SHOULD I PLAY HELLDIVERS 2?
Definitely play it, but you might want to wait for the developers to fix a few technical issues. Helldivers 2 offers an intense, action-packed dive into the world introduced in 2015’s Helldivers. In this sci-fi universe, alien races are constantly trying to take over humankind; it’s up to the military forces of Super Earth—the titular Helldivers—to fight for its freedom. While this game has a few kinks it needs to iron out, such as a lack of weapons, unnecessary mechanics, and technical problems, it already offers an incredibly fun co-op shooter with an impressive amount of content available at launch. TIME PLAYED
I played Helldivers 2 for five hours. I’ve reached level six and have joined dozens of matches, completing runs on four of the lowest difficulty levels. I’ve acquired four weapons and seven stratagems to use in battle, and I’m currently trying to beat the hard difficulty mode.
WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT HELLDIVERS 2?
• Patriotic mission to liberate the galaxy. Helldivers 2 is all about saving humanity and liberating planets from the grasps of opposing races such as the bug-like Terminids and the cyborg Automatons. There’s not a lot of story buildup outside of the brief introduction, but it didn’t take much for me to understand the vibes that the game is going for. This is a game about bloody war and killing stuff in the name of freedom, and that’s awesome. If you like the Halo franchise or even the Warhammer series, then this adventure might appeal to you. • Squashing bugs with other players. Nothing beats teaming up with other online players and hopping into a deadly mission together. Whether I was gunning enemies down with a machine gun, blowing up alien eggs with a bomb, or even just exploring the wilderness with teammates, Helldivers 2 felt like a near-perfect co-op shooter in terms of its core gameplay. Combat is smooth and exhilarating and there’s a lot of content to relish. The game never stopped surprising me with new enemy encounters or environmental discoveries, and experiencing all that explosive action felt satisfying and exhilarating.
• Getting deployed and landing on a gigantic bug. After getting killed in battle, my teammates could redeploy me into the warzone. Once they gave the command, I’d fall down from the sky inside a drop shuttle that safely brought me back to the battlefield. This wasn’t just a second chance to do my part in the fight, though; it was also an opportunity to inflict major damage. If I managed to angle my shuttle as it dropped, I could drop like a meteor onto the gigantic cockroach creeps we were at war with. This was ridiculous and felt amazing every time.
• Dying and killing your teammates by accident. Basically anything could kill me in Helldivers 2, a reality that made every moment of a match both terrifying and really fun. I can’t count the number of times I died after getting shot by an ally because they were aiming at an alien and I somehow popped my head in their line of sight, or because I dived toward the wrong area and fell into the blast radius of a friendly grenade. Death from friendly fire can be extremely frustrating in some shooters, but in this one, it’s just part of the fun and strategy of combat. Each member of the team gets a ton of lives anyway. In other words, it’s okay to kill your teammates if it makes you laugh; just make sure to say it was an accident.
• Mission variety and difficulty levels. Helldivers 2 features a lot of variety in its mission objectives, from eliminating a group of monsters to bombing a target location to securing data. On top of that, there’s nine difficulty modes available for each mission, with all sorts of activities, challenges, and bonus monster encounters. This game has hours upon hours of replayability for those who are looking to enjoy everything it has to offer.
• Exploring different planets. There’s more to each mission than just the main objectives too. Since every mission in Helldivers 2 takes place on different regions of different planets, I was able to spend plenty of time exploring to discover research camps, hive nests, enemy bases and so on. This exploration gave me a reason to wander outside of the mission area, and I was rewarded with bonus resources and side missions.
WHAT SUCKS ABOUT HELLDIVERS 2?
• Lack of weapons and customization. In the five hours I’ve played Helldivers 2, I’ve only unlocked five weapons, and those unlocks appear to be growing fewer and further between. I can’t even customize my equipment with colors or patterns either, which is such a wasted opportunity. Customization is a huge draw for me in shooters, and the lack of it has definitely dulled the edges of an otherwise great experience here.
• Grindy battle passes. Part of the reason for the slow grind for weapons in Helldivers 2 is that the game only offers one way to unlock them: the battle passes. The game’s battle pass offers a free tier, so players don’t necessarily need to pay more money on top of the cost of the game. However, I found it difficult to make much progress on the pass across each individual mission. This unlock structure pushed me to focus on farming resources to unlock new weaponry and equipment, which actively distracted me from the best parts of the game.
• Inputting commands to use abilities. Helldivers 2 features special abilities called stratagems. These allowed me to call down a barrage of fire from above on my enemies, drop down mines and sentry guns, or even install powerful stationary weapons to help me mow down baddies. Sounds cool, right? Just one problem: In order to use stratagems, I had to input a sequence of button presses, tapping the directional arrows almost like if I was trying to pull off a special move in a fighting game. Having to manually activate stratagems every time I wanted to use them made the game exhausting and slowed down combat. I don’t understand why these abilities cannot be activated by a single button press.
• Technical issues. I experienced long load times, crashes, and occasional rubber banding while playing Helldivers 2. It was also hard for me to find teammates for certain missions; I often resorted to quick play, which automatically assigned the mission I’d be jumping into rather than letting me choose, because it was a lot less time-consuming to find matches that way. The technical problems in Helldivers 2 don’t ruin the game, but it may be worth waiting to see if they get smoothed out before you jump in.
PLATFORM TESTED
PC via Steam.
I am Not Convinced Yet....The Game Lacks A Clear Content Plan.... But I Think I am going to buy it Just To Shoot Bugs 😂
2024-02-12
Author likedIt definitely comes at a price, but I think it's worth it if you like Halo, Warhammer, Battlefield, or even Star Wars. It feels very similar to those franchises and there's so much content to go through.
2024-02-12
my favorite game Battle Star comeback 😱😱😱
2024-02-17
Author liked