Introducing Helldivers 2: A Mashup of Starship Troopers, Terminator, and Aliens
LONDON: Picture a game that blends the intense action of “Starship Troopers” with the futuristic elements of “Terminator” and the thrilling battles from “Aliens.” Add a touch of humor and a core team engine of third-person gunplay, and you’ve got the new “Helldivers 2.”
Developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, this game, available on PC and PS5, throws players into a real-time battle between Super Earth, a quasi-fascist entity with a comedic twist, and its insect and robot enemies scattered across the galaxy.
As you drop down from heavily armed spaceships, you and your squad of up to four helldivers embark on various missions against foes of different difficulties, all filled with intense firefights and heart-pounding excitement.
While your soldier can equip one primary weapon and a smaller secondary one, the game’s standout feature is the “stratagems” – reinforcements from your orbiting ship that can range from advanced weapons to airstrikes and supply backpacks. Your access to better stratagems improves as you level up through successful missions and side quests on different planets.
From simple search and destroy missions to rescuing civilians or setting up mining operations, the bugs (Terminds) and robots (Automatons) can be found on various planets with hazardous terrains like volcanoes spewing deadly rocks on your squad.
The real fun of the game lies in cooperative mode against computer-controlled enemies, where teamwork is crucial for success. With powerful guns requiring reload time and the risk of friendly fire, coordination is key to survival.
Helldivers 2 offers an addictive reward system that allows you to level up, earn medals, credits, and resources to customize your weapons, ship, and appearance. The real-time gameplay also enables developers to announce major offensives and update the story dynamically.
While the controls are simple, the depth of weapon and ammunition choices, along with the variety of stratagems, adds complexity to each mission. Cut scenes may be lengthy and repetitive, and procedurally generated worlds may lack coherence, but these are minor issues in a game that has already garnered huge success.