Earth Defense Force: World Brothers
A new kid made of blocks. The right stuff
Sometimes, a game comes along to answer a question nobody asked. In this case, the question is “What if EDF looked like Minecraft, and sounded like a Saturday-morning cartoon?” As a result, this will be instantly familiar to fans of the series – all the same enemies return, and you’re never asked to do anything more complicated than shoot everything bigger than you that moves – but something important is missing.
The move from a vague attempt at realism to bright, colourful voxel art brings with it the best production values of the series. EDF has always been rough around the edges – rightly or wrongly, that’s a well-established part of its charm – but World Brothers is a mostly smooth experience. Enemies will still get stuck on scenery on rare occasions, and the game will briefly chug a little when things are at their busiest (especially online), but for the most part the clean-cut graphics are matched by a user-friendly framerate.
Despite the fact that the series has always wallowed in repetition, never providing anything more than giant insects, arachnids, and robots to shoot until the current level is over, there’s always been a secret sauce that has maintained its cult following. The new art style waters this sauce down somewhat, in that the move to a more playful-looking world puts a dent in the B-movie atmosphere that EDF thrives on.
YOU’RE BUGGING ME
While still a shamelessly daft third-person shooter, World Brothers shakes up the formula. You now have a team of four, who you can switch between at will. Traditional EDF classes such as the flying Wing Diver and heavy Fencer are present, but there’s now a huge variety of other characters to unlock. These are based on national stereotypes (all countries seem in for this equally), history, and legends. With a very wide range of armour, abilities, and weapons on offer, all types feel different, and you’re sure to be able to pick out favourites.
Having three AI companions to help out at all times is something else that chips away at the atmosphere, however, as the traditional EDF sense of tension and desperation isn’t quite there. You can go into a mission with just one character, but this only serves to demonstrate that it’s not how the game is meant to be played. With no character switching to offset the painfully slow reload times and any weaknesses of your chosen soldier, fighting becomes a slog.
It’s much easier than other EDF games (we got to level 50 before dying for the first time on Normal), so it could serve as an entry point for the series, though the lack of high points might just put newcomers off. Although the effort to make the series fresh and accessible is admirable, it’s backfired. Fans will be disappointed, newbies will wonder what all the fuss is about.