacks the elegant push-and-pull of Wing Diver's normal moon jump strategy. Granted, enemy power levels have been increased, but even so. You can air dash spam your way out of most enemy combinations. Only a few enemies (heavy weapons colonists and shotgun frogs) can swat a dashing Wing Diver out of the air.

[Kilmaattikahn]

We'll unleash all our forces, we won't cut them any slack

Polite request for removal of the IA section because it's not by Sandlot and imo not a real EDF title.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

The EDF deploys!

5 was great fun too - nice mechanical refinements, though the aesthetic didn't grab me in the same way as 4.

I liked the new enemy designs, though I don't know if they were quite as distinctive as some in 4.1. Might be nostalgia talking as I've played 2025/4.1 way more. I do know I really wasn't keen on the new Fencer look, looks a bit too "chunky" for my tastes?

Polite request for removal of the IA section because it's not by Sandlot and imo not a real EDF title.

It's pretty offensively bad once you've played the actual series. It's still one of the two games that got me into EDF though...!

There's also Iron Rain, I haven't tried that one but I have my reservations about it for similar reasons to IA, as it's not a mainline game by Sandlot's dev team as far as I know.

EDF is rather unique, in that performance issues don't really impact my enjoyment of the games. Every EDF game has framerate issues, but they're so fun I never mind.

It makes it more cinematic in a way, and it's also HILARIOUS to see the game pause briefly as it calculates trajectories when you hit 100+ enemies with a huge missile as they spawn. Great stuff.

EDF has an undeserved reputation, like Musou games, for being "mindless." That's not so. Although your weapons have infinite ammo, you must balance your reloads and movement carefully in order not to get destroyed.

Totally agree. It's a fun game, but the later difficulty modes require real skill and tactical weapon selection to win. I remember seeing one mission in 4.1 getting a lot of help requests on forums from beginners who were getting slapped around, Mission 23: Giant Robots. It's one where Wing Diver and Fencer can solo it even with online scaling without too much trouble and a little extra armor from the default (Thunder Bow will own them hard, Fencer with a Tower Shield, Blasthole Spear, and some long range tools with a dash weapon). But try a Ranger or Air Raider without a strategy, and you'll get wrecked hard, even at the mission's max armor. One Hector catching you with its machineguns can tear you up. If you're playing Ranger in a group you can go ULTRA BIG BRAIN strats and dual-wield Fusion Blasters, giving you enough ammo with good aim and control to wipe most of the Hectors from the map with zero effort, freeing up your teammates to mop up everything else.

I made it a point to see if Normal is realistically doable with a Ranger or Air Raider in Online solo. Ranger can do it at max armor limit with dual wielded Stringers, or Stringer + Fusion Blaster. Air Raider genuinely struggles as a helicopter can't reliably get off the ground before getting shot up. You actually have to play past this mission, grab ZE-GUNs which are at the weapon limit but only drop later, and come back dual wielding those to really breeze through as an Air Raider (there's also a tank that's at the weapon limit that has 3 times the health of earlier tanks). Hard is actually easier than Normal I'd argue, because you have a much wider choice of weapons by the time you're here.

Just a small example of what's possible with a little strategy, though I know I'm preaching to the choir here!

Wing Diver vs an alien squad is an adrenaline rush I can't get anywhere else. Let them corner you and you're dead. Stop for a moment and you're dead. Run out of energy? Dead. But you absolutely have the firepower and the speed to shred an enemy squad, even if they stay together.

Wing Diver is an amazingly well designed risk vs reward class. I think it's really interesting how you recharge much faster when in overheat. It adds a real layer of depth and strategy in terms of when to deliberately trigger an overheat in order to get a full meter, planning so your weapons or at least your backup weapon is reloaded before doing so, and so on. It's in many ways more interesting than games where you're punished for overheating and recharge faster if you still have some meter remaining.

I feel like I might be in the minority, but after messing around with the game, if I'm playing offline I generally try to play through the difficulties in order instead of jumping to Hardest/Inferno, grabbing superweapons, and cheesing Normal/Hard for completion medals while oneshotting everything. Playing the difficulties in order gives the games more longevity and helps you appreciate the weapon progression more, I think.

