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Earth Defense Series |CT| Glory, glory, hallelujah!

mcz117chief

Member
WELCOME TO THE EDF COMMUNITY THREAD!
Here you can post about anything related to the EDF series, organize with other people or find other people to play with.
Index of content (by post number):
  • 1: EDF 5 OT
  • 41: reason for change from OT to CT
  • 49: EDF Iron Rain; mini-OT

Players you are free to add to your friend's list:






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A MESSAGE TO ALL EDF PERSONNEL!

We have confirmed reports of alien sightings in orbit around Earth. For the moment we are unable to determine whether these aliens pose a threat or not, however, all registered EDF personnel must report to their CO without delay. All further orders will be broadcast by regional EDF Command Bunkers, those are: Nagasaki (japan), Alice Springs (Australia), Dubai (UAE), Kinshasa (DRC), Trento (Italy), Colorado Springs (USA) and Puerto Montt (Chile).​


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All EDF personnel must understand and remember these basic facts about the EDF:
  • EDF is a third person army corp, we only play from third person and will for the foreseeable future.
  • EDF troops are very mobile and responsive (with the exception of the fencers), no cover techniques have been trained, our troops put emphasis on dodging. Also, coupled with the 3rd person camera there is no danger of feeling sick even after thousands upon thousands of rolls.
  • Vast majority of EDF weaponry (excluding vehicles) has an inbuilt bandanna for infinite ammo. Reloading is still necessary however.
  • EDF troops are chill dudes (and dudettes), never forget that! We like to sing and charge the enemy without a care in the world.
  • EDF troops are hard as nails so we don't take fall damage. Don't be afraid to jump from the tallest mountains and buildings. Try it out yourself!
  • We have (un)confirmed reports that the aliens are actually BUGS, giant enemy frogs, robots and Godzilla wannabees. Lucky for us we got tons of guns, helicopters, planes, naval artillery, precision artillery and giant mechs with which to punch these fake Godzillas in the face!
  • We plan to deploy on 110 missions, so be prepared for a long war, boys and girls, the longest we have ever had (we had a war before??)!
  • we will be deploying underground so pack at least 4 sets of underwear.
  • You will need 19gigs of FreeSpace on your PS4 to fit all this awesomeness in!
  • You can, of course, bring your buddies into the fray. Splitscreen for two as well as online for 4 is available.
  • For access to EDF archives and further info click here (official site in English).

Major new additions in EDF5:
  • Each class starts as a semi-civilian with a special armour design to reflect that.
  • New enemy classes.
  • Each EDF class now has an extra slot for bonus equipment that improves the soldier's performance. For example Rangers will run faster, Wing Divers will store more energy in her reserves, etc.
  • You will pick up weapons for all classes during missions. Picking up duplicates will increase the stats of the weapon up to a certain maximum (once a weapon reaches peak performance it will be marked with a star).
  • Tunnel exits will no longer appear on the battlefield. They are replaced with teleport tethers.

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EDF forces are divided into 4 classes:
  • Rangers
  • Fencers
  • Wing Divers
  • Air Raiders
Each of these classes has a drastically different gameplay style. We will now proceed to delve into the specifics of these classes one by one.

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  • Easiest to play.
  • standard 3rd person shooter experience (sans cover shooting).
  • no unnecessary animations, snappy controls all around.
  • managed to learn to how to sprint (but you can still roll around like a lunatic)!
  • can carry a very wide variety of weapons ranging from assault rifles to sniper rifles, rocket and missile launchers, grenade launchers, healing guns, acid guns, flamers etc. etc.
  • can now call in support vehicles (tanks, helicopters, bikes, APCs, etc.) or equip support item (for example faster movement)



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  • Big boys with big guns and I cannot tell a lie, those guns really ARE BIG!
  • extremely clunky movement compared to Rangers, still super smooth compared to Red Dead Redemption 2.
  • uses jet boosters to move faster across the battlefield.
  • can carry oversized weapons which dish out obscene amount of damage if the Fencer is skilled enough to get into a good position to unleash all his ordnance.
  • uses both ranged and melee weapons in two sets of two which he can switch on the fly.



