Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[TheBronzePickle]

HELLDIVERS
Originally for the PS3, PS4, and PS Vita, Helldivers has just been released to Steam.

Helldivers is a hectic isometric shooter where you play as an eponymous Helldiver, a specially trained soldier who drops down onto a planet via a drop pod and completes various objectives using a wide array of firepower and tools, most of which can be called down through special beacons.

The base game at $20 USD (not sure about other currencies) doesn't really offer much in the way of gear, but the deluxe edition ($40 USD, once again unsure about other currencies) has a much wider variety, including vehicles like mechs and tanks, anti-tank weaponry, more tactical options for your personal loadout, and even some special attack weapons. And, trust me, you need all the help you can get, as the game has a very wide range of difficulties ranging from 'easy for a solo player' to 'very hard for a full team of veteran players'. If you don't have the cash to spare, though, it's fine, as you still can use some of your allies' gear like vehicles and heavy weapons.

Speaking of teams, the game allows you to play with up to 3 other players, and you can even call for aid in the middle of a game if you find yourself overwhelmed. Even if you run solo, though, you have an influence, as every mission you complete and planet you take adds to the overall war effort, pushing back one of the three enemy factions: the insectoid Bugs, the rugged Cyborgs, and the technological Illuminate.

[Chiefwaffles]

What?
People play it solo?

The game is really only best experienced when playing with other people over voice chat. Even better when everyone is in the same place (like all playing on a single console) for even more shenanigans!

The lethality is awesome. Things like having your shiny new mech suddenly crushed by a new person suddenly joining from online is a great experience. Also dying to new arrivals. And being stepped on by someone else's mech.

Another fun thing to do is calling down turrets. Their friendly fire potential is horrifying!

[Yoink]

Oh my, this looks fucking rad. I need to find out how much it is for PS4 and coerce my friend who owns one into buying it...
Although I suppose Gauntlet is scratching our local co-op itch at the moment. I need to play this.

[Levi]

Can you play multiplayer on one computer?  Might be a good one of those drunken friday games...   

[TheBronzePickle]

I'm pretty sure you can't play multiplayer all on one computer (that would probably be really hard to set up anyway) but you could certainly put together a LAN party if you have enough computers. The game isn't particularly fancy, so you might be able to bring out some older computers if you need to.

[Kot]

I remember that when I saw it I went like "WHY THE FUCK THIS ISIN'T ON PC I WOULD TOTALLY BUY IT IF IT WAS ON PC". Now I don't have any excuses, I guess...

[Anvilfolk]

Got it yesterday, played with my wife and with some pubs.

It's pretty rad, definitely. I only got the base game - I try not to get DLC on principle. We'll see if I cave further on in a sale.

You can play locally, with keyboard and controllers. I have two controllers and a keyboard, and they all seem to work at the same time, so I think you can get 4 people playing on the same computer without any problems. You will all share the account of the person who owns it though - no levelling up your own character (even if you own the game). You can also play in any combination of local and online coop (my wife and I, on one computer, joined other pubs together, including other people on the same computer). You can't play "cross-platform" between PC and PS3/4, unfortunately. There's no versus mode, but that's OK because friendly fire is a way of life. Shoot everything, blow up everything, scream a lot, laugh a lot, die a lot.

The game is massively cooperative, in the sense that the state of the galaxy is persistent and everyone (PC and PS3/4) is contributing to the same progress against 3 different factions in a billion different groups of up to 4 people, each conquering planets. To conquer a planet, you do a couple of missions in a row (missions last anywhere from 5-20 minutes). Once you've conquered a planet, you add some points towards conquering the area the planet is in, and you get an unlock. Once the bar for a given zone fills up, you've conquered the entire zone and move on to the next one. Once you're done with all the zones, you get to attack the homeworld. Instead of getting unlocks, you get double XP. If you don't conquer the homeworld within 48 hours, the aliens push back a zone, as far as I can tell. Also, I think in the PC version any planet conquest counts for galactic progression, whereas just local coop didn't for the PS version (might be wrong about this).

