"That was absolutely fucking hell."
As I come back home to my reliable vessel, a triumphant victory music plays as me and my teammates perform a goofy little victory dance. The character I inhabit does not reflect the same feelings that I feel. This is because every time I play a round of Helldivers 2, I think the exact same sentence.
"That was absolutely fucking hell."
Which is a bit of a conflicting statement. On the one hand, that's the exact emotion I'm meant to be feeling. Helldivers 2 is an endless onslaught of bug blood, guts, and carnage. It's a loop of the same overwhelming feeling of never having enough fire power to survive, bugs swarming me from every direction, picking, gnawing, spitting, and piercing me - rinse and repeat, over and over again, for the good of Super Earth. The struggle to maintain my vitals as I fumble over a button combination to order an airstrike as I'm attempting and failing at dodging income acid spit is stressful and terrifying. Guns hit enemies and explode them in a visceral explosion of their beefy meat.
The world design informs the game design, and it's Starship Troops inspired tongue-in-cheek satire is brimming into every facet of this game's DNA. The sheer horror and overwhelming odds juxtaposed by the oddly portrayed fascist dystopian government works well together. The game has you tackling missions in real time to collectively liberate a planet from the vile cockroaches infesting humanity's homes, and that means winning and losing has actual effect on whether or not you'll liberate the planet. It's the sticky dough that keeps every aspect of the game from feeling like it's another run-of-the-mill shooter.
Helldivers 2 is effective at placing me into the same feeling as I'm meant to be feeling. On that level, the game is an absolute success.
On the other hand, I feel utterly drained by Helldivers 2.
While the gameplay loop is fun and addicting to an extent, part of me feels drained after every session. The game is designed where when the player is first starting off, they're nearly helpless against the bug's slaughter. The more you play, the better artillery you gain, and the stronger you become. I've been stuck on Medium difficulty for the most part of my total of 16 hours of game time, with only the last 5-6 hours I finally felt comfortable bumping the difficulty up slightly to Hard.
The last game I played was with friends who had invited me to a game with the highest difficulty, and it was like fighting bloody knuckled with every tooth and nail in my body puncturing the exoskeletal skulls of every bug I saw just to keep my head above water. Sometimes my controls would mess up, where I wouldn't be able to stand up or run away, leaving me vulnerable for attacks. Sometimes bugs would prevent me from getting away from a dodge, some how I killed myself with a guard dog, all while I failed consistently to dodge enemy attacks, shredding me to pieces like I was mozzarella cheese.
Of course, that's how I've been feeling on just about every difficulty mode I've played, but being thrown into the truest of deepest of ends really cemented to me just how much the feeling of playing this game was entirely and utterly overwhelming.
Perhaps this is on me and my preferences. I come to games to relax. Some of my all-time favorite games bring me comfort through their gameplay. It's taken me years just to break out of my comfort zone and play games that provide me genuine stress through mechanics such as timers. Helldivers 2 feels a bit like throwing myself into the deep end of the sauce and instead of pleasantly getting lost, I just drown in it. It's enjoyable and I'm having fun with it, but help, it's filling up my lungs, HELP ME, PLEASE, I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SWIM.
This review may be liable to change, as is the nature of live service style of games. My feelings might not be the same within the span of 6-12 months. As of now, Helldivers 2 is a great game that I enjoy, but the game is almost too much for my tastes. It's a fantastic slice of pizza, but the metaphorical onions are overwhelming to my taste buds.
As I come back home to my reliable vessel, a triumphant victory music plays as me and my teammates perform a goofy little victory dance. The character I inhabit does not reflect the same feelings that I feel. This is because every time I play a round of Helldivers 2, I think the exact same sentence.
"That was absolutely fucking hell."
Which is a bit of a conflicting statement. On the one hand, that's the exact emotion I'm meant to be feeling. Helldivers 2 is an endless onslaught of bug blood, guts, and carnage. It's a loop of the same overwhelming feeling of never having enough fire power to survive, bugs swarming me from every direction, picking, gnawing, spitting, and piercing me - rinse and repeat, over and over again, for the good of Super Earth. The struggle to maintain my vitals as I fumble over a button combination to order an airstrike as I'm attempting and failing at dodging income acid spit is stressful and terrifying. Guns hit enemies and explode them in a visceral explosion of their beefy meat.
The world design informs the game design, and it's Starship Troops inspired tongue-in-cheek satire is brimming into every facet of this game's DNA. The sheer horror and overwhelming odds juxtaposed by the oddly portrayed fascist dystopian government works well together. The game has you tackling missions in real time to collectively liberate a planet from the vile cockroaches infesting humanity's homes, and that means winning and losing has actual effect on whether or not you'll liberate the planet. It's the sticky dough that keeps every aspect of the game from feeling like it's another run-of-the-mill shooter.
Helldivers 2 is effective at placing me into the same feeling as I'm meant to be feeling. On that level, the game is an absolute success.
On the other hand, I feel utterly drained by Helldivers 2.
While the gameplay loop is fun and addicting to an extent, part of me feels drained after every session. The game is designed where when the player is first starting off, they're nearly helpless against the bug's slaughter. The more you play, the better artillery you gain, and the stronger you become. I've been stuck on Medium difficulty for the most part of my total of 16 hours of game time, with only the last 5-6 hours I finally felt comfortable bumping the difficulty up slightly to Hard.
The last game I played was with friends who had invited me to a game with the highest difficulty, and it was like fighting bloody knuckled with every tooth and nail in my body puncturing the exoskeletal skulls of every bug I saw just to keep my head above water. Sometimes my controls would mess up, where I wouldn't be able to stand up or run away, leaving me vulnerable for attacks. Sometimes bugs would prevent me from getting away from a dodge, some how I killed myself with a guard dog, all while I failed consistently to dodge enemy attacks, shredding me to pieces like I was mozzarella cheese.
Of course, that's how I've been feeling on just about every difficulty mode I've played, but being thrown into the truest of deepest of ends really cemented to me just how much the feeling of playing this game was entirely and utterly overwhelming.
Perhaps this is on me and my preferences. I come to games to relax. Some of my all-time favorite games bring me comfort through their gameplay. It's taken me years just to break out of my comfort zone and play games that provide me genuine stress through mechanics such as timers. Helldivers 2 feels a bit like throwing myself into the deep end of the sauce and instead of pleasantly getting lost, I just drown in it. It's enjoyable and I'm having fun with it, but help, it's filling up my lungs, HELP ME, PLEASE, I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SWIM.
This review may be liable to change, as is the nature of live service style of games. My feelings might not be the same within the span of 6-12 months. As of now, Helldivers 2 is a great game that I enjoy, but the game is almost too much for my tastes. It's a fantastic slice of pizza, but the metaphorical onions are overwhelming to my taste buds.