Global Defence Force

Global Defence Force (also known as Global Defense Force, Earth Defense Force 2 or Simple 2000 Volume 81: The Chikyū Bōeigun 2) is the second installment of the Earth Defense Force series. It was released on the PlayStation 2 in Japan in 2005 and translated for release in the EU by D3 subsidiary Essential Games in 2007, but never in North America. The EU version does not replace the Japanese dub voices, instead electing to have no voice acting whatsoever during missions. However, the death sounds of the infantry and Pale Wing remain.

In Japan, the game was ported to PlayStation Portable as Earth Defense Forces 2 Portable in 2011. A PlayStation Vita enhanced remake was later released as Earth Defense Forces 2 Portable V2 in 2014. The latter was given a US release in 2015 as Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders From Planet Space.

Earth Defense Force 2025 is effectively a remake of Global Defence Force, in much the same way that Earth Defense Force 2017 is a remake of Monster Attack.

Overview
Global Defence Force uses the same basic gameplay template as Monster Attack, but expands on it in almost every way, with more levels, more enemy types and more weapons.



The basic game has 71 levels with 7 more added in Portable, and has the most difficulty settings of any EDF game: as well as the usual five, a final "Impossible" difficulty setting is unlocked after all levels have been beaten on all other difficulties. Until the release of 2025 it had the most content of any EDF game.

The player can choose between playing as a male soldier classified as Infantry who can use normal weapons and use vehicles, or a female specialty class known as the Pale Wing, which instead uses energy-based weaponry and can fly for short periods of time. Because of this there are two complete sets of non-interchangeable weapons, totalling 300 in GDF and 328 in Portable. The weapons added in Portable are all high-level final models of existing series. Portable also changes the "repair spray" weapon's name to the more familiar Reverser.

Unlike other Sandlot-produced EDF games, it is not set exclusively in Japan, with one of the maps being the city of London. In the European translation, the giant insects are referred to as "Gigantors."

Storyline
The game takes place two years after the 2017 war of Monster Attack, with the Ravagers (known only as "Invaders" in the English translation) repelled after the destruction of their Mothership and the Gigantors thought to have been exterminated. The introductory cutscene states that the Earth Defense Force was established in the aftermath of the first war with the Ravagers, which rather contradicts Monster Attack saying it already existed before the first Ravager invasion.

Reports come in of Gigantor sightings in the city of London, and what begins as a cleanup effort soon becomes a struggle for survival as massive numbers of Gigantors emerge across the world. A giant above-ground hive appears in Japan practically overnight and powerful Flying Ants emerge to attack the terrified population, with the EDF's initial assault on it proving futile.

As the situation becomes more desperate, the EDF deploys its forces underground to track down and destroy the Queen and end the Gigantor threat once and for all, but they are interrupted by the sudden arrival of a Ravager fleet centred on another Mothership, the same kind that wiped out militaries across the world in the 2017 war.

Infantry
Infantry are soldiers who the backbone of the EDF ground forces. The manual states there are about 300,000 of them stationed all over the world.

Infantry are the jack-of-all-trades class mostly using fairly traditional ballistic weaponry, and have higher armor growth (ie, each armor Item counts for 1.5 health instead of 0.5) than Pale Wings.

Pale Wing
Pale Wings are an elite all-female special forces unit who use jetpacks and energy weapons derived from alien technology. Their weapons for the most part use the same energy reserve as their jetpack, meaning energy management is very important: if the Pale Wing's energy runs out, her pack will have to perform an emergency cooldown during which she is unable to fly or charge her weapons.

They have slower armor growth than Infantry, explained in-game as being due to their need to remain lighter in order to fly effectively, though they have the same absolute limit outside of Impossible difficulty.