Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 Review – Block and Roll

Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 on PS5

With this release, there have been four spin-off releases in the Earth Defense Force franchise (not counting the 4.1 Wing Diver game). I have various problems with Insect Armageddon and Iron Rain, but World Brothers is where I felt they nailed it. While the other two skewed too far from the core concept, World Brothers perfectly captured the EDF spirit. I was excited to see how a sequel would improve on the already excellent first game, and I was happy with what I found.

If you played Earth Defense Force 6 when it was released a few months ago, there are some sizeable differences between the two. In contrast to the mainline EDF games being on the grittier side and their stories being downers, World Brothers is all color and cheer. Whereas you control one character in the normal games, you craft have a squad of four characters in WB from various classes that you can quickly swap through in missions. The other biggest difference is graphics, as World Brothers looks like it was made in Minecraft.

All Earth Defense Force games provide excellent online co-op as well as split-screen multiplayer, which was the one thing World Brothers 1 was missing. The devs considered that this time, and it has returned in World Brothers 2, which should make players who skipped the first much happier. While it’s not something I often take advantage of, it does help with trophy hunting.

World Brothers 2 picks up a year after Dark Tyrant split the (appropriately) Cube Earth apart, and a new adversary, Gaiarch, has now popped up to do the same thing. You play as the same non-speaking commander from the first game, but the supporting cast of characters is almost entirely new. You take command of Division 7, who, to fight back against Gaiarch, has to track down and defeat the mother ships from each mainline EDF title.

One of the things I love most about World Brothers 2 (and the first one) is that it feels like a love letter to the Earth Defense Force franchise. Between findable characters being soldiers from every single title to funny dialogue sticking up for the spin-offs, this game was clearly made by fans for fans.

At its heart, World Brothers 2 is another third-person shooter with increasingly silly/powerful weaponry. However, the sequel has graciously upgraded all characters to increase their usefulness massively. Not only do all characters have a special attack, but they also have an ability and a maneuverability skill.

The abilities can be things like extra attacks or even healing grenades. Meanwhile, maneuverability is something most characters lack in the previous game. Only certain EDF soldiers had a dodge roll, which made them clearly superior to the others. All characters have roughly equal usability this time, so it’s much easier to branch out and be a little more crazy with squad composition.

Weapons have also been greatly improved as they now level up their damage stats from being used. This means a level one weapon can outpace a brand new level two (or maybe higher) if you’ve been using it long enough. It helps maintain familiarity with a weapon without the need to be constantly swapping until you’re willing to take a temporary hit in output to level up a better weapon.

I will also say the dialogue is better this time, as it felt far too corny in the first game. They leaned more into the meta jokes, such as the running gag with the whole “they look like people” about the bipedal frog monsters. My only sticking point was the operator character that gives tips during combat, but it couldn’t be turned off without eliminating all voices. By the end of the game, I was close to losing it if I was told one more time that I should swap squad members instead of waiting through reload times.

Missions are another area where it’s clear the developers had more confidence when crafting this sequel. Clearly, fans had reacted well to creativity in the first game, so that seemed to be a bigger focus this time. They didn’t just stick to recreating classic missions, which is what makes the game so great.

One unique mission was a beach invasion by massive tripedal enemies. The main method of offense was these tanks behind stacks of freight containers. These weren’t standard tanks; they only moved horizontally, and entering them changed to an almost top-down camera angle. This was all a reference to Space Invaders, and I loved that kind of stuff.

The beauty of World Brothers 2 is that I am getting the best of both worlds. It plays much like a traditional EDF title while benefiting from new ideas. World Brothers 1 tried a few things that Earth Defense Force 6 later incorporated, so I am excited to see what is carried forward this time. If you’re looking for your next third-person shooter obsession or want to find a game to play with friends, I promise World Brothers 2 won’t disappoint you.

Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2

World Brothers 2 provides excellent upgrades to mechanics from the first game to make this one feel even better to play.

Pros

• Fun dialogue
• Weapon damage is upgraded through use
• Split screen co-op returns.
• Creative missions.
• Characters have better maneuverability through new skills.

Cons

• Character that gives helpful tips during combat is incredibly annoying without any way to turn it off specifically

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review. Reviewed on PS5.