Helldivers 2 Review
After almost a decade since the release of Helldivers in 2015, Helldivers 2 cautiously updates the straightforward yet thrilling concept of bug-blasting with friends for a contemporary audience. The third-person viewpoint has replaced the top-down one, but the hectic, ballistic loop of crash-landing on dangerous worlds, finishing challenging tasks, and extracting against all odds has been retained by Arrowhead Game Studios.
You and your pals are Helldivers, the brainwashed defenders of Super Earth in a war-torn galaxy, inspired by corny, hackneyed sayings that emphasize the value of democracy and patriotism. Your way of life is under attack from threatening Automatons and rugged, biological Terminids who have taken over valuable interplanetary real estate. In the game's boot camp tutorial, you can acquire the dazzling cape of "freedom" and then you're free to take on an astounding array of challenging tasks. Your goals can be as basic as eliminating hives or as complex as completing launch code recovery missions.
But Helldivers 2's thrilling unpredictable nature is actually its greatest aspect. Your best-laid plans are bound to collapse hilariously and terribly, whether it's due to hostile terrain, injured limbs, bad weather, or an orbital strike that completely destroys your squad.
You get a marking grenade after playing finger DDR, which you may use to replenish and summon offensive airstrikes, elite weapons, minefields, and more. Erroneous inputs while health issues wreak havoc create a pyrotechnic mixture of anxiety and adrenaline. But when you do manage to bash it in and call forth a hail of hellfire to save your fellow gunmen, the feeling of valor is overwhelming. Few games offer as strong of a chance to take on the role of hero as Helldivers 2.
Who survives and how many alternative objectives you fulfill determine how effective each quick run is. This in turn dictates how many Experience Points, Requisition, Samples, and Medals you bring back with you. These are a simple set of resources that you may spend to upgrade your ship and buy new armor, weapons, and stratagems. Along with free and paid combat passes, Helldivers 2 features a Superstore where users may spend "Super Credits," a premium currency. Luckily, as the campaign progresses, the sponsored content becomes less invasive and is simple to skip.
It's simple to specialize within teams in Helldivers 2 thanks to its customizable kit; are you the explosive frontman destroying the battlefield or the support act bringing ammo? I tried my hardest, but I was the team's troublemaker, full of mines and airstrikes that managed as many miraculous escapes as they did squad wipes. Nothing is quite as funny (or humiliating) as falling into your own minefield in the middle of a last-ditch race to get to the shuttle.
Even more fascinating than its surprisingly simple feedback loop is how your individual achievement affects the story as a whole. In Helldivers 2, players from all over the world gradually liberate planet quadrants on a live map, with the Major Orders that are transmitted by central control influencing their decisions. This strengthens the sense of community in a game that already encourages cooperation by giving you the impression that there's more going on in the world than just the intensely emotional beats of your squad's missions.
The main obstacle Helldivers 2 faces may be its own popularity; since debut, servers have been overloaded, resulting in protracted wait times and unreliable advancement mechanisms. However, I find the indoctrination to be simply too overwhelming. In this live-service diamond in the rough, I still have to wait my turn to experience another wonderful victory.
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