It feels like the best weapon guides out there focus too much exclusively on Inferno. I know the games are old but I'm tempted to do some weapon analysis guides, as there's some interesting choice to be made in weapon selection in the lower difficulties too. Normal and Hard have some weapons show up that are wildly overpowered for their level range that don't get discussed much. For instance, none of the shotguns the Ranger gets are terribly good except the level 2 DLC one that pierces... but the Buffalo G3 Burst is the exact point where you could ditch Assault Rifles and use shotguns for a lot of things thanks to its range and crazy damage. Then there's the Stringer J2, which reloads so fast and deals so much damage it can conceivably be used up to early Inferno and qualifies as a legit superweapon. Fencer's Level 0 Blasthole Spear can last you well into Normal, like until the M2 version shows up, due to damage and the fact that every other spear/spine/fist weapon has such low range. Limpet Launcher is an insanely powerful Air Raider weapon for a direct damage weapon, letting you pretend you're a Ranger as its stats and DPS are comparable with the first Goliath, and is amazing for the remainder of Normal and early Hard. It's shockingly good at getting Deroy kills easily.

[Sima Tuna]

Wing Diver is an amazingly well designed risk vs reward class. I think it's really interesting how you recharge much faster when in overheat. It adds a real layer of depth and strategy in terms of when to deliberately trigger an overheat in order to get a full meter, planning so your weapons or at least your backup weapon is reloaded before doing so, and so on. It's in many ways more interesting than games where you're punished for overheating and recharge faster if you still have some meter remaining.

I feel like I might be in the minority, but after messing around with the game, if I'm playing offline I generally try to play through the difficulties in order instead of jumping to Hardest/Inferno, grabbing superweapons, and cheesing Normal/Hard for completion medals while oneshotting everything. Playing the difficulties in order gives the games more longevity and helps you appreciate the weapon progression more, I think.

It feels like the best weapon guides out there focus too much exclusively on Inferno. I know the games are old but I'm tempted to do some weapon analysis guides, as there's some interesting choice to be made in weapon selection in the lower difficulties too. Normal and Hard have some weapons show up that are wildly overpowered for their level range that don't get discussed much. For instance, none of the shotguns the Ranger gets are terribly good except the level 2 DLC one that pierces... but the Buffalo G3 Burst is the exact point where you could ditch Assault Rifles and use shotguns for a lot of things thanks to its range and crazy damage. Then there's the Stringer J2, which reloads so fast and deals so much damage it can conceivably be used up to early Inferno and qualifies as a legit superweapon. Fencer's Level 0 Blasthole Spear can last you well into Normal, like until the M2 version shows up, due to damage and the fact that every other spear/spine/fist weapon has such low range. Limpet Launcher is an insanely powerful Air Raider weapon for a direct damage weapon, letting you pretend you're a Ranger as its stats and DPS are comparable with the first Goliath, and is amazing for the remainder of Normal and early Hard. It's shockingly good at getting Deroy kills easily.

Absolutely agree about Wing Diver's risk/reward on overheating. The difference in recharge speed isn't small either. You recharge much faster when redlining. But redlining is a death sentence when certain enemies are on the field. Large Deroys, alien squads, red ants and upgraded drones are all able to swiftly exploit a grounded Wing Diver. Use of tactical redlining relies on finding the right part of the map to do it. Either one that's easily defensible with your backup weapon, or a zone that's hard for enemies to reach (such as the top of a tall building.)

I agree about the difficulties. I really recommend every player to go through on either Normal or Hard first. Hard if you find Normal too easy. But jumping to Inferno, grinding a few missions for all the best guns and then steamrolling misses out on part of the careful design. See, EDF is one of those games that substantially changes its missions as they increase in difficulty. They add new waves and stronger waves. You won't understand what's been changed if you start from Inferno.

Ranger is my secondary class. I play Wing Diver and Ranger. Never could get the hang of Fencer and I don't find Air Raider's playstyle enjoyable, although the mechs are hilariously strong. Ranger is like the polar opposite of Wing Diver, with the way I play. You have almost no ability to avoid fire, but extreme damage output. Damage mitigation typically involves utilizing your massive firepower to stunlock everything that looks at you. The default assault rifle is hilariously strong in sustained DPS considering how short its reload times usually are. The missile launcher functions well as your compulsory sniper option until/unless you obtain an instant-kill super-sniper.

My only complaint of EDF in general regards weapon ranges. Towards the latter part of the game, in every game, you start running into more and more "distant" enemies. Foes you must fight at distances of greater than 400 meters. And I don't mean "it's a good idea to fight them far away." No, I mean "Literally impossible to get any closer than that." I've had 200 range lasers equipped on my Wing Diver and still been forced to stand on top of a skyscraper and THEN fly to the very top of the skybox, JUST so I can shoot a fucking drone that refuses to come down.

