Those young and beautiful actors?
Stand-ins for the romanticized view of the ideal citizen.
That obvious dialog and those forced romantic subplots?
You get the point.
We were just transfixed by the films violent, creative, and often stylistically unique action sequences.
Its that aspect of theStarship Troopersexperience thatHelldivers 2celebrates and captures like no game before it.
I can certainly understand the widespread hesitation to celebrate that element of theStarship Troopersexperience.
Mind you,Helldivers 2fully embraces the joke that eluded manyStarship Troopersviewers for so long.
Its characters regularly utter lines like How about a nice cup of Liber-Tea?
or Say hello to Democracy!
Helldivers 2embraces that absurdity just as it openly embraces so many other aspects of theStarship Troopersexperience.
Unlike officialStarship Troopersgames (and other flattering gaming tributes),Helldivers 2never lets its foot off the gas.
Without that difficulty, so much of what this game is trying to do would fall apart.
There is an elegant brutality toHelldivers 2s action that is hard to find outside ofStarship Troopersand corners of theWarhammeruniverse.
Weapons are advanced but not so advanced that they eliminate pain and violence.
If anything, theyre designed to be as painful and violent as possible.
Soldiers are presented as being superhuman, yet are exposed as mere bags of meat at every opportunity.
Strategies are vital yet combat ultimately feels practically gladiatorial.
There it is again.
WatchingStarship Troopersfor its action sometimes feels a lot like watchingMad Menand constantly praising the fashion.
Helldivers 2 is available now for PlayStation 5 and PC.
