New Earth Defense Force deploying July 5

Gamers eager to enlist in the Earth Defense Force will need to wait a little bit longer. According to the game's official Facebook page, Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon will miss its previously announced spring release window and is now set for launch July 5.

In development at Vicious Cycle Games (Dead Head Fred, Matt Hazard), Insect Armageddon will once again cast players as a member of the Earth Defense Force. When the planet is attacked by alien invasion forces closely resembling giant ants, spiders, and other terrestrial bugs, the vastly outnumbered EDF makes up for a lack of manpower with an abundance of firepower.

To help stave off the invasion, Insect Armageddon will give players access to over 300 weapons and helpful tools like jetpacks and movable turrets. It will also allow up to three players to go through the campaign mode together online, or two players in split-screen cooperative mode. The game also features a separate six-player mode where players battle wave after wave of the alien menace together.

The Earth Defense Force series began life as Chikyuu Boueigun, part of D3Publisher's Japanese line of Simple 2000 budget PlayStation 2 games. While the Xbox 360 offering Earth Defense Force 2017 was the first installment in the series to see release in North America, the previous installments made their way to Europe under the Global Defence Force and Monster Attack names.

For more on Insect Armageddon, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.