Simple Sunday - Helldivers!

So, Tevesh and I often get together to do some multi-player console gaming.  After beating Castle Crashers (a dopey but very fun side-scroller), Scott Pilgrim VS the World (a tough harkens-back-to-Double-Dragon-difficulty side scroller), and Dragon's Crown (an outrageously fun but outrageously sexualized side-scroller), we were looking for something a little different.

We found a place called Super Earth, where mankind spreads the message of democracy and freedom to horrible aliens with rifles, rockets, and walkers.  We found Helldivers.

This is the effing log-in screen, with all the ships warping into the system.

Helldivers borrows heavily from Starship Troopers (the movie) in terms of its feel and atmosphere, as it's a really over-the-top parody of gung-ho imperialist military culture.  It's a top-down shooter with friendly fire always enabled, which results in all kinds of hilarity.  Sometimes I "accidentally" hit Tevesh with my shotgun burst; sometimes he "accidentally" drops a support pod on my head.  The game is also totally online-friendly (in fact, it encourages play with other helldivers...because the game is just that damn hard), so things end up really silly if not everyone is using mics to communicate their wishes/desires/dreams/life goals.

The game really starts to feel like Infinity when certain players take up "mission solver" roles while others are "covering fire" or "proactive slaughter" or what have you.  These aren't actually official roles in the game, but it seems like players tend to keep doing what they've been doing as you go along.  Much of the time, Tevesh is walking around in his mech (think Ariadna TAG) and deploying turrets while I scurry around trying to mash the D-pad to achieve objectives.  Like any good Specialist, I pull out my Shotgun on occasion to deal with incoming troops before getting back to work.  Just like an Infinity Specialist should!

As an added bonus, we recently participated in a world event where we had to defend our home-world...which basically amounted to fighting invading aliens in the streets while trying to escort civilians to safety.  Very Paradiso-like.  It became especially frantic when the enemy started throwing tank-like creatures at us, at which point we decided it was necessary to take perks that really resemble Missile Launchers or Panzerfausts (many shots, need a buddy to reload) and DEPs (shorter range with two shots, can't reload).  With a limited number of perks available at any given time, it's really important to choose wisely!

If you're on the PSN and enjoy lethal/challenging top-down shooters, give Helldivers a try.  And hey, if you already play, toss us a message and maybe we'll see you online!

All images are plucked from Google for your viewing pleasure.