Yes, there’s a virus threatening humanity’s way of life as we’ve come to know it, and people and nations alike are experiencing self-imposed and government-mandated quarantines due to the pestilence. It could always be worse, however; what if the quarantine was due to massive ants and bugs that were traipsing around the streets of our cities, eating humans and spinning webs? Worse yet, what if it was all accompanied by the cheesiest dialogue imaginable, and outfits offering questionable defenses to the only female soldiers of the Earth-based military?
This is the question that publisher D3 has taken the mantle to answer. Not that anyone asked them to, they just got a wild bug one day about the whole idea, and have spun a massive franchise that attempts to solve these very riddles that must be perplexing at least some members of humanity. With dialogue that is equal parts humor and absurdity, objectives that will challenge even the most well-seasoned gamer, and mechanics that are an absolute blast to experience with friends, the entire franchise of Earth Defense Force is currently enjoying the Steam spotlight until March 30.
Nine titles are currently available on Steam from the Earth Defense Force franchise that players can grab for steep discounts, including the most recent release of Earth Defense Force 5, released on July 11th, 2019.
Additionally, many mission packs are also on sale spanning the entirety of the science-fiction series that features laughable tropes and appears to revel in its absurdity and over-the-top delivery of everything from dialogue to mission types.
The vast majority of titles are also reveling in their high user reviews, despite critics giving generally mediocre scores that tend to revolve around the 70’s on Metacritic. That’s the tendency of most cult-status media types, from music to movies, and it doesn’t seem like video games are any different in that regard; you either ‘get it’, or it seems subpar with the majority of what it offers.
The gameplay loop of EDF is, for the primary staples of the franchise, all relatively the same.
You unlock new weapons and abilities as you progress through missions of increasing difficulty, as the game slowly ramps up into hundreds of bugs on screen as you desperately attempt to seek safety while you wait for your newest toy to drop its payload. From titanic vehicles that would put Megatron to shame, to bombing runs that carpet the screen, you’re constantly unlocking new types of weapons that can dramatically and dynamically alter the gameplay from one moment to the next.
It’s worth taking a moment to peek at the series; it’s a more interesting pandemic than everyone sitting in their house, at the very least.