So, three different enemy enemy factions, persistent galaxy that resets upon winning, a hilarious backstory that parodies US foreign policy pretty admirably, tight, frantic gameplay, unlocks, local&online coop in any combination, !!FUN!!.

[Cthulhu]

The persistent campaign sounds pretty cool but I'm deeply offended by the "20 bucks for something, 40 bucks for the actual game" thing.

[TheBronzePickle]

To be clear, it's not like the core game is terribly deficient. The core game's weapons are perfectly good, if a bit generalist. Most of the equipment in the DLCs are more specific to certain roles, like stealth, sniping, or heavy suppressive fire. Most of the stuff that you don't land with (stratagems, the stuff you call from the sky) doesn't really care who picks it up, so if you have a friend or teammate and want to use their rocket launcher, tank, or medical bot, they can call it down for you, while you take some of the more all-around useful drops like extra ammo and defensive structures.

[Zangi]

How bout a taste of libertea?
Helldivers does have a lot of nice one liners.  Your whole side, society/culture/government is a parody...

As for contribution to the galactic cause, I think the key point is you gotta be connected to the Helldiver server for it to count.

... I can't really imagine playing this without a controller...  (Played on PS4.)
As for All the DLC, I havn't played since MGS5 came out, but you did end up getting access to decent enough ordinance without the DLC.

EDIT: My favored would have to be the rocket launcher.  For it to really shine, you need teamwork(and knowledge).  Allies carrying the rocket ammo can instantly reload the rocket launcher for you, while if you reload it yourself, it takes like 5 seconds... of you standing still.  (Which sadly was still a thing cause you do need heavy ordinance against the bigger enemies and sometimes you are the only one with heavy ordinance at the time or at least heavy ordinance that won't kill the group...)

[Cthulhu]

If I'm gonna get it I'm gonna get the full thing.  Beyond the DLC issue my main issue is with a price tag like that it's gonna be hard to get my friends into the game, and what's the point of a game like this without co-op?  Preferably not co-op with random fucklers.

[Anvilfolk]

I think we're overplaying the value of the galactic campaign a little bit, to be entirely honest. All it truly amounts to is every time you win a game, you add 2-8 points to a bar that requires 100000000 to complete. Every other group contributes to that same bar. That's... kinda basically it, with a thing here or there that changes a tiny aspect of gameplay.

I'd not get the DLC and wait for a big sale. Looks like there's enough stuff in the base game to me, but YMMV. I don't mind unlocking/upgrading all of the default stuff and getting the DLC later and upgrade that then.

Also, played with a few pubs, and while the majority weren't talking, others were. It was still cool. But friends/voicechat is definitely a HUGE plus.

[puke]

Saw this on PATV or something like that, looked awesome.  Was hoping for a similar style shooter for the PC ever since I saw it. 

I mean, its a basic top down multiplayer twin-stick shooter, right?  Basically a modern Heavy-Barrel -alike?  How rare can that be?

Anyway, totally happy to see it on Steam.  Will see if I can get any of my friends interested in it, looks like a good beer and pretzel game.

[Chiefwaffles]

I'd describe it like this:

Top-down multiplayer twin-stick shooter. With tons of friendly fire - almost an emphasis on it in some places, humor (not sure how standard that is in these types of games), plenty of progression, customization, and such.
As I said, definitely best enjoyed having 4 people in the same room playing it together.

[Sonlirain]

So 20$ for the base game with efficient but boring weapons and an extra 42$ if i want cool stuff.
Ok hold the train i'm out. Oh wait i haven't boarded yet.

Anyway for a game that advertises itself on being "So Cool friendly fire OMG WTF GIANT ROBOT BBQ coop madness." withholding both cool and specialist weapons behind a paywall is... eh.
Or you could just buy all of the DLC outright and save 20$!
Or pony up 30$ up front for an indie console port and save 32$!

Damn i hate non cosmetic DLC...