Shooters are not my idea of a good time. I’m that toffee-nosed gamer who sighs at yet another one being announced, especially if it’s cemented from the first-person perspective. Suffice it to say, I haveValorant,Fortnite,Call of Duty, et al, on my do-not-play list, while I trot about manning my sword-savvy third-person hero.Helldivers 2was, therefore, automatically shelved, despite its skyrocketing success, until its cinematic visuals spread across social media and forced me to thaw — and I gave it extra points for being in the third person.
I wasn’t born with my aversion to shooters, but my solitary, mundane completion of aCall of Dutytitle — 2009’s Modern Warfare 2 to be precise — and my 30-minuteGears of Wargrind with my enemy-hogging friend was enough for me to tap out. I play games to unwind instead of bursting under bullet-hell pressure. TheDoomfranchise (surprise, surprise) is my idea of hell, even though I appreciate the art design and ear-ripping score.
My brief, negative history with shooters has become a testament to Helldivers 2’s persuasive cinematography, which convinced me to dive into the genre for a third time. And in a shocking turn of events, I’m keen to return to the Second Galactic War.
I Played Helldivers 2 As A Pacifist, And Everyone Was Chill About It
Hacksaw Ridge, Super Earth style.
In The Name Of Democracy!
During a bout of mindless scrolling on TikTok, the debut success of Arrowhead Game Studios’ title was spreading like wildfire over my feed. The punishing missions toeradicate AutomatonsandTerminidswere being clipped and shared among co-op players who were having the time of their lives fighting for democracy with friends. Finding comedy in the massacre of Helldivers,a new trendemerged, showing players fleeing hordes, set to a heart-wrenching track from Avatar’s soundtrack depicting Tsu’tey’s death scene. The late James Horner’s score also matched the anguish of the shooter’s final fight during extraction, when the bots and bugs would swarm, and the trend quickly became my new favorite fad.
As a movie buff, the photogenic visuals immediately illuminated what I previously perceived to be another standard shooter, albeit with pristine graphics.
Unbeknownst to me, this trend was a gateway to my experience with Helldivers 2, because the cinematic visuals bewitched me. Despite previously admiring Doom’s grungy, grimy style, the hazy aesthetic and vibrant saturation found in Helldivers 2’s planets looked like something Zack Snyder and his team would cook up.
As a movie buff, the photogenic visuals immediately illuminated what I previously perceived to be another standard shooter, albeitwith pristine graphics. I quickly desired immersion into the overrun planets to soak up these striking environments for myself, not to mention the Helldivers’ suits appealing to my soft spot forWarhammer.
The first planet I deployed on was a welcome, barren wasteland decorating my first mission: Raising the flag of Super Earth. you’re able to bet your bottom dollar I wasplaying on Easy difficulty, which is probably why I found the mission surprisingly tame — until it wasn’t. I made light work of a few Scavengers through swift melee attacks, and the Hunters felt my keen trigger finger until the lengthy raising of the flag was complete.
After calling in extraction, that’s when Tsu’tey’s death song began playing in my head and I got into the thick of it. The Helldivers’ sprinting pace is designed to keep you in the suspense of fleeing for longer, and the phrase “if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry” popped into my head every time I turned around to see the enemies multiplying and my extraction point getting further away. After a few attempts, I finally got the code punched in, and I was lifted out of alien scum. And even though this experience is amplified with friends, I still got the Helldivers bug as a solo player.
Helldivers 2 Needs More Overpowered Weapons (Skip The Nerfs)
I’m tired of seeing the same meta loadouts, but nerfs aren’t the answer.
Zack Snyder Could Helm A Helldivers 2 Movie
If you’re familiar with the live-action comic-book adaptation of Watchmen, andall of Zack Snyder’s work, you’ll recognize the director’s visual flair. Working with cinematographers like Fabian Wagner and Larry Fong on Justice League and Sucker Punch, these artists honed a rich, vivid style that’s echoed in Helldivers 2 through heavy saturation, thick contrast, and incredible lighting techniques that bathe each biome in a stunning glow. The shooter’s graphics are heavily polished, resulting in smooth, crisp world-building and a real feast for the eyes when grenade smoke and dusty deserts swirl with the hue of the terrain.
The shooter’s graphics are heavily polished, resulting in smooth, crisp world-building and a real feast for the eyes when grenade smoke and dusty deserts swirl with the hue of the terrain.
These silver-screen attributes also enhance the Helldivers’ plight, especially during the last stand against surmounting enemies while you’re sweating around the extraction point. Fleeing Bile Titans charging through the mist, and Automatons’ marching out infernos to issue your death sentence is dialed up to a five-star war movie thanks to the game’s cinematic fashion. While the Helldivers 2 score doesn’t quite match the intensity of Avatar’s, the shooter’s moody settings enhance feelings of dread, desperation, and sheer hopelessness, making each swan song battle worthy of an award nomination.
I’m grateful that Super Earth’s uprising broke the shooter genre out of my jail, and even though the battles are designed to be overwhelming and somewhat unfair, the cinematic quality made any defeat more poetic instead of frustrating. Helldivers 2 has become a surprising hit for 2024, nailing the co-op camaraderie and keeping the premise simple and light-hearted enough to balance the alien hordes making a mockery out of your survival instinct. This is one shooter I’ll happily return to, and I’ll need to wrangle together teammates to get the most out of each campaign. It’ll take a little more persuasion to see me mingle with Loot Llamas or Arachnotrons, however.
Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 features a gameplay evolution from the top-down view in the previous game in the series (Helldivers), offering more intimate and visceral third-person, squad-based action in dynamic campaigns against the insect-like Terminids and the machine Automatons across the galaxy.
