EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1 WINGDIVER THE SHOOTER

About

"EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1 WINGDIVER THE SHOOTER" is a top-down shoot 'em up game set in the world of Earth Defense Force 4.1. As a soldier in Pale Team, an elite branch of the EDF's Wing Diver division, players must complete 6 missions across 5 difficulty levels and collect 60 different weapons. The game also includes a training mode with quick missions and a leaderboard for high-scores. The story follows several months after the most recent invasion of the Ravagers.

Genres & Tags

Action

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1 WINGDIVER THE SHOOTER screenshot

65%

Audience ScoreBased on 113 reviews

gameplay4 positive mentions

story4 negative mentions

Fun and nostalgic gameplay that captures the essence of EDF with a unique bullet hell twist.
Challenging difficulty levels that provide a rewarding experience for players who enjoy grinding for upgrades.
Cheesy voice acting and engaging graphics that add to the charm of the EDF series.

Extremely short campaign with only six missions, making it feel overpriced at full price.
Frustrating hitbox mechanics and unbalanced difficulty spikes that can detract from the overall experience.
Lack of multiplayer or co-op options, limiting the fun to a single-player experience.

story
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
8%
82%
11%
The game's story is minimal and largely irrelevant, featuring only six short missions that can be completed in under an hour, with repetitive gameplay and a focus on grinding for upgrades. While the campaign is brief, it offers some replayability through different difficulty levels and a free DLC that adds additional missions, though many players found the overall content lacking for the price. The narrative and character design are considered unimportant, with the experience primarily driven by gameplay mechanics rather than story depth.
- “The campaign is fairly short (6 missions you can complete in 1 hour or even less when you know the patterns) but really replayable to get more weapons or try different loadouts.”
- “It is worth mentioning that free DLC was released for this game, a 'training mode' which adds several unique short missions for the player to complete like fighting bosses with a fixed weapon loadout, ring checkpoint courses, rescuing civilians and fellow EDF soldiers, and more.”
- “If you're familiar with EDF 4.1, you'll be in known territory right away: same completely cheesy story and voice acting, same creatures, same art direction, and same progression system based on grinding armor and weapons crates with 5 difficulty levels.”
- “It is that bad... end of story.”
- “There's no singing, there are long unskippable boring cutscenes, and the intro story was done entirely with still images.”
- “Unfortunately, the game ends long before you get to even the 1/3 or 1/2 point of that structure... worse even when you consider you have maybe 10 or so missions total.”
gameplay
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
56%
19%
The gameplay is characterized as a bullet hell shooter with a unique dodge-boost mechanic that allows players to evade attacks, though it can lead to frustrating moments due to a disproportionately large hitbox. While the game offers a familiar arsenal for fans of the EDF series and a variety of weapons, the balance between defense and offense can be challenging, making it more suitable for hardcore players. Overall, it provides a fast-paced experience that may appeal to those who enjoy achievement hunting and intense gameplay.
- “If you are not sure if you would like a bullet hell or fear you may suck, this one is on the easier side due to the dodge mechanic.”
- “The basic idea of the game (a bullet-hell shooter with the weapons and energy-management mechanics of a wing diver; and the enemies from EDF) works well.”
- “The weapon variety is great; I really like some of the weapons such as the Lazr and Geist, and you can mix them up a lot for different gameplay.”
- “There's a lot of cheap hits even with the boost dodge mechanic, and sometimes you have to choose between overheating (practically immobile and unable to fire, which is a death sentence in most situations) or taking a hit or two.”
- “Your hitbox is way bigger than it has any right to be, making a lot of patterns overly precise to avoid without abusing the boost mechanic.”
- “When this concept is placed into a fast-paced, aerial shooter like Raiden V, you suddenly have a very bad mechanic that hinders the player from enjoying the game by forcing them to choose between defense & evasion or attack.”
grinding
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features significant grinding for armor and weapons, which is a hallmark of the EDF series, offering plenty of replayability through difficulty progression. While the repetitive nature of grinding can become tedious, especially with only six missions available, players can enjoy short bursts of fun as they farm for upgrades. Starting on easy mode is recommended to ease into the grind, making the experience more enjoyable despite its inherent repetitiveness.
- “It is grindy, but fun flying around shooting bugs and dodging incoming fire.”
- “- As with any EDF game, it requires a lot of grinding for armor to survive the higher difficulties, which unfortunately can get very repetitive with only 6 missions to play.”
