By the second level you will know this game is peak.

I bought this for a song, since EDF6 came out but had that whole EGS requirement mess at the time. I'm actually a bit disappointed in myself that I never bought it back when it was newer, but ah well.

Anyways, finished it on Hard just now, predominantly Fencer, side of Wing Diver with some Air Raider thrown in. This 5th entry is absolutely solid, and improves upon EDF4.1 in nearly every conceivable way. The wacky-waving-arm-flailing Hectors are missed but the Alien Colonists/Cosmonaut enemies are genuinely more fun. I'm not even that against the Wing Diver weapons now having all these "charge" options, although it ruffled my jimmies a little at first. Normally I'd be going in on Hardest and Inferno BUT I'd like to save my sanity for EDF6, since they got rid of the EGS thing and apparently it's even better ('bout to drop full price on it right now even).

...and that's the crazy part. These games are ACTUALLY getting better and better, despite each prior experience feeling so INSANE that it doesn't seem possible to top. Yeah, some of it feels like features that maybe should have been in from jump, and yeah getting so much recycled content every 4-5 years can make the price on new entries feel like a bitter pill to swallow...at first. However, 50-60 hours later and you've actually cleared one of these, knowing that there's still nothing else in gaming like it, and knowing that there's still the brutality of the harder options available...

I mean, what more needs to be said about EDF after all these years? I'm sure some day it will actually turn to ♥♥♥♥ as all things do, but for now it remains one of the purest gaming experiences you can have. Not F2P, not P2W, not hand-holdy, and not restrained in the SLIGHTEST. It can be exhausting at times but you always come back, because the Earth still needs defending, and you're the force to do it.

We are the valiant infantry. Nothing can withstand our fixed bayonets. The EDF ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ DEPLOYS.

Tons of fun with friends!