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Watched Starship Troopers as a kid? Or Terminator? Aliens perhaps? You’ll find that Helldivers 2 takes inspiration from all those films and more! If you’ve ever wanted to be a soldier at the tip of humanity’s spear in the Mobile Infantry ODST USCM Helldivers, now’s your chance.
With tons of bugs and machines to bring freedom to, does Helldivers 2 offer anything more then a mindless shoot-a-thon with friends (or complete strangers)?
Read on to find out!
What is Helldivers 2?
Helldivers 2 is a cooperative 3rd person shooter developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by SIE. The game is crossplay compatible, so PC and Playstation players can coop with no issues. It is currently available right now on both the PC and Playstation 5.
We were generously gifted a copy for the PC and Playstation 5 by SIE, and we appreciate that a ton! Thanks so much!
If you’ve ever watched the original Starship Troopers movie and liked it, Helldivers is pretty much the perfect game for you. Over the top jingoism, extreme aggression, the glorifying of war and killing as heroic…it’s all here. Hell, Earth’s not even called Earth in this game…it’s called Super Earth.
Ooh-rah.
The premise of the game is simple. You’re a new Helldiver recruit and it’s up to you to bring Super Earth’s freedom and democracy (with bullets, bombs and lots of death) to the far reaches of space. Notably, a few of the galaxy’s alien races aren’t ok with that.
One’s the Terminid. Starship Trooper’s bugs on steroids combined with the Zerg from Starcraft. They breed, they overwhelm and they kill everything in their path. Then you also have the Automaton Collective, a group of rogue robots (think Terminators) who are radically opposed to all that Super Earth stands for.
It’s up to you then to forcefeed them Super Earth’s ideals of equality, freedom and democracy…with extreme prejudice.
Solo or as a team of 4 (you can play with friends or just matchmake randomly with strangers), you’ll drop in from space and try to complete objectives given to you. Matchmaking is entirely seamless, and you can set your parameters to whether anybody can join your game or just your friends.
Weirdly, there’s no way to close off the game altogether and just play solo. None that I discovered anyways. It’s not a biggie for solo players though. I found that none of the people on my Steam Friends List (I have a very small list) play the game, so nobody joined me if I set my session to Friends Only. Your mileage will of course vary on this.
Helldivers 2 is pretty much the original game, from the way you choose your drop zone, to the friendly fire enabled combat. Except this time its all gussied up visually and in third person.
There’s barely any depth to it (again like the original) and it’s still pretty much complete the given mission without being killed by enemies (likely) or your team members (also very likely).
The mission objectives aren’t really that interesting, with most of them being similar across all the different worlds. You’ll quickly discover that repetition is your biggest enemy in the game. It’s an enemy that can be overcome if you play with friends though…so really (and I mean REALLY) consider playing with compadres for maximum enjoyment.
Due to the potential for griefing, Helldivers 2 also much better if you’re playing with friends. It’ll turn reckless mistakes into funny blunders (instead of rage inducing if you’re with strangers) and accidental gibbing a cause for laughter (instead of real life murder).
The neat thing about the game is that since everything’s always online, every single combat drop by you (and other Helldivers) contribute to the overall war effort. Matchmaking works similarly as before you drop into a mission, you can also see open games with other Helldivers going on. If you choose, you can just hotdrop into their game (they can kick you out though) and help out. Or just join a Quick Play session. Or play solo.
It’s all up to you.
Participation in the campaigns nets you rewards too, so ALWAYS make sure you’re fighting for Super Earth when you’re called upon.
After every mission completion (or failure), you’ll be taken to the debrief screen, where you can see how much of an effort you’ve made to help retake whatever planet the mission was on.
It’s something that few games have attempted (the Xbox 360’s Chromehounds and the original Helldivers come to mind) but it’s nicely done here. The game being constantly online also means that the game has a big advantage in that it can be constantly updated with new missions and enemies. Already, we’re seeing the emergence of new enemy types that weren’t in the game at launch.
It begs the question of what will happen if either the Automatons or Terminid get wiped out introduced to freedom and democracy. Will we be seeing another, far deadlier threat emerge from the depths of space?
That’s something to ponder, but it’s also something far off in the future.
Despite thousands of players playing, the progress you’ll make is miniscule (even with success) and it really drives home the point that you’re just a teeny cog in the huge Super Earth War Machine. Even now, weeks after launch, neither the Automaton or Terminid threats have been decisively neutralized.
There’s still a loooooooooooooong way to go.
You’re not The One, you’re just Meatbag #029354 in the grand scheme of things.
Your death will be meaningless and barely noticed, even by your teammates.
Oh, I’m not kidding about the dying bit, not one Super Earth loving bit.
Helldivers 2 is hard. Punishingly hard.
The bugs don’t care how many of them die as long as you do. Neither do the killer robots. They will literally walk right up to you (often over the destroyed corpses of their brethren) as you’re unloading everything you have just for a chance to stab you in the balls.
Even on the lowest difficulties, you will get your ass kicked over and over. You will slooooowly get better though. Through experience (both figuratively and literally) as you gain XP points to level up and gain knowledge to combat your foes.
You will also get better guns, better ammo and will be able to rain down hell via support skills. There are even special unlocks you can get by buying them with medals you gain from mission completions. These are mainly cosmetics and weapon variations though, no support skills.
Incidentally, support skills are invaluable.
