Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 Review – Brotherly Love

Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 Review

The Earth Defense Force series needs to sort out its release schedule. We can go years without any game – there was a 6-year gap between Earth Defense Force 5 and Earth Defense Force 6. And now, just 2 months after the North American release of Earth Defense Force 6, we have the spin-off Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2. Luckily for EDF fans, this new installment might just be the best one in the series.

For those who don't know, the Earth Defense Force games are low-budget third-person shooters. They have fairly simple mechanics: shoot, jump, roll, reload, switch to a secondary weapon, etc. But they make up for this simplicity with epic scope and a hilarious tone. The games throw huge swarms of hundreds of enemies at the player. Sometimes the enemies are giant kaiju or Independence Day-sized spaceships. The whole experience is accompanied by this hilarious tone of hyperbolized American patriotism. It's not for everyone, but I love the EDF series.

Voxel visualizations

Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 is a spin-off that, unlike the main games, features voxel graphics. This game was designed to appeal to a younger, Minecraft-loving audience. But it uses the kid-friendly presentation to allow the player to create and customize their characters in a very fun way. This new game also puts a greater emphasis on co-op multiplayer. There are 4 four-player online co-op modes, as well as local split-screen!

Multiplayer elements work very well in Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 thanks to the 4-person team mechanic from the World Brothers games. In previous EDF games, the player used one character per level and had to choose that person’s role before the level started. Now players can choose 4 characters and switch between them with the d-pad at any time. There are many more character types than the 4 found in previous series games. And they vary quite a bit. EDF fans no longer have to choose between a heavily armored Fencer and a speedy flying Wing Diver! Plus, instead of two weapons, each character has one weapon and an ability unique to that character, such as an area attack or a healing grenade.

Lots of content

There’s a ton of content in Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2. There are over 100 levels, with tons of characters to find and add to your team. There are the aforementioned character creation and multiplayer modes. And there are mild RPG elements, where players can gather armor upgrades and unlock new weapons. The only problem is that the gameplay can get repetitive. If this is the only Earth Defense Force game you’ve ever played, then it’s a great option. But if you’re a die-hard EDF fan, you’re probably still playing Earth Defense Force 6 – or you’ve already grown tired of it.

The story in Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 is very light. It’s even less than usual for the EDF series. And the voxel graphics don’t quite capture the scope of the main EDF games. The voice acting also fails to capture the tone. I was surprised at how well the voice acting managed to capture the patriotic frivolity of the main games, but they did take away a bit of the quirkiness. Despite these complaints, the whole package works well because it feels more like a celebration of the series, rather than a sequel. There are characters and weapons from all of the EDF games present. It’s nice to have something a little different. Even the music has that weird retro sound to it. It sounded like a Sega arcade game from the 90s, and I couldn’t have been happier to hear it.

Give and take

Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 is a bit of a mixed bag. It probably has the best gameplay in the series, but it loses some of the scope and quirkiness of the main games. Additionally, the timing of its release is odd, coming out just 2 months after Earth Defense Force 6. While I did review the PS5 version of World Brothers 2 and found it to run like a charm, at the time of pre-order the Switch version was $46.79 CAD, while the PlayStation version was $66.99. That’s a pretty significant savings to consider if cost is an issue. If you’ve never played an Earth Defense Force game before, then Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 would be a great place to start. If you’re already a die-hard EDF fan, then this is a quality entry. I just wish the series would stagger its releases more.

***PS5 code provided by the publisher***