Hello Enthusiasts,
Today's review is Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair. This is an updated version of Earth Defense Force 2025, and 4.1 only came out on the PS4.
The premise of the game is that the Earth is being invaded by both aliens from outer space, as well giant bugs that come from caverns deep underground. The player is a member of the Earth Defense Force (EDF), a globally united team who's mission is to protect the planet from these types of invasions. There are 4 types of characters to play as:
-Ranger: Standard infantry, mostly uses a basic set of firearms including assault rifles, rocket launchers, shotguns, grenades, and more. No great strengths or weaknesses.
-Wing Diver: a soldier with limited flight capabilities, weapons are primarily plasma-based and use the same reservoir to reload as the player has to fly. The Wing Diver is by far the fastest soldier and, of course, has the advantage of flight. However, this is the soldier class with the lightest armor and once the reservoir runs out, it can take a bit to recharge (too long if in the heat of action).
-Air Raider: The support class, who can summon vehicles and air strikes, either of which can turn the tide of a battle. On the downside, this soldier doesn't have as much in terms a firearms, and is therefore most effective if they have some protection
-Fencer: The tank class of the game, this unit has the most armor by far and can carry four weapons instead of the standard two. This class has some ranged weapons, but the majority of it's ordinance is most effective from close-range. This class is the slowest moving due to their heavy armor.
EDF 4.1 is a third person shooter that, thankfully, offers the option of a split-screen mode, a dying feature in our gaming world. The graphics are nothing to marvel at, but the fun and challenging game play more than compensates for it. Speaking of the difficulty, this game is far from the most difficult game you'll ever play, but it's certainly not the easiest, especially once you get to the hard, hardest, and inferno difficulties.
As mentioned prior, this game is an update to EDF 2025. What was updated? Well, the game certainly experiences a lot less slow down during the more intense action scenes, as 2025 would drop to a painful frame rate when things began to get too action-packed. There's also the inclusion of a few new levels that involve monsters that look eerily like Godzilla. These levels add some extra diversity to the game play, as just firing away at Godzilla does nothing.
In terms of drawbacks, there are a couple. Though the game doesn't need much, there's not a lot of story. It boils down to "There are things to kill, they keep upping their game, we need to win". I personally didn't need more than that, but I can see others wanting something more substantial. However, I am bothered by the near uselessness of your AI team. You will charge into these battles with several other soldiers, and they serve only as distractions for your enemies. Rarely do they ever take any of the enemy down if you're playing any difficulty above "easy".
Overall, this game is just a good time. It's not "Game of the Year" material, but it is enjoyable, especially in multiplayer. The game excels when it comes to fighting hoards of enemies and dealing with the absolute chaos. There's not a story to bring out the tears and what the player can do is pretty much limited to moving and shooting, but it does these well. Players won't get much help from their AI, but that's the life of an elite member of the EDF.
I give EDF 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair a 7.5 out of 10
Sincerely,
The Bored Enthusiast
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