EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 5

Have you played Earth Defense Force 4.1? Or perhaps watched TheRussianBadger's video on it? EDF 5 is a worse performing game with a good number of QoL changes and enough new enemies that I think it's a solid enough sequel for a franchise that barely takes itself seriously. This is a prequel, meant to be the first ever attack by the aliens known as the Primers (noone really calls them that), but you have a bit of a jump in the power level of your classes. Ranger can sprint, Air Raider has a dedicated vehicle slot which frees up more weapon slots to make him more of a walking artillery bombardment, Wing Diver has dashes that make her absurdly mobile (and give her a similar tech to 4.1's Fencer, of tapping jump and dashing immediately to conserve energy while still moving very fast). Fencer is actually nerfed, as dash cancels no longer work the way they did, but instead you just have a 'Core' which lets you get a number of extra charges of your dash and jump, which can be chained together. So you can dashjump and still go flying miles and miles, you just can't perpetually avoid every bug forever by just doing dash cancels. Plus, the new weaponry more than makes up for any nerfs the cast have had, imo. The usual story formula is here and unchanged. The aliens have utterly demolished everything that humanity has built up, but your little squadron seems to have forgotten how to lose, and singlehandedly holds the entire resistance effort together, including having the unique ability to figure out that giant red weak spots are weak to gunfire, a fact that every NPC learns after something like 4 months have passed ingame. You've played 4.1, you know what to expect here. If you haven't, don't really bother paying attention, it's all an engine to throw enemies for you to blow up. The game also has the same difficulty system in a lot of ways, and in a similar way I only cared about fighting on Hard and up. Normal and Easy difficulty will get you none of the fun toys and can generally be completed without much effort even with only 2 people. Getting up in the levels will give you enormous hordes to ragdoll and blow up alongside the tools to do that. Other enemy types are present than just the basic bugs, and you'll learn to hate all of them in some situations, but they're your enemies, so that gives you the unique opportunity to shove a missile the size of an office building down an armoured frog's throat and watch him be removed from the timeline. And that's the beauty of EDF. And this game is just more EDF. It's expensive as all hell, but I believe it does go on sale for much cheaper infrequently. If you loved 4.1 I'd recommend it, just do try to save yourself some cash.

Things to enjoy in this game: NEVER letting off the trigger ALWAYS causing civilian casualties NEVER caring about the property damage Toppling mountains worth of insects Making mountain size craters in the earth Learning first-hand the results of an infinitely large military budget Going partially deaf from the amount of bombs you're letting off

Most aspects of the game are bad..... HOWEVER, big explosions, absurdity, and the will of humanity to fight bugs make it a joy.

It's plain just dumb fun in co-op. Listening in on NPC's proximity chats when you're running among them yields more cheese than the Princess Bride. And you can sing with them too! (brilliant move, Sandlot) You will need help, if this is your first EDF. There's a learning curve and the game's not great in teaching you much. "They look just like us! 2 feet, 2 eyes.."

One of the dumbest best games I've ever played. The camp is rampant, the jank is plenty. But name another game where you are a single soldier participating in a grand battle involving giant robots, bazillion of enemies, and every Sci-Fi trope in the book, while on a gorgeous beach at sunset. Set piece moments like this made EDF a unique experience that, faults and all, cannot be replicated - not even by Serious Sam.

“我做了个梦——在梦里，人们不知道和平的意义，无忧无虑地生活着。 我做了个梦——在梦里，人们为了保护他们的所爱，而奋不顾身。 哪个是梦境，哪个是现实，全在于人醒来后是如何感受眼前一切的，能区分梦境和现实的恐怕只有神了吧。不过，我总觉的，我是不是能做点什么，或许，这正是我来到这个世界的意义，如果这一切真的是无法扭转的命运，那在这个世界，我的存在到底又算是什么？痛苦的离别，人类的命运，以及我自己的命运，我总觉的，我是不是能改变这一切......如果从一开始，我就有强烈的意愿去真心保护我的所爱，说不定，我就能办到其他人都办不到的事情。所以，所以至少从现在开始，我要活下去，活下去，保护这一切，保护这颗被所有人放弃的星球，留在地球上的人们，留在地球上的回忆，以及，我深爱的人们。我要赌上性命保护他们，我应该能做点什么，我应该有这个力量，人类不会输，绝对不会输，因为......有我在。”

A definite upgrade from its older relative, EDF 4.1. More content and and it's clear there was a lot more care put into this. Also it mogs EDF 6 by a mile. helldivers if helldivers wasnt full of fat chuds who say 'face the wall' when you try and discuss lore. (and also a lot more bugs, the good kind)