Review: Helldivers 2 a fun group game

Four out of Five Stars

By Michael Leek
Sports Editor

After my first 20 hours playing Helldivers 2, it is safe to say this game is my favorite online multiplayer gaming experience in a long time.

Helldivers 2 is a live-service game developed by Arrowhead Game Studios that drops players into an ongoing “war for democracy,” against the terminids (an alien bug race) and the automatons (a robot alien race). It was released Feb. 8, 2024, for the PlayStation 5 and PC.

The game is a third-person shooter that has almost no semblance of a story to follow. The story is basically: liberate the planets in the name of democracy.

Having no story makes it seem like a game I would highly dislike, but that is the complete opposite with Helldivers 2. The fun this game offers is completely in the gameplay and the almost cinematic moments you can create with your friends.

Dropping in with a squad of up to four people, you dive into a planet with a specific mission to complete. Using weapons and stratagems, you battle different variants of automatons and terminids while you and your team try to complete the mission.

Stratagems are things you can call down from your ship above. These stratagems can range from resupply drops, orbital lasers shooting down and nuclear bombs to help in your fight.

Because it is a live-service game, all players are working toward the same goal, and the progress of liberating planets can be tracked by everyone playing the game.

Where this game shines is in the playing with friends. You can play it solo, but I would recommend to get a group of people to play.

Although Helldivers 2 has a lot of fun to be had playing, there are definite flaws with this game.

For example: the game was doing so well when it first released, the servers were not big enough to support the amount of players trying to play. I remember sitting in the main menu screen with an error for over an hour one night before I gave up.

To combat these flaws, the developers have been actively working to fix bugs and glitches, and have ultimately created bigger servers for the game.

The developers have released tons of information on new content they are adding to the game, making its future look promising.

Helldivers 2 easily earns a four out of five stars rating, and that could easily turn into a five as new content is released.

I would 100 percent recommend this game to anyone who enjoys an endless amount of mindless fun with friends.