4/5 ★ – bobbykickball's review of Helldivers II.

Helldivers 2 is an extremely fresh take on what I'd call the party game genre - games that are really only fun with friends. That's a hot take, because I know people enjoy this on their own, but Helldivers 2 just doesn't do anything for me if I'm not in voice chat laughing along with my buds as we shoot aliens and robots. When friends ARE on, the game is a blast. The friendly fire, large variety of stratagems, and endless hoards of enemies to take down make for an incredibly fun time. The mission variety, different planets, and races do just enough to make the game feel less monotonous that it may seem on the surface. But without a balancing pass for the lesser stratagems and weapons, you are essentially using the same loadout at all times if you want to take on the game's hardest difficulty, "Helldive". This one's a weid game for me. I really do love it, but I think some of the AA cracks show through when you put it against the stress test of time. There's no real point to playing the game beyond having fun - which is nothing to scoff at at all - because fun IS why we play games, but as someone who looks for meaningful progression and completionism in games, there's not much to be had here. I'll return to this game often because it IS extremely fun, but it's not something I'll ever fire up on my own. It needs a little more variety, in both enemies and arsenal, to interest me and push me into solo play sessions/matchmaking with randoms. I'm sure that stuff is coming because this game has been a huge success for Sony, but as Helldivers 2 sits right now... it's not a 5/5 for me.