DIVERSION OF ATTENTION SHALL BE CONSIDERED TREASON.
HELLDIVERS 2 - Impressions and review
The first battle of the Second Galactic War has begun. The disgusting Bugs have been spreading towards Super Earth and now the Hell Divers have been mobilized. My first mission was to drop onto the icy asshole of the Orion System, Heeth and eliminate two Hive Commanders. I've bee given command of a Flagship which I have named The Protector Of Family Values which positions itself above the mission zone I make sure to stand proud at the helm saluting the stars as we travel, I also make sure to salute my Hell Pod before stepping in good luck and I drop from orbit in my Hellpod.
I land on an icy hill without alerting the hives, and not far off I see the barrel of an old artillery emplacement. So I head off that direction. It's in bad condition but repairable so I begin getting it operational. Turning on the old system and manually loading the large shells one by one by hand. Now all that's left is to attune it to the Protector Of Family Values. As I move to begin the attuning bugs sense my presence and begin swarming on me. I'm now having to clear out the bugs closing in long enough for me to work on the uplink. Going back and forth between shooting and the terminal. I finally finish and clean up the rest of the scouts before they can alert the rest of the hives. The artillery emplacement coming online giving access to it from now on while the ammo remained.
Now it was time to hunt down the Hive Commanders. There were also some nests in the mission sector to clear out "optionally" (for any true citizen this is an easy choice.) This is when things slowly begun to ramp up as I traversed the rocky tundra. Swarms coming at me from time to time. I spotted the first commander in a small rocky canyon. I called down a heavy machine gun and then called in the artillery fire. However my Beacon bounced off its hide alerting it to come after me. The shell impact only caught the edge of it. I began to fall back laying fire into it as it was about to come down on me I dove backwards firing the machine gun into its under belly as I landed on my back. It's viscera splattering over me. That was one commander down. I did not get a moment of peace as the death of the commander only attracted more roaches. I carved my way through and on my way to the second commander I found the nest. Bugs flowed out of it as I has to fall back.
Thankfully I'd outfitted my flagship with a support Air craft, Red Eagle. I called her in for a strafing run giving her the Super Earth's salute as she carved a path for me. I readied another Beacon and called down an orbital strike from the Protector Of Family Values obliterating it. The final commanders hovel was just beyond and this time I had learned. I readied another artillery shell Beacon and this time tossed it so it would land right beside its feet. I gazed to the horizon hearing the boom of freedom as I could watch it cruise through the air and turn that commander into sweet sweer demoracy charged puddy. All that was left was to extract, the Beacons light visible ontop of a small mountain in the distance. I trekked my way there as the bugs pursued. Swiftly before I was closed in upon I activated it to call Pelican to pick me up and this is when all hell breaks loose.
Swarms from all direction pouring in from the various mountain passes. I could not stay still, having to use everything in my arsenal. RedEagle, God bless her was able to swoop in and clear a horde to give me breathing room to resupply and ready the orbital strike once more. The timer for my extraction felt like an eternity when it was only minutes. My cape was torn to shreds by this point and my armor covered in blood of both the vile bugs and my own. I called foe the artillery fire one last time to clear the drop zone for Pelican-1 as it swooped in to lay down covering fire. I'd survived all this and now I get to go ho- I died. Swarmed rapidly as tiny mites gathered around me. But worry not we orbitally dropped in a new Hell Diver from the Protector Of Family Values! His pod heroically landing and he dashed into the dropship to be taken back up to the Protector Of Family Value.
Those disgusting bugs have been served a taste of freedom, democracy, and economy.
This game has been a blast in the 15 hours I've dropped into it in the last couple days. It can be played both solo and with up to 3 other people. While at its core you'll be doing a lot of the same objectives the gameplay and moment to moment are what make this game shine. Add to that the chaos of friends into the mix.
There's tons of different kits you can put together, blending with an entire squad having diverse and varied load outs from orbital strikes, to sentry turrets or hover drones, air strikes and strafing runs, to Varity of advanced support weapons. The Strategem system is something that shines to this game, as you desperately try to type in the sequence you need to call in a carpet bomb as you're being swarmed. Your fellow H-Divers laying covering fire. There are so many times you feel badass, and the moments you get your face kicked in is just as fun. You are an expendable asset for the 'Uptopian' Super Earth as we push back the Tyrmanids, and hold back the Automatons.
Adding even more chaos into the mix is the Game Director system, the devs at Arrowhead studios have background A.I AND can manually takeover as GMs to on the fly trigger variable events, bosses, weather, and other things that just add even more randomness to matches. You'll be about to extract and suddenly your dropship is waylaid for another 2 minutes and you gotta hold out even longer, without warning a Bile Titan erupts from the ground, or a blizzard rolls in making it impossible to see.
All of this contributing to a massive community wide galactic war that everyone progresses, wins will contribute to liberating planets, and systems, losses helping the xeno-scum push towards Super Earth. This will tie into a slow-burn overarching story. The first battle of the galactic civil war sees the insectile Tyrmanids pushing towards Super Earth, wthe frontlines currently drawn in the Orion System. We now push for the Tyrmanid hiveworld in the outer edges of the galaxy. Meanwhile a small brave contingent of Hell Divers will hold back the Automaton threat, their sacrifice will give us the time we need to stomp these insects.
Monetarization is also incredibly generous. Pricing of items costs around 100-250 'Super Credits' with the purchasing of Super Credits having a MAX selling price of 20 USD for 2100 and scaling down from there meaning you could get like 15-20 premium items for 20 dollars. On top of this 'Super Credits' can pretty easily be found in-game without spending a single cent, I found maybe 4-6 caches of them in about 5 hours of gameplay. These net about 5 super credits so not a ton but they make up for that to be not so difficult to find.
Look for bunkers which require two Hell Divers to open, they always have 1-2 caches. Warbonds also offer a few hundred SC, speaking of..
On top of this is the warbond system which if you've engaged with the Fortnite Battlepasses in the last couple years you'll be familiar how it functions, earning unlock tokens 'medals' and spending them on what you want. You have the currently free 'Helldivers mobilize' warbond which is available for everyone, and the 'Steeled Veterans' warbond for those who get the 'Super Citizen' upgrade. In these are helmets, capes, emotes, victory poses, banners, Super Credits, but also how you unlock new weapons, grenades, armor, and boosters which all have stats.
Warbonds do not seem to currently have a duration time, so there seems to be zero fomo in these. Meaning you can get them done at your leisure if you have them, Warbonds will be released once a month I believe. This is of course always subject to change.
Final Verdict:
A blast solo, an incredible experience with others with an over the top goofy personality that bleeds Starship Trooper, and mix in a Halo aesthetic. Join the fight for Super Earth. Earn your cape and Join the HELL DIVERS.