Earth Defense Force 6 (PS5) Review: EDF! EDF! EDF!

After 20 years, I’m starting to think that Earth might never be safe from giant alien insects and robots. This cynicism is even found within the plot of Earth Defense Force 6, which is now available on PlayStation 4 and 5, and features some hilarious nihilistic dialogue exchanges throughout its many missions with soldiers wondering if the fight is worth continuing when every city is already in ruins and civilization is forever changed. What hasn’t really changed, though, is the gameplay, as this is more EDF, and that’s totally fine for me.

With four returning classes and not much in terms of innovation or gameplay change (why fix what’s not broken?), the most exciting selling point for Earth Defense Force 6 is its incredible amount of content. The third-person shooter features the largest selection of missions and weapons in the series, so expect nonstop gun firing and thousands of ants, bees, robots, and drones to take down. Outside of the quick tutorial, these can all be played in online co-op, so it can easily become a fixture for a game night with its satisfying gameplay loop.

As mentioned, there are once again four classes as the default ranger, the flying wing diver, dual-wielding fencer, and air raiders all return. They largely play similarly to before, although there are some tweaks, such as rangers being able to mantle over some small objects and throwable objects getting a backpack slot. Air raiders and fencers have seen the most notable changes as the air raider has access to a lot of unique devices, such as drones, and the fencer has far more mobility than before with two boosts. Earth Defense Force 6 is largely about polishing — ever so slightly, as this is still an EDF game, so expect bugs and not just insects — and iterating upon recent design rather than upending the formula.

There’s truly a staggering amount of weapons and missions (over 140) to play through, so expect to spend 30-plus hours if you’re just mainlining through the action. Of course, there’s a ton of depth with different weapons to unlock and classes to customize. So that amount of time can balloon depending on how determined you are to get the most out of it.

As a cross-gen title — and being part of the EDF series — don’t expect it to wow visually. This is still a rough around the edges game that focuses more on fun than high production values. Expect insects to find themselves clipping through objects and sometimes the environment — pro tip, sometimes grenades can kill bugs that glitch through the ground and can’t be seen. EDF has always put gameplay and its B-movie world first, and that doesn’t change here as it’s the same fun and flawed experience that is endlessly charming.

It’s hard to say much new about an EDF game at this point, especially when the sequels are so iterative. Are you into shooting giant bugs? Do you want to laugh at how ridiculous everything is and find yourself getting embarrassingly into its dialogue-driven story? Then Earth Defense Force 6 is for you, and you should check it out. Otherwise, you won’t have your mind changed as this is repetitive schlock that is fun but nothing groundbreaking.