Five Elements of Earth Defense Force We'd Like To See In Other Games

There’s really nothing else quite like Earth Defense Force. With the new title, Earth Defense Force 2025, almost here, gamers are about to get more giant bug-killing action…but it’s a shame that more titles don’t focus solely on dumb, chaotic, grandiose ridiculousness. With that in mind, here are five elements in Earth Defense Force that would be nice to see in more games.

Giant Enemies Everywhere

Everyone loves giant enemies. In most games, when a big boss takes up the whole screen, you’re like “Yeah, it’s on!” but then the rest of the game you’re fighting normal-sized baddies. In EDF, you fight giant enemies constantly. That’s the whole point. It's the premise of the whole game; I think this is the only franchise to realize that simply making everything gigantic is a surefire formula for entertainment. Giant ants, giant spiders, giant robots – it doesn’t have to make sense. If the objective is to fight off enormous enemies surrounding you, it’s automatically a great time. 

A Ridiculous Amount Of Weapons That Aren’t Realistic In The Slightest

The only game I can think of to have as much weapon choice as EDF is Borderlands. Borderlands basically copied Earth Defense Force is what I’m saying (just kidding). Anyhow, Borderlands' guns are great. However, the weapons in Borderlands are limited by silly things like finite ammunition. EDF has no time for running out of ammo. You have as many bullets as you want – the only regulation is the clip size. Also, EDF has no regard for how real weapons actually work. A rapid-fire sniper rifle? A glacially slow homing missile? A rocket launcher that shoots 30 tiny missiles all at once? Why not? There are usually about 200 guns in each EDF, so you’re bound to find a gun that suits you. 

Being Absurdly Powerful While Still Having A Challenge 

Earth Defense Force is a power trip. There are such powerful weapons early on – like the Stingray rocket launcher – that blowing through enemies at 20 rockets a clip feels great. EDF never takes that feeling of power away from you; it only increases the force of the enemies. Basically, every part of Earth Defense Force feels like a shooter on steroids. It starts out with chaos, and keeps upping the ante with more enemies every level. It’s like David versus Goliath, except David has a grenade launcher and Goliath has a hundred friends. Then, if you add a friend in there for co-op, it’s even better, because you feel bonded as two tiny soldiers taking on a ludicrous amount of opposition. All you have is each other, but you’re powerful enough that together you can wreak havoc upon everything, which is tremendously entertaining. 

Massive, Completely Unrealistic Destruction

Realistic destructible environments have become in vogue with modern gaming technology. But what about unrealistic destructible environments? In EDF, buildings go down with barely any damage; sometimes it takes only one or two rockets to take down a skyscraper. It’s completely stupid, but I enjoy it so much. Any game where the buildings get deformed with minimal force is fun.

Having An Absurd Premise, But Taking It Very Seriously 

Earth Defense Force is the Sharknado of video games. One of the reasons Sharknado became a cult hit was because it was such a dumb premise yet it rolled with it completely seriously without a hint of irony, which made it all the more hilarious and ridiculous. The same goes for Earth Defense Force. Someone on that team probably knows that an alien invasion that includes giant ants, robots, and spiders is pretty stupid. It’s a cheesy sci-fi movie wrapped into a video game. If there are more games like this in the future, sign me up.