Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain Reviews
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain is a different beast than the standard series but still an incredible pure-action run & gun shooter.
Unpretentious entertainment that drags too many technical and artistic aspects too outdated today.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain is light on narrative and heavy on fast paced action.
Iron Rain provides plenty of content, but Yuke's EDF debut doesn't change much
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain plays around with the concepts players have gotten used to with previous EDFs. Classes are open, and the new Prowl Rider offers a new flavor of play that hasn't been seen in the franchise before. Weapons are open, giving more player freedom in terms of character loadouts. But Iron Rain loses some things from the main series, notably the huge swarms of enemies in favor of larger, more meaningful enemies. It's a fine entry in the EDF franchise, but it doesn't step far beyond its predecessors sadly.
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.
For more on Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain, check out our interview with series producer, Nobuyuki Okajima, where we discuss the series and more.
Honestly, Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain might just be my new favourite Earth Defense Force game.
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain is definitely a very different experience to past games in the series.
With a new coat of paint and a shift in mechanics, Earth Defence Force: Iron Rain sets itself above previous EDF games. There have been some major changes within this title, such as the customisations, abilities, unit types, pick-ups, and loadouts, but once you get used to them, it feels like this way is much better than the old way. The visuals have not only had a coat of paint, but they’ve had an undercoat and at least three layers placed on top to make them look great during gameplay. The addition of subtitles made me happier than you can imagine as more people can now enjoy the story, even if it does get a little generic if you’ve played all the previous games.
It is still very much good old fashioned EDF fun and its refined fun at that. However, being punished for using your hard earned and awesome gadgets by deducting money from your mission rewards is purely anti-fun and the complete disconnect of the on-screen action in multiplayer is unacceptable and disappointing.
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.
As flawed and as fun as ever, Iron Rain doesn't dull the core pleasure of EDF, but doesn't manage much more either.
Iron Rain is a solid shooter and reminiscent of what made the mainline games so much fun. However, I think some of the backend changes don’t really work and the visual and aural impact of the weapons feel diminished.
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain makes a few much-needed tweaks to the old formula, but it's still just another bug hunt.
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
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.
Is this an EDF game that EDF fans will enjoy? Honestly, I ended up feeling fairly disappointed. Which is a shame because I think there are a lot of neat ideas here. Weapons feel rather underpowered across the board, and enemies just have far too much health for their own good. Couple this with incredibly annoying AI, and it’s just a very frustrating experience. Suffice to say, it’s pretty lackluster compared to the mainline EDF titles. The game took me 10 hours to beat, though I put about a total of 30 into it with harder difficulties. At a $60 price tag, I can’t really recommend it. A sale might make this a more tempting offer. Overall, if you’re looking for a good EDF game, I’d give this a pass and look into the mainline titles instead.
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.