Rating
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain
The EDF series moves away from its traditional series and into new territory with this new project. Developed by YUKE'S, with a theme song by Takashi Niigaki and creatures designed by Ryu Oyama for an EDF game that has never been seen before. Welcome to EARTH DEFENSE FORCE: IRON RAIN. Set on planet Earth devastated by war, this new adventure joins...
Details
- Released
- April 11, 2019
- Developer
- Yuke's
- Publisher
- D3 Publisher
How it plays
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Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain Reviews
Professional reviews from gaming critics
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 is the best entry in the series. It's also just a ton of fun, in case you were worried at all that killing endless waves of giant bugs and aliens could be boring. I hope future entries will adopt and adapt everything Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain has added to the series. It's certainly a better game for it and retains so many of the things longtime fans have come to love about the series. I'm happy to report that the EDF is back in business.
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain is the perfect addition to the series. Earth Defense Force 5 made improvements but it still felt like it was slavishly committed to the way earlier EDF titles operated. Iron Rain is different. It finally taking itself more seriously, which may or may not resonate with every player, but the end-to-end revamp in the way the game works on every level is exactly what the series needed to keep pushing forwards.
We tell you, it’s a good game! It’s not average! It might have some problems here and there, but you have to admit it is a “Good” game.
And that’s pretty much it. Despite the marketing of a more “serious” tone this is still very much EDF – a bug-shooting Dynasty Warriors-esque hack and slash at heart. Given that it’s a standalone game you can also just jump right in (not that you’d need to keep up with EDF lore regardless).
The Earth Defense Force series is the perfect example of what a cult hit should be. We’re talking about a franchise comprised of ugly, dated, and technically flawed games that have managed to create a loyal following of fans from all over the world due to its “so bad it’s good” artistic values, clear nods to Starship Troopers, and entertaining gameplay. Those games are dumb, without a doubt, but they were excellent guilty pleasures whenever you were fed up of playing something too ser...
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 improves on class and loot mechanics but fails at delivering an entertaining level design. The new war movie inspired presentation falls flat compared to the previous B-movie horror aesthetic.
After only a few months, a new EDF game is here and this time, it's serious business. So, let's suit up and get ready to exterminate!
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain moves away from its traditional series and into new territory.
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.
Visually, Iron Rain is a mess. The framerate stutters more often than it runs smoothly, and completely slows down the game at points. The camera gets stuck on the surrounding bugs sometimes when they’re a bit too close, the models clip and jump all around, and having too many enemies or effects onscreen makes the game run more slowly than my elderly aunt. It feels unpolished and almost unfinished, which puts even more of a damper on Iron Rain’s potential fun.