This has the practical result of forcing all builds to carry a sniper rifle in the second half of the game, or else risk encountering bosses/enemies they can never damage.

I would like Sandlot to slowly increase the effective range of *all* weapons, so that we may someday reach a point where any medium-range weapon can viably attack any boss or flying opponent in the game. That's my one major criticism of EDF from a design point of view. There are too many enemies who stay out of range unless you have a sniper rifle. Mid-range weapons won't cut it, and I say this as someone whose main is the most agile class in the game. It's not enough. When the game designs to spawn an enemy way up in the sky, you either bring a sniper or eat shit.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

When the game designs to spawn an enemy way up in the sky, you either bring a sniper or eat shit.

Or you fly high enough to get a slightly out of range weapon into range? Lucky Wing Divers have that option. But yeah, that's one thing Insect Armageddon did well, is all weapons (even shotguns surprisingly) are capable of hitting the high up flying enemies, albeit to different effectiveness. Perhaps a compromise would be increasing the distance but inducing a damage dropoff penalty whereby using it at such a long range is still far from ideal, but workable. I agree though, part of the series is learning which missions you can safely forego a long range weapon and take a more versatile close range setup... or to always bring a sniper and just deal with it. Some weapons are nice and let you more or less not worry about this though. Ranger's Stringer works well up close and at long range, as does the WD's Thunder Bow (especially the crazy high level ones that sometimes aggro too aggressively).

Fencer's my main man. I also like Air Raider and Ranger for how much more limited and different they feel. Wing Diver is fun, but I just tend to play it the least cause everyone online goes Wing Diver. Fencer is tough to play though, and I'm a firm believer that the default controls do not lend themselves to playing it comfortably unless you're used to claw gripping. I prefer this setup with a controller (Xbox layout):

LT: Left Weapon (shields, gallic cannons, hammers, etc)
RT: Right Weapon (always a dash capable weapon except in rare circumstances)

LB: Quick chat
RB: Reload

Left Stick Button: vehicle rescue (I have it remapped in Steam to the Back button) - this setup prevents you from using the Balam's taunt ability, but this isn't really an issue as I generally stick to the ground to fight em as a Fencer anyways

Right Stick Button: mark/indicate target

X: Use Right Hand Ability (for dashing)
A: Use Left Hand Ability (for zooming, jumping, reflecting)
Y: Jump
B: Weapon Swap

This setup avoids the main issue the default has with a controller, which is your fingers cramping from being in a claw shape. You'll have to move your thumb from the right stick to X to dash, but this is something that you do in other games with dodging like Vanquish, Gears of War, etc, and you generally have plenty of time to adjust your aim during attack windups after a dash. It also means you can comfortably dash while holding a hammer or sword charge down, using your index fingers for the main attack buttons.

If you want your thumb on right stick at all times, swap RB and X, so RB is your dash button. You can move your index finger between RB and RT if you don't want to claw grip, while still using A to dash with dual wield setups or left hand dash setups.

Keyboard would get even weirder. I don't use KB + Mouse, but I'd probably do Shift as Left Shoot, Left Mouse as Right Shoot, Right Mouse as use right weapon to dash, and go from there. Hold shift for long periods with to shield basically, or use it as your dashing button if you can't hold it with your pinkie for long periods? I dunno. The entry barrier to Fencer is VERY high due to the controls, but man is it ever satisfying to be a class that excels at coming to the rescue and being very difficult to kill in a team situation. You're very awkward to use but you have speed, damage, crowd control, damage reduction... just not as good anti air, at least not until long range Spine Drivers or Spears show. Also, the Fencer's just plain stylish, can't get enough of him.

Weapon selection for a Fencer is also critical; I've seen newbies go in without any dash capable weapons on either of their pairs of weapons, making them sitting ducks for attacks and a liability. Dashing is your #1 tool for offense and defense. Dual wielding certain long range weapons such as missile launchers or Gallic Cannons does allow for crazy DPS, but I find a Gallic Cannon + Spear/Spine works better as you can dash and reposition in between shots. Without dashing, the recoil from shots takes so long to recover that you're a sitting duck for even long range plasma bombardment from Hectors that'd normally be easy for even a Ranger to avoid by simply moving while shooting.

