Welcome to SUPER EARTH! It’s just like regular Earth, but super! It has so much managed democracy that the bugs and androids are trying to STEAL it! Hide your children, hide your wives. Because the bugs WILL kill them. And only YOU can stop that from happening. Join the Helldivers TODAY!
If you’re not convinced that all the yelling is necessary, then I suggest watching the propaganda … uh, promotional material for the Helldivers. That will definitely convince you of something.
The first Helldivers came out in 2015 to positive reviews, and quickly developed a cult following. Helldivers 2 has picked up the same quirky, satirical humour and run with it. Only this time, instead of a twin stick shooter, it’s a gorgeous third-person shooter with a collection of enemies that will make you yell “DIE” at the screen while you nuke the wonderfully diverse planets you can die fight on.
Your main enemies are the Terminids and Automatons. Also known as the bugs from Starship Troopers but in italics, and a group of chainsaw wielding robots. Because normal robots weren’t hardcore enough. Why you’re fighting them is anyone’s guess, but boy are you killing them left, right and center. Is the lack of reason for fighting symptomatic of the militaristic dystopian society that Helldivers 2 takes place in where no questions are asked, and everyone is expected to just give their lives to the cause because of DEMOCRACY? Possibly, but don’t think so hard about it.
At the time of writing, Helldivers 2 had already seen one community mission based around pushing the Terminids back and liberating planets, and another focused on defending Super Earth’s outer planets for a certain amount of time in order to keep planets liberated. These community missions make up the basis of the game. Which planets are available to play missions on, which sectors are open and what sort of enemies you’ll be fighting is all based on community progression. This comes with upsides and downsides. New planets are always being released, but you are restricted to those planets for the week or so it takes for the community to liberate them. Aside from that, there isn’t really a story to follow, just blow up your enemies, and die trying. It’s not really a bad thing, as each game is enjoyable, but with the liberation counter falling as fewer people succeed in missions on a planet, it can make it feel a bit redundant to play, which only lessens the want to continue playing, something that could doom the community and the longevity of the game.
Helldivers 2 is a live service game, but unlike most other live service games, the ‘battle pass’ (called War Bonds) free mode offers more unlocks than the premium one. And if you do want the premium currency, it is given out in the free War Bonds, though I never felt the need to use it. Even with the premium shop updating daily, there is no real need to buy premium currency if you don’t want to. FOMO move over, there is no space for you when we have LIBER-TEA! There are planets to save!
The first time I played Helldivers 2, I played for twelve hours straight. So, it’s safe to say that it is an enjoyable game. You start in basic training, being told that training is difficult and few pass. And then you either get wrecked by a sentry, or prove that you are in fact a super soldier. I was the former, and each body on the ground as I crawled past them reminded me of my failure. Don’t worry, if you do manage to pass the basic training without dying, you will die to a teammate’s sentry on a mission. There is friendly fire, and if you get between an enemy and a sentry, that sentry will dispense democracy through you. If the sentry doesn’t get you, the orbital strikes will. Communication is key with teammates and if you don’t try to let them know what you’re doing, it’s not just bugs you will be doing away with. Friendly fire makes for some of the funniest moments of the game, but also some of the most frustrating. I am guilty of running straight into a firefight I cannot see and having a shotgun blast to the head take me out.
Helldivers 2 can be played with up to three other people, either by having your friends join your ship, or by jumping into missions from the galactic war map. It’s clear that it is meant to be played with others, and honestly, the game is just more enjoyable with friends, but definitely can be played single player if you wish. Rather than relying on teammates to reinforce you, it’s an automatic process, throwing you right back into the action. There is also an SOS stratagem that you can throw out, inviting other people to join your game to help you out of a tricky situation.
If you do kill your teammates, do the right thing and reinforce them, and get them back in the fight. Reinforce, rather than revive, because technically that teammate is dead and gone, and there just happens to be a near identical Helldiver ready to take their place.
Reinforcements are a type of stratagem, the big hits you can call down from the sky to make your fight a little easier. You choose up to four stratagems at mission launch, and they range from jet packs, to shields, to big guns, to orbital strikes. Mostly it’s orbital strikes or other things that make your enemies Death’s problem. After selecting the stratagems you’ll be using, you can access them by entering the Konami code, or some variation of it, making summoning a gatling strike a little harder than just a button press. There is also a cooldown for all the stratagems, making them the big hit needed to turn the tide of battle rather than being able to spam them constantly to make everyone’s day worse. There is nothing quite like sneaking up on one of the larger Terminids, and slapping an orbital precision strike on them without them even knowing they’re in danger.
It’s a good thing that the stratagems pack such a punch, because the standard weapons you’re armed with start to feel lacking at the higher difficulty levels. As with any third person shooter, Helldivers 2 sends you to war with a primary weapon, a secondary weapon, grenades and a healing item. The first primary weapon you get is an assault rifle, and in order to swap it out, you’ll have to play and buy a new primary weapon from the War Bonds rewards, and if you want a different assault rifle, you’ll have to play a lot. By the time you get to the hard difficulty of Helldivers 2 your primary and secondary guns seem too weak to hold off the hordes for long, leaving you to rely on the heavy weapons from your stratagems. Only, this will likely leave you rocking the Stalwart, and wishing you had a grenade launcher or an anti-tank missile without having to wait for your ship to deliver one the moment a Charger turns up. At least once it kills you you can always try and land your Hellpod on it when landing. There’s a reason that Hellpods are bullet shaped after all.
At the end of the day, a lot is unknown about this game, as it just hasn’t had the time needed to prove it can be a successful live service game. I do have high expectations though, as it is just pure fun to play, and frankly, addictive. The galactic war map doesn’t seem filled in, and I suspect we will see another one or two factions join the war against Super Earth, and as the game continues, more weapons, armour, and grenades will unlock, hopefully fixing the feeling of being underpowered with the standard weapons.
Helldivers 2 is a stupidly fun game, best played with friends, but easily played without. Enlist today. FOR DEMOCRACY!
8.5/10
Helldivers 2 is a stupidly fun game, best played with friends, but easily played without. Enlist today. FOR DEMOCRACY!