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  • By far the most mobile of all EDF troops.
  • uses high powered flying suit and high-tech energy weaponry.
  • has the least armour.
  • her weapons and flying suit use the same energy reserves which recharge periodically; which means you need to balance your jet suit and weapon usage.



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  • Hardest class to play.
  • requires very high amount of skill and cooperative teammates to perform at 100% efficiency.
  • specialises in deployment of vehicles of all sizes including tanks, mechs and helicopters.
  • he can also deploy very strong defensive stratagems that heal, protect or improve the firepower of allied units.
  • last but not least, Air Raiders have the full might of the EDF's off screen heavy arsenal at their disposal which are, for example, off-shore artillery, high altitude gunships, air strikes, missile artillery and many more.



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The game is currently only available as a digital download (19 gigs) except for Asian version sold on play-asia.

Link to PSN store for the standard edition of the game for $60:




Multi-language physical copy here:



There is also a deluxe edition with extra goodies (click for a link to store) for $90:




Now go out there and kill me some alien scum! And don't forget our anthem (to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic):

To save our mother Earth from any alien attack
From vicious giant insects who have once again come back
We'll unleash all our forces, we won't cut them any slack
The E.D.F. deploys!


Our soldiers are prepared for any alien threats
The Navy launches ships, the Air Force sends their jets
And nothing can withstand our fixed bayonets
The E.D.F. deploys!


Our forces have now dwindled and we pull back to regroup
The enemy has multiplied and formed a massive group
We better beat these bugs before we're all turned to soup
The E.D.F. deploys!


To take down giant insects who came from outer space
We now head underground for their path we must retrace
And find their giant nest and crush the queen's carapace
The E.D.F. deploys!


The Air Force and the Navy were destroyed or cast about
Scouts, Rangers, Wing divers have almost been wiped out
Despite all this the infantry will stubbornly hold out
The E.D.F. deploys!


Our friends were all killed yesterday, as were our families
Today we may not make it facing these atrocities
We'll never drop our banner despite our casualties
The E.D.F. deploys!


Two days ago my brother died, next day my lover fell
Today most everyone was killed on that we must not dwell
But we will never leave the field, we'll never say farewell
The E.D.F. deploys!


A legendary hero soon will lead us to glory
Eight years ago he sunk the mothership says history
Tomorrow we will follow this brave soul to victory
The E.D.F. deploys!
 
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mcz117chief

Member
The GF and I have been dying to play this all damn year! EDF EDF EDF!!!!

How are wing divers compared to 4.1? How are the fencers? (I hear the fencers got a big overhaul?)
No clue, mate. I am just downloading the game as we speak and will be able to play it tomorrow once I get home from work. Can't wait to play it as well, my most awaited game of 2018 :D
 
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Nydus

Member
I looked around but didn't find any analysis. There are plenty of videos of gameplay on youtube though. I'll edit the OT once I get my own hands on it.
Thanks I'll wait till people played it on their pro and can give some impressions about performance :)
 

mcz117chief

Member
Thanks I'll wait till people played it on their pro and can give some impressions about performance :)
Played it extensively today. There are noticeable frame drops during some bigger battles but it is still very playable. Viewing distance is adequate and they added a lot more blood, gibs and damage masks to all enemies.
 

Nydus

Member
If there werent framerate dips that means they could have added more bugs, so that is fine with me.

That's true! :D

Played it extensively today. There are noticeable frame drops during some bigger battles but it is still very playable. Viewing distance is adequate and they added a lot more blood, gibs and damage masks to all enemies.

Ok thanks for the heads up. I take it a pc version is not planned at the moment? Would have to double down when a pc port would come in 3 to 6 months.
 
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Man I forgot just how fucking good Wing Divers feel to play as. The flying coupled with most of their weapons being charge based makes it just so damn satisfying swooping around methodically and rhythmically picking off enemies.

The story is still hilariously goofy and absurd, but idk something feels a bit off compared to 4.1. I think they just really happened to nail it for that game so its a hard act to follow.
 