These run the gamut from calling down more ammo and stims (health kits) to automated turrets (just like Aliens) to orbital bombardment and bigger guns. The thing is, the game doesn’t make it easy. You have to input commands (you know, like the Konami code), which leaves you vulnerable to enemies.
The more powerful the support, the longer the direction input chain. It’s actually ingenious and adds to the tension but you’ll quickly remember the buttons commands (out of necessity if nothing else) and be able to enter them like a pro after a few games.
You can’t spam supports (as there’s a cooldown after every use) so it’s always a good point to only utilize them when you really need to…or spawn them in preparation for when the going gets tough later in the mission.
Even if you manage to call down support, they’re likely to be as deadly to you as it is to the enemies. Bullets don’t discriminate and neither do the bombs or airstrikes or other stuff you can call upon. Be in the right (or wrong) place at the wrong time and it’s your name up next up on the list of those KIA.
As in the first game, the best part in a mission comes right at the end.
Whether the mission is a success or not, the game doesn’t end when the mission timer is over.
You’ll need to hoof it back to the extraction point, fire up the locator beacon (again via directional commands like the support skills) and then hunker down to wait for the dropship to reach your location.
This is where the crap will really hit the fan as swarms of enemies will come to get a piece of you. Playing with a full crew truly shows what the game is capable of as your crew mow down enemies, call down support and pray nobody dies (because a single gun can make a HUGE difference) before the extraction gets here.
Compounding the stress (and adding to the levity) is that the arsenal you rely on is just as deadly to you and your fellow helldivers as it is to your enemies. As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. That and poor aim and situational awareness.
There’s all sorts of hilarious snafus that can happen at any given time in a match and so it’s always good advice to never play the game angry, especially if you play with random players. You WILL get a heart attack if you come into this full of rage.
I honestly love the game’s presentation, especially now that it’s done in third person where you can admire it all.
You get your own personal carrier (which you can name and customize) and the Helldivers themselves have various armored suits, helmets and capes to unlock, Those aren’t just cosmetic either, as most also come with their own unique stats and perks.
Above all though, I really, really, really love the capes. It makes your Helldivers look like superheroes…until they get cut down without a second thought.
Playing both the console and PC version of the game, I honestly prefer the game on the PC. There’s just much more settings you can tweak to make your experience between. Incidentally, we’re playing this on our regular gaming rig, at 4K resolution, with everything turned up to the max and framerate locked to 60fps.
The specs are as listed below:
– MSI B550M Mortar WIFI
– AMD Ryzen 9 5900X with NZXT Kraken X73 RGB Liquid Cooler
– MSI GeForce RTX 3080Ti Suprim X 12GB
– Teamgroup T-Force Dark Z DDR4 RAM (16GB x 4 @ 3600MHz)
– Samsung 980 PRO 2TB SSD
– Corsair RM850x PSU
– Lian Li LANCOOL III RGB case
With those specs, the game has a ton of overhead to run better (but my TV is sadly locked to a 60hz refresh rate). 60fps is stable, even when there’s a ton of stuff happening on-screen. I’ve never noticed a moment of slowdown, and I’ve played the game for quite a bit at this point.
On the Playstation, the experience is just as good though I do seem to encounter stutters every now and then. It mostly happens when you’re dropping in to the area of operations from space so I’ve always assumed that it’s just loading data with the SSD.
When boots are on the ground, I’ve found that the Playstation 5 feels and plays just as good as the PC version, though maybe a bit less sharper and detailed. That’s not a big deal at all though, considering that you won’t have time to admire the scenery before all hell breaks loose.
If you’re considering which version to buy, I’d recommend the PC version if you have a beefy enough rig. The potential for higher FPS in the future (when you upgrade to better hardware) is just too enticing to pass up. However, if a PS5 is all you have, then know that you’re not really missing out on the experience by playing on a console.
Helldivers 2 is pretty much great on both sides of the fence.
Unfortunately, while Helldivers 2 has cross play built in, there is no support for cross progression. Yeah, it’s a huge bummer, but your progress on the Playstation 5 or PC will not cross over if you migrate to the other platform. It honestly won’t be an issue for most people but I like to move between the PC and PS5 (especially if I’m overseas, with no PS5 access) so having to play two different characters is a major buzzkill.
Will cross progression be coming in the future? No idea.
The Bottom Line.
Helldivers 2 is tough, punishing and totally not for those who can’t chill.
It is also loads of fun, especially if you’re playing with friends.
The gameplay is excellent (though repetitive), the unlocks keep you playing and the camaraderie (or the murderous intent you bottle up) will drive your crew closer than any game. The game’s not perfect; it’s not friendly at all to solo gamers. Playing with randoms is always a crap shoot and the repetitive objectives sure could use more variety.
Helldivers 2 sure could also use some AI bots for solo gamers who want to experience playing in a team but that’s unlikely to happen. I mean, Super Earth would probably assign AI that are more likely to murder you than murder the baddies if the supports are any indication.
…well, at least the game looks good and is fun, right?
TLDR:
Super fun in a group, but can be repetitive and boring solo.
The Good:
- Over the top campy atmosphere.
- The gunplay is excellent.
- Lots of customization options.
- Online campaigns makes you feel like you’re contributing.
- Accidents can lead to memorable moments.
- Crossplay.
The Bad:
- Repetitive missions.
- High difficulty might put some people off.
- Playing with random people is a crapshoot.
- No bots for solo players.
- No cross progression.
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
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