There’s an absolute ton of variety here and since new weapons and armor packs (basically upgrades to your character) come from downed enemies it further encourages replays. Adding to the variety is the massive number of missions. The game comes with 85 but you can find nine more online, bringing us to a grand total of 94 missions. (You don’t actually have to play with people online for those last nine, but if you connect to the internet they’ll be available.) There are also mission packs on the way, offering new enemies and challenges. The first pack will be available on launch day, with three more coming soon after.
Weapon packs will also be available to give you even more tools of destruction, although two are timed exclusives. Both Gamestop and Amazon have weapon pack exclusives for preordering the game for the Ranger and Air Diver respectively. The Amazon one might be the funniest one, because it comes with the infamous Pure Decoy Launcher, which launches a balloon themed after a character from the Dream Club dating sim. Launch that and enemies will swarm it instead of you, because anime girls?
Regardless of the exclusives they’ll be unlocked for free for everyone after a month.
So there will be plenty for you to do and look forward to in Earth Defense Force 2025. From what I’ve seen it’s pretty clear that this is the best of the series so far, a fantastic return to form for original developer Sandlot. It reminds us of why we play games in the first place- to have fun. Earth Defense Force 2025 hits the Xbox 360 and PS3 on February 18th.
