The EDF western games syndrome - Part 2 - Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain

Oh boy. It's clear how this is going to be...

I'm perfectly open to all kinds of games. I would love for a similar game to EDF to show up (closest things are Dead Nation and Alienation, and by closest it's still really far, only similar in vague terms of gameplay).

I don't even own yet EDF Iron Rain. I played it for 2 hours on a powerful PC of a friend who liked the game (but doesn't like EDF 4.1... 😁) and had mostly finished it and almost everything unlocked.

It's crystal clear to anyone that EDF Iron Rain is not a EDF Sandlot game, and that was likely the objective. But that is precisely the main issue with the game. EDF Sandlot games are really good because of the gameplay. They have fans because of the gameplay. But that wasn't replicated or used in Iron Rain. If they tried it was a fantastic success like in IA.

The story is reasonable? Seems so. There's a lot of customization? Yep. There's a new class, the Prowl Rider? Yes, he's there and it's moderately fun to play.  I could not care less about a story or customizations, that so many people insist on asking Sandlot to add, when the game is a boredom fest to play. Does customization change the gameplay at all? I know I didn't experience it but it's a awful grinding fest like IA. Yes I know Sandlot games clearly don't excel in that dept either.

The NPC are dreadful incompetent and dumb. Some enemies are nice. Some graphics and animations are dreadful, some are good. There's no hordes. Small maps. Few missions. No strategy, just mostly dumb shooting / slashing. Ouch...

Yuke's did try and probably even did a decent job and yes they introduced a more different and better game than IA. Many people even do enjoy the game, but many people enjoyed IA too (how on earth can that be possible...😋😁). But this was a disaster in the making because like in Insect Armageddon, they removed the most brilliant aspect of EDF, and tried to make something that's it's not like it. Which again is fine, but then just call it Iron Rain. This is like selling a new Coca Cola that is Fanta. No matter how much you call it Coca Fanta, it's most likely not either and not good. This is the biggest issue with these games, they're not even remotely relate to Sandlot games except in theme, that is kill bugs. So do the smart thing market them as different games not EDF ones. As a brainless shooter is slightly fun, sell it as such a game. But they don't and shoot themselves in the feet.

D3 and Yuke abandoned the game shortly after the release, no wonder. The game wasn't successful in the west and a complete flop in Japan. Yes it's still miles better than Insect Armageddon, but it's still light years away even from EDF 4.1.

I'll buy it once it's less than 5 euros... Mostly for laughs. 🤣

I don't think they have learned the lesson and we'll see a third take. D3 is even owned now by Bandai Namco the japanese equivalent of  EA / Activision smartness, so we can surely expect that.

Last. I see so many people asking for Prowl Rider to be added to the Sandlot games. I truly hope not, I'm 99.99% sure it will be one of the worst decisions and dreadful mistakes Sandlot will do to the game. The class simply does not fit into the Sandlot style of gameplay.