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Almost 10 years after 2015’s Helldivers, Helldivers 2 carefully adapts the simple but exciting formula of bug-exploding with friends for a modern audience. Arrowhead Game Studios has changed the perspective from top-down to third-person, keeping the frantic, ballistic loop of crash-landing on hostile planets, completing difficult missions, and mining against all odds.
In a war-torn galaxy, you and your friends are Helldivers, the brainwashed protectors of Super Earth, fueled by corny aphorisms advocating patriotism and the importance of so-called democracy. Invading forces of menacing automatons and craggy organic termites threaten your way of life and have taken up residence in precious interstellar real estate. After earning the shiny cloak of “freedom” in the game’s boot camp tutorial, you’re unleashed to tackle an impressive array of hard-hitting missions. Your objectives range from simple hive exterminations to complicated release code recovery missions.
However, Helldivers 2’s thrilling unpredictability is secretly the game’s best feature. Whether it’s challenging terrain, injured limbs, bad weather, or a poorly communicated orbital attack that brutalizes your entire team, your best laid plans are destined to fall apart in devastating and hilarious fashion .
The combat in Helldivers 2 is all meat, no gristle. Movement feels fluid and responsive, whether you’re sprinting to safety or comically leaping at the tendency to dodge the chainsaw arm of a moving terminator. This means that while you encounter similar biomes and objectives, the journey to achieve your goals is always filled with wonderful mayhem. A big advantage of this system is the feints: abilities that can be accessed in combat by quickly entering a sequence of D-pad button presses, like a Mortal Kombat Fatality.
After playing DDR with your fingers, you’re given a marker grenade to revive your teammates, resupply, and cancel offensive airstrikes, top-tier weaponry, minefields, and more. Mistaken entries as bugs chip away at your health induce a feverish cocktail of adrenaline and fear. However, when you successfully surround him and call down a hail of hellfire, saving your downed compatriots, the heroism is intoxicating. Few games offer such powerful opportunities to play the hero as Helldivers 2.
The effectiveness of each speed run depends on who leaves the planet and how many optional objectives you complete. This subsequently determines the EXP, request, samples and medals you take home, a simple set of resources used to develop your ship and buy new weapons, armor and stratagems. Helldivers 2 also offers free and premium battle passes and a Superstore where players can use a premium currency called “Super Credits”. Fortunately, the paid content is not too intrusive and can be easily avoided as the campaign progresses.
Helldivers 2’s customizable kit makes it easy to specialize within teams; Are you the support act carrying ammo or the pyromaniac leader setting the battlefield on fire? Despite my best efforts, I was the problem child of my team, riddled with airstrikes and mines that negotiated as many spectacular escapes as squad wipes. There’s nothing quite as humbling (or fun) as tripping over your own minefield during a desperate sprint to the shuttle.
Beyond its refreshingly simple feedback loop, even more fascinating is how your personal success affects the overall narrative. Helldivers 2 operates on a live map, with players around the world slowly liberating quadrants of planets, their actions influenced by major commands relayed from central control. In an already collaborative game, this adds to the sense of community, making you feel like you’re part of something bigger than even the heady emotional beats of your team’s missions.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle Helldivers 2 has to face is its own success; servers have been overwhelmed since launch, resulting in long wait times and wobbly progression systems. However, for me, the indoctrination is too strong. I’m still forced to wait my turn to get another taste of sweet victory in this live service diamond in the rough.
Source: gameinformer.com