Over a year ago, I reviewed this game for the PlayStation 5. During that time, I felt like it was a bit repetitive, yet showed some moxie to become a competent and fun third-person shooter for friends with nothing to do on a Friday night. I wasn’t wrong.
Now that Helldivers II has made its way to the Xbox Series X/S from the good folks at Arrowhead Game Studios, it’s still kicking on all cylinders even a year removed. Since 2024, the game has grown a little bit, and its popularity has sustained itself on all platforms. Having another platform in the mix for a cross-platform extravaganza never hurts.
So, let’s get on our helmets, make sure we are locked and loaded, and get right into the never-ending battle of Helldivers II.
Starship Troopers narrative clone is back!
The story of Helldivers II runs with the tale of Starship Troopers. You need to stop a vicious cycle of bugs, robots, and other creepy-ass things from destroying humanity, and the only way to do that is to get on the front and fight. You play as a Helldiver, a soldier who gets down and dirty against a massive number of vicious array of baddies that populate several spaces and worlds. The more missions you get on, the more objectives you accomplish, and the more bad guys/bugs/robots you wipe out. That also means the more planets you liberate, as a constant story keeps unfolding.
The concept of Helldivers II is simple, and you don’t need to hang onto the story to get the most out of the game, as it seems to legitimately take a page out of the goofy sci-fi movie Starship Troopers. Sure, that film has scary and intense moments, but it balances them with humor that keeps the story and experience fresh and going at an even pace. Helldivers II follows that same pattern, where you might feel some intense moments, especially when escaping a planet and a massive army of bugs is trying to take you down, but it balances out with good humor that dances back and forth with seriousness. The repeating and overly optimistic quotes from the NPCs and player characters are hilarious, and a firm reminder of the game’s intentions.
Overall, this isn’t the type of game led by story. Not at all. The best thing you can do with this narrative is just sit back, go with the flow of it all, and then absolutely take in all the ridiculous and over-the-top lines the game has to offer during actual gameplay. This game brings a simple story and far more interactive entertainment to lead the charge.
How it works
If you aren’t familiar with Helldivers II, here is how the gameplay works. Players are taken to a centrally located ship in space where they can customize their outfits, loadouts, and choose what mission they want to take on. The latter of the bunch is incredibly large.
Once the missions are chosen, the player’s character is sent down to said planet, where they roughly land in whatever environment they chose, and pop out of their tiny ship ready to roll. Once the player enters the environment, the mission objectives appear on the screen.
The objectives can go many different ways. For example, one of the missions I played in this Xbox version of the game had me in a destroyed robot-ridden city where I had to find fuel and weapon depots to blow up. Once found and blown up, using a series of directional pad codes, I would need to go to the extraction point in the game to finish the mission. This is simple gameplay that is structured the same way from mission to mission. The objectives might change, as well as the enemies, but the general structure of the gameplay can remain the same.
Coming down from 50 feet up, the game also features additional optional side quests for players. For example, a player can collect intel, specimens, or even elements along the way. Should they perish in battle, they lose their collection of goodies, but can re-collect them at the spot where they died before leaving the planet.
The real effort of this game comes with supporting teammates during intense battles, calling for supplies or new guns when they’re needed by hitting LB and using the same directional pad combinations as mentioned above, and, this is a big one, making sure that fallen teammates are called back down from the ship. The latter of the bunch is a sin when not done immediately. And I’m not honestly sure why someone wouldn’t want more help. That’s kind of weird and selfish. All of this is probably the most complicated part of the game, which isn’t very complicated. It just requires good decision-making and good communication with teammates.
All this effort above, and all the goals when they’re met, mean you will be able to level up your character, open new goodies on the ship, and help your team out as much as possible. The more you do, the less time it takes to do it, and the more successful you are at taking out enemies and objectives. Ultimately, it will also mean that you’re doing a good job. And the game, in its own goofy way, will recognize your efforts on each mission when you get back to the ship. There is nothing quite like seeing small fireworks and sparklers go off after each successful mission.
Still repeating
This game was designed to be played repeatedly, and it certainly turns the gameplay on repeat in the process. It took me a while to understand that, as I wasn’t a fan of it back in 2024, but now I get it. What you will find with Helldivers II is repetitive gameplay. This means that you will see the blueprint pattern of the missions, and you may encounter the same enemies repeatedly, making it feel like there aren’t any changes to the gameplay. For the most part, you would be right.
The only big changes to the experience are how much fun you’re having with friends and how much better you can get on missions. The progression system will also give you motivation to repeat the same gameplay against the same enemies, as it inches its way upward.
So? Why is this okay? The devs have shown their cards with what they created here. In doing so, players have connected with the game due to its ridiculous nature, and they have kept this game going by sharing their own experiences. From deaths to destruction, HDII offers gamers a chance to record their gameplay and share it, which is a huge draw to maintain this game’s longevity. As goofy as that might sound, just look at Reddit and enjoy the number of videos and clips 2024 has garnered. It might be repetitive gameplay, but apparently, players aren’t feeling it as much, and with the game’s expansion to a new platform, it only stands to add more to the online replay experience.
Anyway, Helldivers II does a great job of bringing fun content to players within ridiculous environments filled with sci-fi monsters. It’s just dumb fun.
On that sweet note, let’s wrap up this review.
Conclusion
A year or so later, Helldivers II remains an entertaining romp of online co-op fun. It flexes its muscles with wacky lines, a large number of ridiculous military objectives, and various ways to strategize and be entertained.
