Earth Defense Force: World Brothers is a heart-warming and goofy game that, though rather repetitive, is the best EDF game I’ve played yet. The diversity of weapons and classes is a blast to use, the voice acting is delightfully hammy, and the way it approaches the idea of world peace is genuinely nice to see. If you can stand the repetition in the missions, World Brothers is a fun and silly game.
Earth Defense Force: World Brothers
Developer: Yuke’s
Price: $60
Platforms: PS4 (reviewed), Nintendo Switch, and PC
MonsterVine was provided with a PS4 code for review
I’m not especially experienced with the Earth Defense Force series, as I’ve only played a couple of entries in the franchise. I found both titles to be (ironically, given the premise of the series) buggy but fun experiences for the most part, so my expectations for World Brothers were fairly average, if not a bit below. Though it has a fairly repetitive game loop, it’s a charming game outside of the tedium. Whether you’re a longtime fan or a relative newcomer like myself, you’ll likely have some good fun with World Brothers.
The story of World Brothers is as follows: the world has been destroyed. The voxel-styled planet is now in pieces thanks to the villainous Dark Tyrant and his army of giant bugs and robots. People from around the world have come together to join the Earth Defense Force in order to fight off the invaders and quite literally fix the world. It’s a very intentionally silly story, but one that really works given the subject matter of Earth Defense Force. You slowly repair the planet, mission by mission, as you gather up new recruits to squash colossal bugs
Perhaps the best thing about the story is the surprisingly heartfelt way it approaches the idea of world peace. Comically exaggerated people from around the world come together, from British Royal Guards and African Safari Guides to Japanese Ninja and Canadian Bear-People. The characters all discuss their countries, foods, and societies in a productive and informative way, often teaching one another about new cultures and encouraging further learning. I didn’t expect to be so moved by an Earth Defense Force’s take on unity across the world, but I came away from World Brothers knowing a bit more about the cultures that surround me, and that’s kind of incredible.
“Most missions feel like the same thing: fight a couple waves of bugs or robots, and potentially fight a boss.“
The gameplay of World Brothers is quite smooth, especially compared to previous EDF games I’ve played (Iron Rain and Invaders From Planet Space.) There were very few technical issues throughout my entire playtime with the game, and it was all rather straightforward. You get a team of four characters, each with their own weapons and abilities, and you get dropped in an urban or rural setting that’s floating around space. Bugs start to appear, and you have to kill them all using your characters. You can find additional characters around each stage who can provide you with new classes or improve your existing classes if you already have them. You also have spectacular super attacks that annihilate any enemies around you, which lead to some truly wild scenes of bug carnage.
There are tons of weapons, stat-boosting accessories, and team emblems to collect, which allows for some neat experimentation between different characters and their playstyles. Once you get the hang of things, it’s fairly easy to clear each level, though there are a variety of difficulties for those who wish to have a bit more of a challenge. There’s also multiplayer available, which is probably the optimal way to play the game. Teaming-up with other players online to wreck insects is a blast, as you can mess around with one another or blaze through missions as a well-oiled machine. I didn’t experience any problems online, outside of some stuttering when super moves were used.
The one major problem with World Brothers is how unvaried it is. Most missions feel like the same thing: fight a couple waves of bugs or robots, and potentially fight a boss. It begins to feel a bit stale if you play for more than a few missions at a time, even while mixing up your playable characters and locations. This definitely isn’t a “binge” game, as the 60 missions begin to blur together over extended periods. The missions are short, which encourages the optimal playstyle of experiencing World Brothers in spurts.
The visuals of World Brothers feel perfectly in-line with the colorful and comedic story and over-the-top gameplay. The voxel-style makes environmental destruction feel bombastic, as squared-off chunks of buildings fly about while you fire explosives at everything that moves. Bug corpses fly around with reckless abandon, and brightly-colored guts splatter across the streets. The graphics add some extra fun to the chaotic nature of gameplay, which works well for World Brothers.
The music is very energetic and almost aggressively exciting, which is a good fit for the tone of World Brothers. The voice acting is especially suited to the game, as it’s as hammy as one could hope for in a B-movie inspired game like this. Some of the silliest lines are delivered with boundless enthusiasm, which I have to give props to the voice talent for.
The Final Word
Earth Defense Force: World Brothers is a repetitive but at times fun and very charming third-person shooter that actually taught me a bit about the world I live in. There are lots of characters and weapons to experiment with, and the visuals work well with the over-the-top destruction of EDF. If you’re looking for a simple but goofy experience, look no further than World Brothers.
MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 out of 5 – Fair
