Sometimes, it is interesting to see when a game gets references correct. In this day and age, you wouldn't expect to see a game that brought back the concepts of both Terminator and Starship Troopers. They did this in the same game. This is especially amazing because this is the mid 2020's and this is a Live Service Game! Such a thing should have been cast to the bottom of the pits forever, using the logic we've seen thus far in so many different games that tried the same idea. Well, Helldivers found a way to make co-op gameplay awesome again with a third person horde shooter. How did they do that? Well, let's get into it, shall we?
You are the new recruit in the amazing army of Super Earth! You are a Helldiver, an expendable asset of the government sent into warzones to take out the enemy. Now, we can go into the fact that, like Starship Troopers, the idea that these entities are not enemies but harmless races existing on their own planets could be viable. However, this time around, the "automatons" are at least able to perform space travel. So, this time, it is more possible for the robots to go through space. Kill the robots and make sure that they can't go to any other planet. While the bugs can't go through space, logically, kill them too because they're icky.
The real thing that people love about this game is the comradary you feel when facing down an entire army with just two or four of you. In your arsenal, you possess a main weapon that you choose from the beginning. They give you a small bunch of options for your weapons and supplementary items to help you. Through continuous gameplay and victories, you'll earn more points to get better stuff as you level.
Now, with an online play comes the inevitability of the troll. You will join games and assholes will do nothing but kill you. The problem with this game is that they do not penalize you for this. So, if you are not the host of the game, you have no choice but to quit the game or continue to be killed by the ones trying to help you. The best thing you can do is find the good players that are actually there to help you complete the mission and NOT just be there to farm for Super Cash, and friend them for future missions.
Then there is the Super Cash system. The game uses in-game currency such as this, planet samples and your normal money you get paid for completing missions and side missions. This can be complimented with real money from your real pocket and that's really how microtransactions should be done. You can choose to take the short cut to get cool items, or you can just grind the game as much as possible to gain it what many would consider "the right way". So many games such as Shadow of War or Star Wars Battle Front 2 (2017) seemed to miss this concept and worked this into a requirement to get through the game. Battle Front 2 made it to where you either spend your real money, or put in 50 or more hours to get the items or characters you really want. Thankfully, Helldivers 2 doesn't make you grind QUITE that much. There are still commitments, but it's not nearly on that level.
Helldivers 2 does one thing right in particular. It is fun to play and it is fun to share this experience with your friends. It may need to be online, but you also can solo missions. In the early levels, your best bet is to connect with random users, even with the aforementioned trolls ruining the experience, and gain levels. If you attempt to solo missions at the very beginning, you will probably have a very negative experience in doing so. You need new technology such as improved turrets or what they call "Watch Dogs" which are turrets that float over your shoulder and help you shoot things.
There are three types of enemies that you can face, and each of these types have very unique qualities that you need to make sure you understand. You can fight the bugs, or Terminids. These are more susceptible to fire and gas attacks that nullify them and burn them up into exploding into bloody green splats. The bots, or Automatons require you use more destructive means like explosions or electricity to take them out. The Illuminates are aliens and those levels are, as far as I'm concerned, the less interesting matches. They are more humanoid and tend to use more alien technology like electric turrets. Each and every single enemy can be viewed as very different in both their means of attack and their means of barring you from your mission.
We're not getting into the time that Helldivers 2 decided to sabotage their own work by nerfing everything and getting their game banned in multiple territories. They made some very poor decisions and nearly killed their own game that people were already enjoying. They came to their senses and fixed the game before it died, basically painting a perfect picture of when game publishers should back off and let the gamers cook. HD2 is a fun experience, but it can also get a little grating with the difficulty too high and solo gaming when you most certainly need a full team. Even when things get tense and chaotic, though, that can be some of the most fun you have in this title. Getting technology such as combat jeeps with turrets, tanks, or even mech suits to bring into the game is basically a requirement when you get to the higher difficulties. Take the game for what it is: Probably one of the better experiences you'll have in modern gaming. Take this with a grain of salt, but also remember to drink water.
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