With Earth Defense Force 5, developer Sandlot continues with the same gameplay loop that’ll be familiar to anyone returning from previous games in the series. That means that along with copious amounts of third-person shooting, there’s also vehicular combat as well. Here’s how to fly a helicopter in the game if you’re not sure.
Flying a Helicopter in Earth Defense Force 5
As a lone infantryman, having access to vehicles gives you a much-needed boost in firepower to combat the hordes of giant ants threatening to crush planet earth. Unfortunately, though, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a natural born expert when it comes to piloting them.
Particularly so, in the case of the helicopter, which can be quite tricky to get the hang of at first — mostly because the controls aren’t immediately obvious.
The key thing you need to understand is that while attempting to ascend by spinning up its blades (either with L2 on PS4 or by holding Space on PC), you’ll need to wait at least 10 seconds for the aircraft to spin. In brief, the helicopters are typically sluggish and take a while to get going.
Once you’ve got your head around that you’ll be up in the air in no time. Of course, EDF games have never made helicopter flying particularly easy, but it’s a little more streamlined this time around.
To summarize, though, it’s L2/Space to build up power and ascend, and then release the control to descend. R2/Left mouse button to fire the main weapon (machine guns/lasers), and R1/Right mouse button to fire the secondary weapon (missiles/bombs).
There’s also fuel to contend with, but that shouldn’t be an issue if you’re actively trying to attack enemies, as you’ll likely run out of armor long before fuel.
As a side note, you can actually revise the controls of any vehicle in Earth Defense Force 5 by accessing settings, selecting the bottom option, and then scrolling down until you find the option to locate the helicopter.
That’s everything you should need to know about how to fly a helicopter in Earth Defense Force 5. For more useful tips on the game, be sure to search Twinfinite.
