The premise of the game is that in the far future Super Earth in governed through "managed" Democracy which is pretty much a thinly veiled code word for fascism. You are a grunt in Super Earth's army, who are nicknamed helldivers. The soldiers are called this due to how they enter the battlefield, in individual, shock-proof pods which are fired from orbit with enough force to dig into the ground upon impact. The roof of the pod opens and the helldivers climbs out, ready to fight any enemy that awaits. Fascism can't survive without an enemy to rally the people against, so Super Earth declares war on three neighboring races: the Bugs, the Cyborgs, and the Illuminate.
While in the multiplayer menu, press R1/L1 to toggle over to a list of your friends. The first hurdle is the game doesn't automatically check whether your friends are currently in a game, you have to go to that friend and press the square button to manually check if they are in a game. If they are, it tells you how many people are playing in the game 1-4 out of a max of 4, and if it is not full you can press X to jump into the game. Having to manually check wouldn't be too big of a deal except for the 2nd issue, the online list doesn't work. Rather than compile its own list of players logged into the game, Helldivers just uses PSN information. Unfortunately PSN doesn't track the online status of players across the 3 systems very well. Those playing the PS3 version will only see PS3 players that are on PSN, Vita seeing vita, and I am unsure who PS4 players see as online. As a result, I have to check my online list on the Vita (the PS3 can't see when Vitas or PS4s are online) to see who is playing helldivers on the PS4 and PS3 before booting up the game as they will show as offline on the in-game friend list. Either that or you have to manually refresh every offline player on your friend list to see if they are playing.
HELLDIVERS A New Hell Edition-PLAZA version download
You will face one of 3 enemy races depending on which of the 3 prongs you picked on the galactic map.The Bugs are clearly inspired by the enemies from the film Starship Troopers. They use sheer numbers to overwhelm you and are almost completely melee based. The scouts and stealthy units are weakly armored but some of the later warrior units have quite thick armor. They have 2 different types of tanks. One is a heavily armored, elephant-sized beast which can charge into you, which causes instant death. The other hides a distance away and shoots 3 tentacles into the ground which pop up elsewhere and knock you to the ground.The cyborgs are former humans who didn't want to live under the Federation. They have heavily modified their bodies with implants to have a competitive advantage. They move in squads and use many of the same types of weapons as the helldivers: machine guns, grenade launchers, flamethrowers, mechs, and tanks. Also working for them are robotic hounds which will briefly stun you each time they pounce.The Illuminate are a squid-like race in the vein of the Protoss from Starcraft. They are a highly technologically advantaged race which use shields, cloaking, teleportation, and energy weapons extensively. The shields on most units are fairly thick and regenerate quickly, but once down their physical bodies are fairly weak. They have a tank which can project a shield wall that helldivers cannot pass through and another which use mind control to temporarily flip your controls (left is right and up is down).
PRESENTATIONNot only are the bugs a clear homage to Starship Troopers, but many other aspects of the presentation are rooted in that film. The opening cinematic which gives a brief overview of the world is tongue in cheek propaganda like the "Would you like to know More?" segments from Starship Troopers. War updates come over the Federation-controlled news network. The design of the helldivers and the evac shuttle are also reminiscent of the Mobile Infantry and Fleet shuttles from Starship Troopers. Even the names of some trophies are lines of dialogue direct from the film. Those little touches give the shooter a little more personality.
The sound effects are also quite well done from the digital bink for each entry of a stratagem code, to the floppy drive-esque sound of the illuminate scout, to the weapon fire and enemy noises. Every enemy makes a distinct ambient noise so even if you can't see it yet on the screen, you can hear them coming and react accordingly. The voice acting is a little disappointing though, there is the option for one female or one male voice and they say about 8-10 different phrases when you issue commands with the D-pad. With so few phrases it would have been nice if they offered a few other different male / female voices, possibly at different ages and/or accents. It seems strange to have so many different choices for dress up, but everyone sounds the same. After all, the helldivers are supposed to be populated from everyone on the planet.
TROPHY HELP:There are 3 trophies which require online interaction as they are tied to the War mechanic:*For Spreading Managed Democracy you must take part in a successful homeworld assault.Once all 10 sectors have been captured in a leg of the galactic map, a 48 hour assault event begins on that enemy's homeworld. Complete a double XP mission on that homeworld and if the yellow influence bar fills up faster then the red enemy bar then the event succeeds and you get a trophy.*For Defender of Humanity, you must take part in a capital defense event.Periodically if a sector is taking too long to acquire or if a homeworld assault fails, the enemy will attack the capital city of the previous sector. If this happens, a 2.5 hour defend event will start in which the community has to complete missions in the capital city to fill the yellow influence bar faster than the enemy. If the defend event succeeds and you ran one successful capital city mission, you get a trophy. If the event fails, the helldivers are pushed back another sector and another 2.5 defend event starts. You must complete a capital city mission in the sector in which the defense succeeds in order to get the trophy. If a race pushes the helldivers all the way back to Super Earth then a 48 hour defense event starts. This also counts toward the trophy.*For Peace and Prosperity Reigns Again you must complete one planet in a successful galactic campaign.That means either completing all the missions on one planet in a normal sector OR completing at least one successful assault / defend mission during a war. Once all 3 homeworld assault events succeed, the war is won and you get the trophy. If a Super Earth defense event fails, then the war is lost. 2ff7e9595c
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