EGOMON

Member
mcz117chief mcz117chief Thanks for the OT bro, i wish i can start playing been waiting for this since announcement

Good luck everyone. My delay will not be in vain. Look to my coming, at first light, on the fifth day. At dawn, look to the East for Air Raider.
 
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It annoys me there's no physical release for this. I want it but no way I'm paying $60. Plus I heard a new one with better graphics is coming within 12 months from now so I may just wait for that.
 
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Aeon_Flux

Neo Member
Technically, the game has the same issues than older entries. There is no V-Sync, so the screen-tearing is very pronounced, and also regular framerate hiccups. It's a little disappointing, but there are also new additions, like blood splats and enemies visual injuries (you can now even dismember giant insects).
 

wipeout364

Member
While I appreciate what these games offer, given the the level of jank, repetitive gameplay and what looks like no improvements in the graphics it seems a bit crazy to charge full price for this.
I am going to sit this out till it hits 40 or less.
 

mcz117chief

Member
Technically, the game has the same issues than older entries. There is no V-Sync, so the screen-tearing is very pronounced, and also regular framerate hiccups. It's a little disappointing, but there are also new additions, like blood splats and enemies visual injuries (you can now even dismember giant insects).

I honestly haven't noticed any screen tearing at all, maybe it is because I play on PRO.

While I appreciate what these games offer, given the the level of jank, repetitive gameplay and what looks like no improvements in the graphics it seems a bit crazy to charge full price for this.
I am going to sit this out till it hits 40 or less.

This game is almost entirely jank free. Everything is tight and responsive, the gameplay flows wonderfully and is a real joy to play. The gameplay isn't repetitive at all thanks to the massive amount of weapon types, 4 completely different characters and varied missions and environments. Plus you got the amazing attention to detail and you can clearly see the amount of love that has been poured into this game. In comparison to most other AAA games out there this game just oozes with energy and a desire to be primarily a FUN game.
 

wipeout364

Member
This game is almost entirely jank free. Everything is tight and responsive, the gameplay flows wonderfully and is a real joy to play. The gameplay isn't repetitive at all thanks to the massive amount of weapon types, 4 completely different characters and varied missions and environments. Plus you got the amazing attention to detail and you can clearly see the amount of love that has been poured into this game. In comparison to most other AAA games out there this game just oozes with energy and a desire to be primarily a FUN game.
I have played quite a few of these games and have always found them repetitive and unoptimized. Maybe this one is different but the post you quoted didn’t seem to indicate that.
To be clear I like these games but like Dynasty Warriors I find after a few hours I’ve usually had enough. I get some people play these for dozens of hours but for me I get bored after 10 or so hours .That’s why I said I was going to buy it when it dropped in price not that I would never buy it ; because I know what I am like when it comes to games.
 

Shifty

Member
Hell yeah sarge! I've been waiting for this. Let me out there so I can take it to the alien menace and send them packing! EDF! EDF! ED-

Wait, what do you mean the PC unit isn't being deployed? That the PS4 corps is being sent out solo to rout the alien menace without any backup? We missed the funding window for our defense budget?!

Oh no... WE'RE DOOMED I TELL YOU, DOOOOOOMED!
 
Yeah I gotta agree, the gameplay is super tight and responsive. It feels like you are playing a video game in the purest sense, like back in the PS2 days. Even the jank is typically pure video game jank - like when an ant tries walking on an electric pole and goes nuts flipping around in circles because thats how video games work: the ant walks on any flat surfaces, and a pole would have four very tiny surfaces so it would constantly be walking on another face of the pole. It looks goofy but it makes perfect video game sense.
 

Aeon_Flux

Neo Member
I honestly haven't noticed any screen tearing at all, maybe it is because I play on PRO.

I play on Ps4 Pro too, it can't be unseen. Launch a mission outside in a middle of a city, and turn the camera fast around you, it's terrible. I really enjoy the game, but this issue gives me headaches.
 
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Duallusion

Member
Recyled levels from former games still present I take it? Any QoL improvements in regards to picking up weapon crates? Did they smooth out the dificulty curve yet and made harder difficulties actually possible (for solo players) without an obscene amount of grinding?