[Lander]

Fencer is superb once you get the hang of its box-strafe canceling and dash attack properties. I often find myself rocking dual miniguns in one slot for range and foot-planted leadwalling, then sword and board in the other for mobility and melee.
Great class for carrying in rough situations, or going full escalation and bringing a full team of them to break through a particularly tough co-op mission without resorting to grind.
Though I wish its weapon selection wasn't so predicated on which weapon type grants which ability; it feels like a lot of interesting setups are rendered nonviable by the fact that you need a blasthole spear equivalent to retain access to the class' critical kit.

I tend to do the Souls layout and put attacks + abilities on the triggers to keep thumbs on sticks as much as possible, though last time I played was with an esoteric Steam Controller setup that pulled every trick in the book to ergonomify the experience.
If memory serves you can map stick to mouse to get more precise recoil control for miniguns, though iirc it's one of those games that doesn't like to mix and match inputs, so you have to move everything else to keyboard as well and lose analog movement.

And man, Balam one of the highlights of introducing people to the series is reaching that mission and hearing the woooooah as it enters the battlefield and presents the giant GET IN ring.
5's new Voltron variant was rad too, though the need for a full crew kind of hurt its utility outside of full-party play. Would have been nice if you could crew it with AI soldiers for more general use.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Though I wish its weapon selection wasn't so predicated on which weapon type grants which ability; it feels like a lot of interesting setups are rendered nonviable by the fact that you need a blasthole spear equivalent to retain access to the class' critical kit.

I think I'm okay with how they have it. If every single setup had access to basic dashing, it'd make some otherwise risky setups way, way too powerful. Dual Gallic/Battle Cannons for instance are insanely powerful for long range sniping, especially considering they pierce. Dual wielding them is very risky though because you can't dash away until the recoil from a shot ends and you switch weapons, but if you have folks who can keep aggro off you, it can be tremendously useful for long range sniping DPS. If you could dash with them freely, it'd mean there's no real reason not to dual wield them compared to Cannon + spear/hammer/sword, at which point they'd be unquestionably OP.

I do appreciate that EDF5 added dashing as a basic function to some missile launchers though. Missile launchers are fun but aren't a terribly strong Fencer option and the early ones have such low range that they're practically unusable, so having them serve as a potential dash tool at least gives you an alternative to using a melee weapon.

[BIL]

Superb thread, much appreciated! I've been sleeping on this series since the goddamn PS2, this'll come in handy.

[Sima Tuna]

The most friendly and feature-rich entry points are probably EDF 5 or EDF 4.1. I think the majority will largely recommend EDF 5 as the best game in the series so far. Sandlot has yet to make a downright "bad" mainline EDF game. I've heard EDF 6 is even better, but we have only the word of those with access to the japanese game. 4.1 is my favorite game in the series because of the way Wing Diver works in 4.1 compared to 5. I spoke about that already. But if you choose to play a different character (BIL would probably enjoy Ranger or Fencer the most) then you'll likely think EDF 5 is superior.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

EDF 4.1 I think is a better entry point for a newbie for a couple reasons: a) it tends to go on sale more often than EDF 5, so you don't have to invest as much money if you're worried you won't enjoy it (you will) and b) the first 40 missions are paced so they play out like a condensed version of EDF 2017, so you're getting the experience and feel of the older games. EDF 5 is great too though, and honestly all the Sandlot produced games have aged well, so going from EDF 5 to EDF 4.1 or EDF 1 you'll still have a great time if you enjoy the formula.

[Lander]

c) EDF 4.1 has the objectively superior call-and-response song, as demonstrated in posts #2 through #5

I think I'm okay with how they have it. If every single setup had access to basic dashing, it'd make some otherwise risky setups way, way too powerful.

True, I guess my gripe is mostly predicated around single player, since solo play doesn't allow team composition to make up for individual class weaknesses.

I suppose could leverage that complaint at all of the classes though, since all four have some subset of weapons that are interesting, but ultimately not useful unless you have backup.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

c) EDF 4.1 has the objectively superior call-and-response song, as demonstrated in posts #2 through #5

That was a thing of pure beauty and I am genuinely overjoyed to have been a part of it.

I suppose could leverage that complaint at all of the classes though, since all four have some subset of weapons that are interesting, but ultimately not useful unless you have backup.

