Visually, the game is stunning! It’s a far cry from the previous iteration which didn’t really have too many details to emphasize as the game was isometric. However this time around, you get to appreciate not only your personal Helldiver but also all of the hostile enemies that are out to get you.

Sweet liberty! One of my favorite PS4-era shooters is back with a whole new perspective and it’s up to me and my friends to defend Super Earth in glorious co-op! After going hands-on with Helldivers 2 for three hours, I’m sold on the bold pivot from the original’s top-down view to the sequel’s new third-person perspective, the appetizing roster of deadly gadgets, and the outrageous comedic tone that expertly channels the low-budget action film vibes that pair perfectly with the developer’s live-service ambitions.

We can actually blow away individual bits off each enemy, taking off limbs with small arms fire - or obliterating them with artillery fire. I loved the physics here - especially in aggregate, when the frame is just filled with physicalised objects, particles, and disintegrating enemies. Buildings can be destroyed in dramatic fashion when hit by airstrikes or blown up with a well-placed grenade, and the terrain deforms too under the barrage. Helldivers 2 is a unique and visually interesting console title, so how do the performance and quality modes stack up? The most obvious split comes down to resolution. The performance mode runs at 1080p, while the quality mode steps up to approximately 1728p. Both modes counted at those figures in every shot I tested, so there are pelo signs of dynamic resolution as far as I can tell. In stationary shots, the difference between the two is obvious.

These days, it's pretty rare for new shooter games to be exclusively PvE. Helldivers 2 is, though, as there's not a single PvP mode in the game, and there aren't any plans for one in the future, either. Helldivers fight for Super Earth together, after all!

, but multiple Arrowhead developers have confirmed on the official Helldivers 2 Discord server that one is being worked on, and that it will be revealed once the studio deploys improvements and fixes for Helldivers 2 bugs and launch issues.

When going into combat, a wide range of weapons will be available, and you’re able to customize your loadouts to suit your playstyle. So, whether you prefer to keep your distance and cause serious damage, or whether you’d prefer to get up close and personal with the oncoming alien hoards, there are enough weapons to suit everyone's preferences, and you and your team can plan accordingly to strike from every angle.

The new gameplay footage showed a bit of the co-op in action, giving a preview of how some of the various mechanics work as players take on a massive bug-like monster called the Bile Titan.

The marks a bit of a delay, as it was originally set to release at the end of this year. Pre-orders will launch on Sept. 22 for both the Standard Edition and the Super Citizen Edition.

makes perfect sense as the basis for a video game — even if it spent a few years with the original novel’s jingoism being mistaken as an endorsement.

This means that if you were to buy the game on both PC and PS5, your levels and unlocks won't transfer between them — even if

Although you can take on missions alone, it’s better with three other players – this is very much a co-op experience. Everyone gets a set of primary and secondary weapons – which means shotguns, SMGs, assault rifles and pistols – as well as grenades. During combat however you can also call in Strategems, special weapons and items ranging from orbital missile strikes to defensive shields and automated machine gun turrets.

Are there in-game purchases in Helldivers 2? You have the option to make in-game purchases for warbonds and other items

Helldivers 2 is a great co-op third person shooter that feels awesome, but is ultimately a grind-fest and does its best to hide the "pay to have fun quicker" model it has in place. The slow progression (unless you pay money) has made me lose interest in this very quickly, with little to pelo motivation to continue playing the same missions on the same difficulty for tens of hours until I can afford the right weapons to proceed. Positives: - Excellent gunplay. The combat "feels" great

The gameplay loop is so tight, it would be laughably slim in the wrong hands. You team up, hit the planet, kill things, collect stuff then extract to count your Helldivers 2 Gameplay earnings and buy better weapons. Repeat until exhausted. Levelling up unlocks new collections of deadlier hardware, but it’s basically the same thing over and over again until the planet has been “liberated” and you and all the other players in the world move on to another (yes, there’s a global real-time battle map, with every participant contributing to the intergalactic, ahem, peace effort).