In any case, I'm in. Eventually, when it drops in price.
 

mcz117chief

Member
Recyled levels from former games still present I take it? Any QoL improvements in regards to picking up weapon crates?

To the first question: maybe. I am pretty sure they reused assets where available but they definitely added a TON of new features and designs when it comes to level design. I don't want to spoil it for you but let's just say you fight in other countries besides Japan. Plus there is weather now too.

For the second question: they added a circular area around vehicles that picks up crates and when a ranger sprints you will see a thin line around him which also picks up crates that touch this circle. The width of the circle is about 5 meters.
 
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Duallusion

Member
Thanks for the feedback, *insert correct gender*

I was hoping for a more generous (and class-independent) auto-collecting mechanism this time around but it's not a deal breaker and I do like the sound of duplicates upgrading weapon stats. Too bad they didn't launch at 40 bucks... I would've jumped right in at that price. :messenger_confused:
 

mcz117chief

Member
Hi all fans of EDF. In my almost infinite wisdom, I have decided to morf this OT into a community thread where we can discuss anything related (or unrelated) to the EDF series as a whole, which means no standalone EDF Iron Rain OT. Once I play a bit of the new Iron Rain (which released today) I will make a post with some basic and advanced info regarding the game and add a link to the OP. Hope you are all fine with this change. I came to this decision after seeing that not many people here are participating in this OT and considering that Iron Rain is a spin-off it would most likely get even less traction. In any case, if you wish to play any EDF game on PS4 with me, feel free to add me to your friend's list.
 

mcz117chief

Member
Iron rain giant bomb quick look. It looks terrible.

Well I bought the ultimate edition so I have some hope that it will be good. When has ever EDF failed us? It is a perfect series! I'm looking forward to going home today to play it. So far I haven't seen any gameplay since I didn't want any spoilers.

P.s. I hope we get a new song for the troops to sing.
 
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angelic

Banned
Ive never considered any Edf as terrible, theyre well designed and fun...but this one looks worse than IA. I hope its ok for you though mcz117chief mcz117chief , gb can be wrong.

Oh and just to do my edf flex, i still play my 60hz patched and burned gdf on my messiah ps2, i never think edf is bad, only IA.
 

mcz117chief

Member
Ive never considered any Edf as terrible, theyre well designed and fun...but this one looks worse than IA. I hope its ok for you though mcz117chief mcz117chief , gb can be wrong.

Oh and just to do my edf flex, i still play my 60hz patched and burned gdf on my messiah ps2, i never think edf is bad, only IA.
Was IA really that bad? I never played it myself (I started with 3 on Xbox 360 then only got other two on PS4 4,1 and 5) but it didn't look that bad, just different. I hope I will have fun with it, it might be trash which would be a huge shame since I have spent a ton of money on the ultimate edition which to some might not seem like a big deal especially if you live in the west but as a Eastern European it was about an 8th of my month's salary.
 

angelic

Banned
Was IA really that bad? I never played it myself (I started with 3 on Xbox 360 then only got other two on PS4 4,1 and 5) but it didn't look that bad, just different. I hope I will have fun with it, it might be trash which would be a huge shame since I have spent a ton of money on the ultimate edition which to some might not seem like a big deal especially if you live in the west but as a Eastern European it was about an 8th of my month's salary.

IA has the foundations of a good game, but the design totally fucks it up. You can basically ignore most people's commentary on it (pardon my arrogance), Ive never ever seen it critiqued properly. All people say is "oh its more EDF, shallow, etc".

Ok so not to go on all day but the engine is great, the graphics are great, the enemies are interesting (to look at). It's a fresh, interesting take on it with the cut scene dialogue, weapon systems, it's like 90% there on what you'd want from a western made EDF. And then:

Enemies take too many hits, youre banging away for ages to kill basic ones, never mind bullet sponge giant spiders, hectors etc. You fight enemy dropships from the ground, but they are only hittable for 5 seconds while they open a hatch, then float around for another 30 seconds. So you fire your weedy rocket up, it does a couple of HP damage, then you wait, and wait, then do it again. It takes ages, just looking up, firing a rocket or 2 every 30 seconds. Everything takes forever to do.