Yeah, and there's a few weapons that are simply joke tier weapons that aren't meant to actually be used in combat, some that are barely usable but rather impractical... I think the game manages to have plenty of fun, solo-viable loadouts, with the "this works a lot better in multiplayer" being limited enough that there's a good mix regardless of if you're going it alone or with a team. Obviously multiplayer's an opportunity to have fun and experiment more! There's nothing like a Fencer with missiles giving an Air Raider essentially infinite air strikes, but you can also have fun with stuff like the Air Raider putting C40 bombs on bikes and having a Ranger drive them up close to blast bosses to bits with them, with the Ranger packing a Fusion Blaster or something to finish off survivors.

[-Fish-]

Love all the EDF games. Big fan. Personally I give 4.1 the slight nod to 5 though.. on PC at least. Both hold a solid 60fps and play great but 4.1 looks a bit cleaner graphically IMO. Not a big fan of the debris and bug splatter in 5. The textures in 5 makes things look a bit messy as well. The missions in 4.1 are also a bit more epic in feel compared to 5, though I think this is mainly due to 4.1 having more enemies on the playfield at once and the map scenarios feeling slightly more varied. Now with that said the class changes in 5, especially with Air Raider and Fencer, are so good it's almost impossible to go back and play 4.1 afterwards. For anyone new to the series I'd say play 4.1 then 5. They are both amazingly fun and worth your time. Haven't play 6 yet but I'm eagerly waiting for it's release on PC.

[Lander]

I gave Earth Defense Force: World Brothers a go today - the spinoff with Minecraft graphics.

It's a fun little game, very much "EDF does The Lego Movie" in tone. Lots of self-referential humor and Go Team type stuff versus the usual distaster B-movie.
The kiddie factor is likely to grate after a while thanks to frequent VO quips, but there are some fun gags in there for series fans, like giving the Air Raider a "Hate me all you want, all good leaders should be feared" Genghis Khan spiel

Gameplay is better than expected from Yuke's; the core is solid, and enemy density is good. Mechanically it's more about breadth than depth versus the mainline titles - rather than grinding weapons and armor, you grind character classes via a three-rescuable-per-mission gacha-ish system, and get automatic armor bonuses after each mission.
Each class comes with its own weapon, one or two abilities, and a super, and you take 4 into a mission as a squad that can be tagged between. This solves for the single-class problem when playing solo, and opens up some interesting possibilities like flying up to a building as a Wing Diver before tagging in a sniper.
Weapons are also tweaked; each character class has a base weapon type like rifles, launchers, etc. and can freely pick from that pool. To wit, you can commit heresy and hand the Wing Diver a Blasthole Spear from moment one

That said, it's not as mad as you'd think, since the mechanics that support the BS are absent here. It's still strong, but more of a simple three-hit combo with built-in motion and no vertical aiming that could probably be used well by any character once they unlock its weapon type.
Unfortunately, that's something of a theme; in becoming a multi-class tag game, much of the characteristic class depth has been left behind, resulting in more of a team comp affair with novelty characters. Entertaining, but less engaging than the mainline series for a seasoned player.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Great write-up, thanks! One I've not played yet but definitely seems amusing enough to be worth the price of entry.

I took the plunge and received PS2 copies of CB and CB2 to play on the weekend. Very inexpensive on eBay, guess they're not really seen as a collector item fortunately! There's a bit of trial and error as I don't read Japanese well enough to read the weapon descriptions, but with everything being sorted by weapon type, knowing what each stat represents, and experimenting by replaying one of the early short missions, it's easy enough to figure out what each weapon does and progress through the game. Really happy to be able to own copies of them (I've got a modchipped PS2 so I can play imports I've purchased).

[Sima Tuna]

Yeah, I had a similar experience with EDF3 japanese version on my switch. I couldn't tell what every weapon was immediately, but they're sorted by category and display the range/damage info. So I was able to deduce most of them that way. If nothing else, I could take a weapon set into level 1 to see what they were.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

It's honestly really good design that every game in the series has a really short level 2 that seems to work well for testing, with only one quick wave of ants to deal with. The beach maps that throw nothing but red ants at you are also a lot of fun as a test mission. With so many varying weapons it helps to have a good training mission to try out. This was one complaint I had with the first Armored Core game; its "test" room was small, indoors, and with two very agile, durable enemies that loved to hop around and fly. Made it hard to properly test some of the weapons as they're generally much more agile than most enemies in the game. The sequel, Project Phantasma, was the first one with the Arena, which served as a far better spot to try out weapons without risking burning tons of cash as a result of ammo costs or failing a mission because the weapons were wildly unsuited for the task. The Arena honestly was one of the best additions to the series, and it feels kinda weird to not have it replaying the first game.

