I’ve done everything I could to convince you that Earth Defense Force 2025 is going to be a worthy day one purchase. Of course, if you would rather wait for final thoughts in the form of a review, that will follow a few days after the release next week. Consider this Screenshot Saturday a special edition and last ditch chance to get you to support this game right out the gate.

Eight years have passed since the Earth Defense Force pushed back the Ravagers and their hordes of giant insects and robots. We thought the world was safe. We thought this peace would last forever. We were wrong!

Buried deep within the planet, the Ravagers left a farewell present for the humans of Earth before their full retreat. Lurking beneath our cities and growing by the day was a new army, just waiting for the special chance to strike from the inside. No incoming UFOs. No warning shots. Just enormous beasts emerging from holes in the world.

What kind of help do the Ravagers employ? Only monsters of the worst description. Giant ants, giant spiders, giant robots, giant bees, dragons, limbless dinosaurs and flying saucers, there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to this mishmash of an army,. But know that any group can easily overrun your company without careful attention.

To repel this latest force, the EDF has registered the help of unit units beyond the typical Ranger foot soldiers.

Wing Divers act as the air support of the battlefield, taking out enemies with the aid of laser rifles and jet packs. Air Raiders summon important resources to the battlefield through helicopters and can coordinate powerful bombing raids. Lastly, the Fencer is the tank of the group, slow but equipped to the teeth with heavy weapons and impenetrable armor.

Once deployed, the soldiers have free reign on how to take out their foes. Destroy buildings to make a clear path to the center of the army, or navigate the streets of Japan to sneak up on them. Anybody who has tried to find their way through a Japanese city knows that this might be the more inconvenient of the two methods. So just level it, I say.

Earth Defense Force 2025 launches next week on Feb. 18 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. EDF! EDF!

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