The weapons sound pathetically weedy. Pew pew pew, no impact, no rapid firing, no nice feel to them, just point and let them do their wimpy thing. They start to pick up a tiny bit, eventually, but it takes forever to grind up. The loot system is awful, barely a couple of boxes per level, no farming like the proper games, just replay the same shitty slow level and get 2 more boxes. Oh and your character cant use them until they level up too. No sequence breaking at all, just crap, slow, long slog through dull, long levels.

The enemies fade out when shot. No physics, no bouncing, no funny havok falling over..they fizzle out, instantly, in the way that doom 3 pioneered, that burning up of the model from the inside out, straight away. No carnage, just pew pew pew feeble shooting onto an enemy that then dissapears. Oh and no hordes...no giant mass of dots on the radar, the enemy volumes are easily half of a real EDF, to pay for the "proper" graphics and slight extra polish.

I tried really, really hard to like it, played for like 15 hours, but I had to admit defeat. Oh and the ultimate bullshit saved til last, this is unbelievable. They added, because of Gears of War making it fashionable....an ACTIVE RELOAD for your guns. Sounds not too bad? Well the window is tiny...you need to be utterly perfect. The penalty for missing? A super slow reload. So it INSTANTLY saps all the fun away from fiiring guns, because you're thinking about the active reload constantly. In the finish, the penalty is so bad for missing, I just let the guns reload themselves without trying for it. For example: active reload hit = 2 second reload, missed = 4 second reload, leave it alone = 3 second reload. So to save yourself the misery, just let it take the 3 second reload every time.

I'm not even joking, I could have fixed IA in a single day of design. A single day. Remove active reload, make the guns louder, add volumes of enemies and accept the slowdown, remove the fucking hatch timers, increase the drop rate, remove the level up system. Easy. But they didnt, they concentrated on the wrong things, and fucked it all up.
 

mcz117chief

Member
Ok, I understand now why you didn't like it. I'm almost at home. Here's hoping Iron Rain isn't the worst game ever. I can usually find the good stuff in almost every game.
 

mcz117chief

Member
EDF: Iron Rain; mini-OT
Greetings my fellow EDF friends. So we got another EDF game on our hands and so, it is my duty to inform you about the game's features, pros and cons and compare them to previous EDF games. So let's start with an introduction.

INTRO
*Identifying EDF...*
Yup, it's EDF.

Like you would expect it is, at its core, an EDF game. A 3rd person shooter where you play a dude or a dudette, shooting giant monsters which include bugs, robots and all kinds of other nasties that one would expect. You can use a large variety of weapons from your average assault rifles to orbital canons. Vehicles are also included, such as street cars, tanks, artillery, mechs, hover craft, etc. Missions are generally short but plentiful.