Insect Armageddon was also missing this; the first mission has a lengthy unskippable cutscene at the start, and the second mission is fairly long and requires aborting the mission if you go into it just to test weapons. I suppose there was the Survival mode too, but again, having a quick, fun mission to play as a sandbox to try weapons out without needing to quit in the middle of it feels better (and you can get a bit of armor out of it, too).

EDIT:

I'm currently replaying all the games in the series, starting with CB and CB2 for the PS2 now that I've had the chance to put in some time on my imported copies! Very impressive how huge the map scale is for the PS2. The framerate also runs surprisingly well, certainly not 100% smooth 60 FPS, but for a game that pushes the limits it's really, really good.

Have you played Chikyu Bouiegun 2 / Global Defense Force, Sima Tuna? I think you'd love this game, the handling of Wing Divers is basically the same as EDF 4.1, with their mainstay weapons all first appearing here. It's honestly becoming one of my faves in the series, possibly better than 2017. Two classes to use, a huge number of difficulties, and a tremendous number of missions compared to the first game. The maps are fun, and enemy variety is massively increased over the first game. The centipedes, pillbugs, and flying ants are all pretty fun to deal with, and in particular the flying ants are less of a hassle than the bees are in 2025/4.1 because they fly close enough for short range shotguns to actually hit. The one weird enemy of the game, the reflector shields, are a serious threat as missing a rocket shot can rebound at you, but bullet weapons tend to be relatively safe to use on them. Just be warned that sniper rifles can rebound at you if you miss, so making sure you have your shot lined up or using a weapon with lower per-bullet damage like an assault rifle on them is useful. The final boss encounters in CB2 and EDF 2017 are amazing, and in some ways better than EDF 2025/4.1's assault on the Brain which feels more chaotic, but not actually as threatening as the Floating City or the Mothership can be. You get several waves of backup NPCs against the Brain in 4.1, whereas in EDF 2017 it's strictly a you vs the mothership affair, a desperate last stand.

My only complaints in the PS2 games are: a) a lack of control remapping options, something that EDF 3 onwards fixes, and b) the cinematic camera option that turns your attention to things during the mission triggers EVERY SINGLE TIME you destroy a dropship, and for a lengthy amount of time. As with all games in the series it's recommended to play through with the camera cinematic takeover option for your first playthrough, then turn it off and leave it off.

[Sima Tuna]

I believe the game you're talking about is what I call EDF 2, right? It received a PS Vita port which added the Air Raider class and maybe a few other small things. I have played it. Of course, I played as Wing Diver/Pale Wing. Always.

My only "issue" with those earlier EDF games is they were published before friendly AI was implemented for the franchise. EDF 3 is the earliest one (IIRC) that has friendly bros to escort. EDF is still EDF, but team members added a lot of interesting elements to the gameplay. It's almost a minigame, trying to keep your little Ranger lemmings alive, and they fill up the audioscape with all manner of funny barks and songs, too. When I played EDF 2, the world just felt a bit... Empty. No doubt, it's still a quality game. Lots of missions, loads of enemy types and you have the different classes/weapons to change how the game works.

EDF 4.1 is my favorite, followed by EDF 3. Then EDF 5. EDF 5 is just too unbalanced for me (as a Wing Diver main who has no interest in playing other classes.) EDF 5 also slowed down the grind (armor pickups aren't 1:1) and added those charge weapons, both of which are kinda not cool changes. I do have to give credit to EDF 5 for the giant alien commandos. That shit is an absolute chef's kiss. Brings me back to the days of juking Elites on Legendary in Halo: CE. It's a damn shame more shooters don't spend the time to properly develop enemy AI behaviors. Technology improves, but enemies stay dumb. The new enemy types add so much to EDF 5 that it almost surpasses EDF 3 despite the new, obnoxious elements. But EDF 3 is more replayable for me. EDF 3 missions are a good mix of short and medium length. None as grueling in length as EDF 5, but there are a few slightly longer ones. I only wish EDF 3 had more missions. I think it tops out at 60-70 in the new Switch port aka the old Vita port. Which is still good compared to a modern game, but on the low end compared to the other definitive EDF games. I'm pretty sure EDF 2 pushes 80 missions and EDF 5 is well over 100.