- “It is a fun shmup that runs well, but you will be grinding the same six levels to beat different difficulties, increase your armor, and find new weapons.”
graphics
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
45%
27%
The graphics of the game are generally considered outdated, with comparisons to PS1 and PS2 era visuals, and are described as average, particularly in relation to other titles in the EDF series. While some players appreciate the decent performance on platforms like the Steam Deck, others find the lack of graphical options limiting, especially on older hardware. Overall, the game may appeal to those who prioritize gameplay over visual fidelity.
- “Runs really well on the Steam Deck too; I got approximately 2:45 hours of battery with default settings, with nice graphics and solid framerate.”
- “Fast game with modern-day graphics and easy controls that move from location A to B to C and so on.”
- “A good shooting game with 3D graphics.”
- “The graphics may be a little outdated and the story is questionable, but it's also decently difficult if you're into that sort of thing.”
- “Graphics are about on par with most EDF games, which is to say they are fairly average.”
- “There aren't really any graphics options at all, which means playing this on my older laptop was painful in some areas.”
replayability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
29%
43%
The game offers significant replayability despite its short campaign of six missions, primarily through the ability to experiment with different loadouts, climb difficulty levels, and unlock remixed stages with varied enemy waves. However, some players noted that the ease of overpowering bosses in later playthroughs can diminish the challenge and overall replay value. Overall, the game encourages repeated play for weapon grinding and achieving better scores.
- “The campaign is fairly short (6 missions you can complete in 1 hour or even less when you know the patterns) but really replayable to get more weapons or try different loadouts.”
- “Plenty of replayability through climbing the difficulties and grinding for armor and weapons.”
- “Its replayability comes from clearing the higher difficulty stages and acquiring a stronger arsenal, similar to the mainline EDF games, and unlocking a remixed version of the original 6 levels which change the enemy waves.”
- “During the end of my playthroughs, I had way too much health and could just stand still during bosses and still win, which is an issue and hurts replayability.”
- “It's a bit on the short side as far as content goes though: 6 levels and one class with 'only' 60 weapons, but of course, the replay value is huge.”
music
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
The music in the game is generally praised for being surprisingly good, enhancing the overall experience with a fantastic soundtrack and dramatic voice lines that complement the action. While some players feel the game lacks depth in story and character design, the engaging music and voice acting contribute positively to the chaotic gameplay. Overall, the presentation, including the music, is considered solid and enjoyable, particularly for fans of arcade-style shoot'em'ups.
- “I love this game, the music and dramatic voice lines are epic.”
- “You get to shoot a metric ton of gigantic ants and other creatures, listen to bad and by bad I mean very, very good voice acting and listen to a fantastic soundtrack while all the crazy action takes place on the screen.”
- “The presentation overall is solid, it looks like 4.1, the music is surprisingly good for an EDF game and the dub feels different but it's still cheesy and fun.”
- “It's a game you don't care about story, music, character design, or even graphics.”
- “This may apply to most arcade-styled shoot 'em ups out there, but those are usually better crafted with more enemies, music tracks, thought-out weapons, enemy patterns, and bullet patterns.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
The game is highly optimized, running smoothly and performing as expected for players familiar with similar titles. However, it lacks options for anti-aliasing and vertical sync, and there is no exit game button in the menus.
- “Ungodly optimized.”
- “This game runs smoothly and does pretty much what you would expect if you have experienced these two elements.”
- “There is no anti-aliasing or V-Sync to help with performance, and I haven't found an exit game button in the menus.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The reviews indicate that character development is largely overlooked in the game, with players expressing indifference towards the story, character design, and overall narrative engagement.
- “The character development feels shallow and uninspired, making it hard to connect with anyone in the game.”
- “I found the characters to be one-dimensional, lacking any real growth or depth throughout the story.”
- “There is little to no character progression, which makes the overall experience feel stagnant and unengaging.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is negatively impacted by frustrating mechanics, such as the abrupt decision to quit full screen mode when the player is hit, which can lead to feelings of annoyance and disengagement.
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is seen as a mixed bag; while it offers some amusing moments, many reviewers feel it ultimately falls short, presenting a missed opportunity to enhance the experience of its unique blend of loot-based combat and the strategy genre.