NEW OR UPDATED FEATURES

  • Enemies drop crystals instead of boxes, which work as currency. Bugs, robots and aliens each drop a different color but all kinds also drop green which heal you on the spot (work as health kits).
  • After completing a mission, the player is rewarded with a new type of currency (look like gold coins) which are used for unlocking pretty much everything. So you need crystals and coins but for some articles you don't need both.
  • You don't gain armor by collecting armor boxes but by spending currency to upgrade your HP.
  • Same as above goes for weapons, vehicles and items.
  • Items are a new category: you can carry up to 12 items (no duplicates) which are, for example grenades, mines, health kits, resurrection kits, vehicles, support drones, gun turrets, etc. etc. Using these items decreases the amount of gold coins you get at the end of the mission. If you rely on them too much you might even end up in a negative (probably to simulate the tight budget of the EDF). This allows a player, who only picked things like sniper rifle and rocket launcher, to defend himself using gun turrets and other defensive items without needing to bring in a close combat weapon for every mission.
  • Iron Rain is more narrative driven with an occasional cutscene here and there as well as the usual action camera that shifts automatically to show the player something of importance, like new enemy types appearing. There are also characters now with names present. You are part of an international team so you got a couple of Japanese, Russians, Americans and others.
  • Huge amount of customization options: sex, voice, hair, hair color, eye color, face type, body type (for women it means small, medium or humongous knockers with boob physics) then you also got helmet, upper body and lower body each having a large selection of clothing and armor, decal options, suit colors, etc. More clothing and decal options are unlocked as you play. These need to be unlocked with ingame currency.
  • There are no classes: the player now picks an exosuit. Light = Wing Diver, medium = Ranger, heavy = fencer and also new ones which I won't spoil. And each class can pick any two weapons. So all characters have a shared arsenal.
  • Once per mission, you can activate over-drive. This makes your character shout in anger, you gain infinite suit energy and increases your rate of fire and weapon reload drastically. This effect lasts for about 20 seconds. There is an item that allows you to use over-drive more than once per mission.
  • The spiders jump like HOLY HELL high! And some also release small spiders when they die!
  • There are two camera options: a Gears of War style over the shoulder camera or classic EDF where your dude or dudette are in the middle.
  • enemies are slightly tougher and there are less of them (about a 1/3 in comparison to previous EDF games). But they are not overly bullet spongy, at least so far.
  • battles more often take place, at least so far, in open terrain or other wide open space with very little buildings which means that there is far lesser emphasis on building destruction.
  • Missions have objectives now, which have, so far, been about killing all enemies but there was one exception about protecting civilians.
  • You can "aim" will all weapons now (less movement, more accuracy and a bit of zoom). Sniper Rifles actually go into ADS when aiming.

PROS

  • I appreciate the different visual style. Not saying it is better but I like the fact that it looks different.
  • The fact that you are part of one platoon makes you feel you are part of an actual group instead of being this one man operative (or four man fireteam) like in the previous games.
  • Expanded customization options (before we could only change the colors of our uniforms) allow us to play whoever: Asian, Black, White, Hispanic, whoever we want.
  • The flying suit can now "sprint", this drains the battery drastically but gives you incredible increase to flying speed.
  • Flight suit now glides. Which means if you change direction without putting any power into your jetpack you will change course. This makes flying a lot more fun to use imo.
  • After the mission finishes, you are given a 30 second timer to collect whatever crystals you haven't picked up yet.
  • enemies are a lot more aggressive, especially the ants.
  • Enemies dropping crystals instead of boxes benefits the atmosphere of the game. Seeing 10 boxes fall down from an enemy gunship looked pretty ridiculous but I suppose that was part of the campy feel of the classic EDF games.
  • Bikinis!
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  • Shop keeper is a fine robot gentleman.
  • interesting banter between squad mates that provides meaningful exposition. They talk about their families, about comforts long lost to the war (like videogames) and how the war is going.
  • voice acting is pretty decent.
  • you can disable depth of field and motion blur in the options. But it doesn't have an effect in the menu it seems.
  • Vehicles are pretty solid, so far I am having a lot of fun with them. Especially the helicopters control a good bit better than before (but they still are tough to fly).
CONS

  • good Lord the guns have no sound!! Well, almost. They are so whisper quite it is almost magical. Like if all the guns had an extra silencer on its silencer and using sub sonic ammunition. The sound of bullets impacting is actually louder than the shooting itself.
  • can't find a way to change anything on the chat wheel so it is possible that there actually is no new EDF song! The absolute horror!
  • The guns aren't as fun as in the previous games (feel a bit like peashooters) but that might change as I unlock more impressive guns (so far I am mostly using E or D category of weapons).
  • limited appearance of damage on enemies as opposed to EDF 5 (how do you call these? Damage masks/layers?)
  • Even though there is a lot less enemies and everything in the game the framerate is not rock solid on my PS4-pro. But it runs generally fine I suppose.

SUMMARY
After playing in for a whole day I have to update my summary. The game is actually surprisingly good. The story has a nice pace, missions are pretty diverse as are the objectives (as far as EDF games go anyway). The game might seem shallow at first but you quickly unlock a lot of items, weapons and suits which you can mix and match to create truly interesting combos. The more I play it the more I like it. It definitely has a proud place in the EDF series unless the missions turn to utter shit in the later half.

For EDF fans: 9/10
For everyone else: 7/10
 
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