If you like EDF 2, FYI, you should be able to fairly cheaply import the Switch version. When I imported EDF 3, the same sellers were selling 2 and they were charging a bit less for it. And yeah, in terms of the length and amount of content, EDF 2 is definitely a killer. I just prefer some of the additions of later games.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Agreed, playing one man army is appropriate for certain encounters, but it doesn't feel quite the same when you have to do it for EVERY mission! The NPCs do add a tremendous amount of fun to EDF3 onward. I haven't gotten any of the Switch ports yet; it's certainly tempting given how highly you've spoken of them. Do the new classes become gamebreakers considering the EDF3 was designed around a Ranger?

Also, is it true that splitscreen co-op was entirely removed for the Switch releases of the games? I had heard reports that that was the case but couldn't find any footage showing the main menu where it'd be (or not be).

[Sima Tuna]

I've never looked for the split-screen function on my japanese switch EDF3. It probably was cut. I believe the boot screen is

new game
load game

(the position might be switched after you create a save file, so that load game is selected by default)

And there's no toggle for 1 or 2 players split screen. IIRC options menu is something you access after you've already loaded into your file.

Pale Wing in EDF 3 isn't any more overpowered than Wing Diver always is. Flying is, of course, extremely useful in EDF. But you start with lower health and some enemy attacks in EDF 3 (spider webs) are very good at seeking the player. If you get swarmed as Pale Wing, you will die. The infamous Crimson is a good example of where Pale Wing can struggle. With your standard EDF Ranger, you have a decent pool of health and some very strong sustained-fire weapons. Pale Wing has neither. If you redline your thrusters during EDF 3 Crimson, you will fucking die. You will get bitten and stunlocked to death. Most enemy attacks are unavoidable in EDF 3 when Pale Wing is redlining. So you have to manage your thrust very carefully. There is no air dashing here. If you don't have energy, you won't obtain lift.

For this reason, EDF 3 Pale Wing play places very high emphasis on battery weapons. The Pale Wing experience in EDF 3 is very comparable to Wing Diver in EDF 4.1. You can cross the map quickly and fight from the tops of buildings. I ended up mostly utilizing LASR and Rapier weapons. The upgraded LSRL was my go-to when taking on targets from a distance. I never did unlock my beloved Laser Chainsaw in EDF 3, so I don't know if it's actually in the game. The V-shot LASR is though. I wouldn't say Pale Wing is superior to Ranger in EDF 3. Ranger weapons in EDF 3 are very fucking powerful. The machine gun in particular is an invaluable mass murder tool for facing down hordes of bugs. With the Pale Wing guns, you usually have to make a choice between range and crowd control. Rapier offers godlike crowd control but zero range. LASR has solid range and damage but can't manage crowds easily (unless you use the V or Chainsaw.) Ranger gets a 200 range machine gun with 100 ammo, and every shot deals a hefty chunk of damage. The natural spread hits multiple targets, and the bullets push corpses out of the way. Going from Ranger to Wing Diver in EDF 3, you notice little things like that. At 20m away, Wing Diver can do the same as Ranger. But at 200m, she can't.

I can't really tell you how Air Raider plays in EDF 2, since I've never played that game in co-op. Pretty sure Air Raider sucks massive balls in solo EDF 2 though.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I just noticed that the first game makes shots pass through enemies as soon as they die, something that makes bullet weapons WAY more brutal for crowd control. The SG-6 you can get at the end of Normal has like double the DPS of any other weapons at that point and mows down everything well into Hard. It seems like the second game was the one to establish a lot of refinements that lasted for the remainder of the series. In addition to enemies being solid until their bodies vanish, items now no longer float where they're dropped; if you destroy a building with items on them, they'll drop to the ground for you.

I can't remember if EDF3 or 4 did this first but I appreciate being able to see the boundaries of the map on the radar. EDF2 in particular has a few missions where you start pretty much at the map edge and you can wall yourself off accidentally if you don't realize it (the first mission where spiders appear for instance).

[Sima Tuna]

I can't remember if EDF3 or 4 did this first but I appreciate being able to see the boundaries of the map on the radar. EDF2 in particular has a few missions where you start pretty much at the map edge and you can wall yourself off accidentally if you don't realize it (the first mission where spiders appear for instance).

