As a big fan of the “Chikyu Boeigun” (Earth Defense Force) series, my first foray into the series was the second game for the PSP in Japan (which I would upgrade to V2 for the Vita) and would continue from 2017 and up on the XB360 and Vita. But also played the spin-offs such as “Global Defence Force Tactics”, “Earth Defence Force: Insect Armageddon” and now on STEAM with “Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain” (ahh…the memories of traveling to Akihabara in Tokyo and visiting all the Trader shops for Earth Defense Force games).
I absolutely enjoy the series, but I was hesitant of getting this one because all the negative reviews. But everyone has different taste and noticed those giving negative reviews, some didn’t put that much time into the game.
While I have played it with the English, I prefer playing it with the Japanese dialogue, I wanted to try this game as Yuke’s wanted to do a side story that was more serious than campy, so this is different from the Sandlot versions of EDF. This has no connection to “Insect Armageddon”.
There are two types of missions that one will want to do, one is to complete the mission by eliminating the enemy, the other is collection MIA drones. You don’t have to do the latter. But it is also best to collect as many of the blue, green, yellow and orange gems as it would lead to adding items to your attack.
I’ve only played single player and the game was exciting and fun but some issues is that certain areas are reused a bit too frequently. I wished they gave more variations in setting. Granted, some are day and some are night but a change of scene would have been nice since it takes place all over the world.
From the 52 missions, for the most part, as you level up, you get some levels that are insanely easy, but then a few that are insanely difficult. So, expect to die often and play over and over like other EDF games.
Loved the character creation mode, there are so many clothing options that you can earn but although, I wonder where the idea for “Nardo” came from (lol).
There is also Mercenary Mode for online only team battle. I’m a single player person with a huge STEAM backlog, so I feel like for me, after defeating the game, it’s more or less playing it again on more difficult levels to collect more weapons.
But I had a lot of fun playing this game. Some have valid reasons for disliking it, but for me, it was definitely well worth the purchase.
Earlier on, it may seem monotonous but from mission 12 and on, but this game gave me “ULTRAMAN” vibes with the Kaiju and felt like I was a member of Team GUYS, SkaRD, XIG or GUTS taking on these killer Kaiju. Loved that!
Also, later on when you see tons of Scourgers going after you or in the cave tunnels with a ton of ants coming after you and using grenades or even getting your sword out to slice through them all. I loved those missions!
Last, there are a lot of DLC for this game. All are cosmetic, but one “Golden Storm”, I got it for those gold ants and extra missions (on sale) which seems to be the best in the lot. I also got the DLC for fiction gravure model Futaba Riho (she is a character on the video game “Love Songs Idol Classmate” and “Onechanbara” games but also a lot of the company’s SIMPLE series games (a lot of Mahjong games).
If there is one DLC that I recommend for “Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain”, it would be this. I got it on sale for cheap, so I had to check it out!
If you have beaten the game, prepare yourself for some high intense battles because they literally are sending everything at you. And now the Kaiju can control your armed vehicles to go at you and man, it gets intense. I love it!
And even more levels where you can collect a ton of gems and use close contact weapons.
The additional weapons and gear is like the cherry on top of this awesome DLC! But for the price you get on sale and all that it comes with for the DLC alone, it’s so darn worth it! Highly recommended!
But man, I wish there is a sequel, especially with that ending teaser!
I absolutely enjoyed Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain! Recommended!
