I'm a fair weather fan of EDF 4.1 and 5. With EDF 6, it feels like two steps forward, one-and-half steps back.
If you played EDF 5, everything is going to feel quite familiar. The gameplay and the initial enemies are pretty much the same. Though, with the first missions taking place on a burned out Earth, there are even more ways to get your character stuck in terrain... yes, the jank is still very much there.
The classes are largely the same as well. Though, each now has a credit recharge slot. Where killed enemies give points to allow access to the piece of equipment. Honestly, I'm not a fan. I primarily play Air Raiders, and I've never much cared for it. I put up with it because it allows for some powerful vehicles. Here, at the start of the game, it barely feels better than standard gear. Credit points also don't earn while the item remains available. Which means if it allows 5 grenades and you throw 4, you aren't working toward another 5 grenades.
As mentioned, the classes are largely same. Except for Air Raider. The class still has the limpet gun, but I don't know if it technically the primary weapon on foot. The class has a bunch of drones that you can sic on enemy after targeting them. It's certainly interesting, but I play the Air Raider for mechs. So, I doubt once I start getting decent vehicles, I'm going to care that much. I think I would have rather EDF 6 split the class with on all about drones and air strikes and the other all amount vehicles and buffing devices.
EFD 6 does feature new enemies. Though, I don't know if I care for the first new type. The whole mission I wondered if I was using the wrong weapon, my weapons were underpowered and/or I wasn't targeting the weak point. The whole mission was a series of backing up circle strafing.
Still very much to the game's detriment, the player still has to scrounge for hit point (armor) and equipment (weapon) pick ups. Which always break the flow of combat. And early on, the player really wants to get every weapon crate in hopes of getting that one piece of gear that tips the balance in their favor. Because once the player can mostly just play missions without hunting for pick ups, EDF is so, so much fun.
EDF isn't exactly a series that lends itself to being nearly as fun as it gets until about 20-40 hours in when you start to get the tactics to fight the enemies and get weapons and equipment that feel powerful and suit your style of play. At the time of the review, I am nowhere near that.
However, I am enjoying more EDF. EDF 6 really does just feel like EDF 5.5. It's a bit better, but just not by a lot. And many of the little irritations are still there. That said, I still think it is a good horde third person shooter that isn't zombies. I enjoy the game play loop, and look forward to the day I have an overpowered Nix mech clearing huge swaths of giant monster bugs.