I'm pretty sure EDF 2017 vanilla does not have map borders, but EDF 3 port does. I'm guessing EDF 2025 was the first game to mark the map borders and the subsequent remakes/ports added the feature retroactively. Although I don't know if the ps vita/switch port of EDF 2 has it. Either way, map borders were a very necessary refinement to better manage positioning. Position in EDF is like ammo. If you're out of ammo at a critical time, you're dead. If you're out of position at a critical time, you're also dead. The hordes are too thick for invisible walls to not be instantly fatal.

Cool info about bullet weapons and enemies despawning. I assume they changed that in the later games so the wave of enemy dead would pose a very real threat to the player. Which it does. The way that corpse trails allow enemies paths to climb up, over and around your shots while using their fallen as cover reminds me of nothing so much as reading Starship Trooper as a boy. Or John Steakely's Armor. No matter how many you blaze down, the enemy will haul themselves up over the burning, twitching, mangled corpses to assault you yet again.

Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering Trooper; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned EDF! Thus, I give up the spear!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I assume they changed that in the later games so the wave of enemy dead would pose a very real threat to the player. Which it does. The way that corpse trails allow enemies paths to climb up, over and around your shots while using their fallen as cover reminds me of nothing so much as reading Starship Trooper as a boy.

Yeah, it also means that there's real tactical choice involved in weapons, with piercing type weapons having a really useful function to simply blast through everything with impunity (Wing Diver's lightning weapons have a piercing component iirc, the Stringer line of Ranger snipers, flamethrowers, all of the key weapons in the Fencer's toolkit including spears, hammers, swords, hand cannons and gallic cannons). Wing Diver's thunder bows are just so insanely good, and you've already got the risky but crazy DPS rapiers in her moveset.

I think EDF4 also helps you visually on the city maps by putting little traffic cones on the streets at the map edges, so you have both the radar and that to refer to. Very nice little touch. EDF2 or 3 also started the trend of letting you go from the bottom of the mission select screen back up to the top instantly without having to scroll all the way up. Handy if you want to replay a quick early mission for weapon testing. It's the little refinements that sometimes make all the difference!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I'm replaying the PS2 version of CB2 currently and I'm convinced that this is among the nastiest incarnation of spiders. They move fast, their hitbox feels smaller than later games (probably doesn't help that PS2 analog sticks aren't as precise or smooth as later consoles to aim with), and their shots seem to fire with deadly accuracy even at a decent distance. A poor Ranger will take a lot of damage from stray hits and it feels much harder to reliably roll to evade shots. Even on the lower difficulties they feel outright deadly to engage with and are nastier than their later appearances in EDF3, 4.1, etc.

[Marc]

I've tried a number of times with this series - EDF PS2, 2017, 4.1 on PS4, but although they start like a massive sugar rush, I just find them ultimately lacking any sort of long term appeal. It's a series I really want to enjoy, but struggle mightily with. I see V is on sale though.......

[Sima Tuna]

V is probably the best jumping-on point, tied with EDF 4.1.

EDF has the same perception problem as musou games. People think it's mindless because they're playing on a difficulty that's too easy, or because they see the concept as inherently shallow. I wouldn't say you should force yourself if the games don't appeal to you, but maybe crank the difficulty up IF you pick up the game. Crank it up until you can't finish the missions, then crank it down one point from there. EDF V does have the major failing of not allowing you to play stages on Inferno from a fresh savegame, IIRC.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I've tried a number of times with this series - EDF PS2, 2017, 4.1 on PS4, but although they start like a massive sugar rush, I just find them ultimately lacking any sort of long term appeal. It's a series I really want to enjoy, but struggle mightily with.

Honestly? The series might not be for you then. It is, by its nature, somewhat repetitive, and many of the games rehash the basic progression while making refinements from one iteration to the next. Like Sima Tuna says, it's very similar to the Musou games in the sense that the core mechanics are not overly complex, but there's a lot more depth than mainstream reviews tend to give it credit for. The biggest changes in the series I think were the addition of character classes, which radically change how the game plays; if you don't like one character class you might love another (the Fencer and Wing Diver have insane mobility which changes things significantly), but if you don't like the general mission and progression structure of how you obtain weapons and armor as you play, maybe the games just aren't for you.

I'd note that the online play in 4.1 and 5 is hilariously fun. If you're really interested in it, perhaps it's one of those games that being able to play it coop on Steam would change the experience for you?