Earth Defense Force: World Brothers

Ultimately, World Brothers is a good introduction for newcomers that’ll appeal to long-time fans too. It’s not especially deep and solo play can feel slightly repetitive in longer stints, but if you gather a few friends, you’ll have a lot of fun with this colourful spinoff.

It’s not the full-fledged EDF camp and scope you might find in one of the mainline games, but it is a fantastically accessible shooter with a ton of levels to play whether you’re going it alone or with some buds, online or off. If you want to just not think and shoot the big bugs into little square bits and pieces with a library of characters and weapons from across the franchise, EDF: World Bros. might be just the comfort food you need.

Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 is the same alien-blasting goodness you have come to know and love cranked up to 11 thanks to the absolutely absurd cast of characters. It's sillier and more approachable than its mainline brethren, making for a welcoming jumping on point for anyone curious about these B-movie style guilty pleasures. World Brothers 2 not only stands comfortably shoulder-to-shoulder with the core series, but it's a spin-off that adds to that formula in fun new ways.

Earth Defense Force: World Brothers goes under a visual renovation and presents a new aesthetic that will help it becoming more popular with a wider audience. The gameplay experience remains the same compared to the previous EDF games, improved even, it can be said. At the same time, EDF's issues with performance have not made a lot of progress and the game's lack of a local co-op multiplayer that requires only one Nintendo Switch will make this a less attractive game for those looking for this kind of experience, especially given its relatively high price.

All in all, EDF World Brothers is good, but it is also just EDF with a new coat of paint and I don’t need one every year or two. I want these titles to be special and had I not had an EDF title in the last five years (let alone two) I think World Brothers would have been more exciting to play. However, as a fan of EDF it is just another EDF game and honestly had I not been reviewing it I would have likely skipped it because past the coat of paint and new mechanics, it is just shooting giant bugs and monsters. With that I will basically say that this game is on par with EDF 5. It is still fun but nothing special.

Overall, Earth Defense Force: World Brothers is a fun remix of the Earth Defense Force formula. Not only is the art style almost entirely adorable, but the way the gameplay has been split across your team members keeps the game fresh and fun.

The roster variety is hindered by the progression system which discourages changing party members before each mission. The color palette and art is very vibrant and colorful, but the game looks more blurred and choppy as more and more enemies are thrown at the player in the pursuit of a challenge which is the World Brothers' downfall. For EDF fans and newcomers alike, this call to action isn't worth answering.

Earth Defense Force: World Brothers starts off on a pretty high note, with various characters and Easter Eggs of the older entries thrown in. Getting new guys and weapons is fun, but fairly rapidly some of the annoyances really start to come through and slow the experience down. From the very slow movement, to the largely repetitious maps, it doesn't take that long before it feels like players have seen most of what there is too see, and begin to feel the need to move on.

It’s hard to say if Earth Defense Force: World Brothers is better or worse than Iron Rain. If you stick with tried and true EDF characters to play as, it’s probably better. If you try to use its weird gimmick characters, it’s probably worse. While some missions in an EDF game can be a bit frustrating, I definitely think they do their best to make each mission fun. Even at its worst, it still controls and plays well. In both of Yuke’s Earth Defense Force games, I feel like frustration is the status quo. Enemy placement seems less thoughtful and even when the enemy design isn’t something you have to struggle against, you’re still left with the controls not feeling very good. Between that and so few characters feeling good to use, the times in which I had fun in this game are few and far between.

An incredibly fun and great looking voxel style game that has you working with people all over the blocky world to take down the alien insects trying to take over the Earth. The game is full of action and insanity that will keep you entertained for a long time!