Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain Reviews
With a dollop of polish, a variety of new locations and much more challenging enemies EDF: Iron Rain might just be the best entry in the series so far, and while the trademark jank remains, new franchise developer Yuke's has done a fantastic job of tweaking the formula without breaking it. EDF: Iron Rain is a must for fans of the series and fans of fast-paced, deeply fun shooters alike.
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain is a buggy masterclass in third-person shooter fun.
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain introduces some big changes to to the B movie-style shooting franchise, including universal weapon use among classes, streamlined gear acquisition and improved visuals. Some of the changes might not necessarily please some series veterans, especially when it comes to the lower enemy counts. It does make the game more accessible to newcomers, though, so this can be a good time to try the franchise out if you've never played EDF before.
I wouldn't recommend Iron Rain over Earth Defense Force 5, since it fails to deliver the distilled, charming experience I adore from the Sandlot series.
Earth Defense Force : Iron Rain is another vision of the franchise made by an other studio. The new approach is quite good, more serious and more accessible.
Review in French | Read full review
For more on Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain, check out our interview with series producer, Nobuyuki Okajima, where we discuss the series and more.
If you want a game which is pretty much the polar opposite of the vast majority of modern AAA titles — in most of the right ways — I can wholeheartedly recommend Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain.
What hurts the game the most isn't the lack of follow through on its initial critical gumption, but rather a lack of compelling drama in its later levels.
It's an insect party in the U.S.A.
Although Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain attempts to take the franchise in a bold new direction, the latest installment in the long-running series makes too many mistakes to be anything other than a letdown.
When it comes to Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain, a lot of things are set in, well, iron. It isn’t a good game, not by a long shot, though it also isn’t trying to be one either.
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain sacrifices the franchise standards of city scale battlefields and hundreds of enemies for the sake of flashier graphics, but in doing so loses some of the unique charm the series offers. The grind required to unlock exciting weapons undermines the fun potential, unless you're looking to spend a lot of time with the game.
Despite aggravating AI, Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain's wealth of content, challenging difficulty, and empowering action make it the best EDF game to date. This is a tried-and-true EDF game for newcomers and veterans alike.
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain offers players with a nice change of pace from the hyper-connected and competitive nature of contemporary gaming, with a game that actually feels like a game.
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain is a marked improvement over its predecessors in spite being a spin-off by a different developer. Fans of the series will definitely appreciate the additions made to the game while still retaining what made the series so enjoyable. If further installments are able to improve on what Yuke's has done with the series while also fixing some of its issues to bring it up to speed of other modern shooters, it could expand the game's market well beyond its cult following.
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain is a different beast than the standard series but still an incredible pure-action run & gun shooter.
Overall, the game itself it the standard shooter from a third-person viewpoint. The controls are basic enough for younger fans to play, and not very difficult to learn. Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain is a PlayStation 4 exclusive and is set to release on April 11, 2019, priced at $59.99 USD. If you are a fan of the series, like a die-hard fan, definitely pick this up for yourself. If you are just someone looking at the game because it looks interesting, then I would wait until the price drops. I definitely would not have paid the price for this game just based on a gameplay trailer.
If you’re just not quite sure about the franchise or genre, perhaps waiting on a price drop before picking up would serve you well. Either way, Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain was a lot of fun for the most part, so I would suggest grabbing it at some point.
If you're a fan of the previous titles, go ahead and buy Iron Rain, you're not going to be disappointed by this one. If you're not a rabid fan of giant bugs, give it a miss or pick it up in a sale. It's a giggle after all if a little frustrating.