Recent reviews by Dog

My favorite Zachtronics game. This game owned every moment of my free time from the moment I started working on the first puzzle until I finished the final puzzle. Then I went back and played some more. It starts out relaxing and zen-like, then works its way up to diabolical without ever becoming infuriating. Looking forward to the new content.

This is my favorite FPS of all time. It's a shame that it hasn't been remastered for modern systems...or turned into a movie. A friend of mine was a beta tester for this game way back when. When he finished, he received a copy of the game and gave it to me (he said that he'd played more than enough of it). Having played this game from beginning to end at least a dozen times, I have yet to have played it enough. Most of my playthroughs have been on an install of the original copy I received - installed long ago and copied from machine to machine. While Steam only shows 2.3 hours, it's because I bought the Steam version to have a copy just in case my old copy is ever lost or damaged. For those new to this game, here's some important information to know: this game is pretty old school - it doesn't support wide screen and certainly doesn't support ultra-wide screen. You can use the Killer App Mod to force it to support 16:9, but it'll just stretch the 4:3 image, rather than providing proper 16:9. I recommend playing in 4:3 so everything looks right. You still might want to check out the Killer App Mod for some of the other fixes and adds it provides. Focus on maxing your energy first - energy is the most important thing you can have as it'll allow you to fire your higher power weapons more and you'll be able to open some containers that require a lot of energy to open - some of those containers will provide new or better weapons/mods earlier than you will find them otherwise. Each "special" weapon has a use - basically some enemy or point in the game where that weapon will excel for the scenario you are working through. Not every encounter/scenario will have a weapon that is "best" for it, though - there are far more encounters/enemies/areas than there are weapons. You'll definitely want to have the sniper rifle upgraded pretty well at one point in the game (I'd recommend focusing on it once you get it, so you're ready when it's really needed). If, after you've finished the game, you want more but you don't want to replay the game, go find User Error. If you liked the original movie, this will take you back to the grid and show it in a way that the movie did not. Rather than only sneaking through the back areas of the grid, you will also get to explore the grid proper, seeing and exploring new locations that make the grid feel alive. The final boss can be very difficult but is a well thought out and implemented final encounter - if you're struggling with the final boss keep these tips in mind: (1) your decontamination/de-corruption ability will serve you VERY well here - the more upgraded it is, the more manageable the fight will be / (2) you should have at least 2 or 3 of the special weapons upgraded to max or near max - without decent hitting power, you're going to be at a severe disadvantage / (3) the fight is in three phases - if you do well in a phase, quick save so you can reload at that point rather than fighting any previously completed phases / (4) if you are struggling in a phase, switch up your tactics - use a different set of weapons, or try them in a different order / (5) when anything gets infected, fix it (or at least remove/swap it) immediately before the corruption spreads / (6) don't have all your armor equipped at the beginning of the fight - you'll definitely be swapping/de-corrupting armor parts during the fight, so it's good to always have a couple pieces ready to be swapped in for other parts that need to be pulled out due to corruption. Don't give up - if you need to take a break, do it. If you end up loving the game and wanting to play it over in the future, there's no shame in skipping the final boss or the light cycle races on replays - but you *should* try to finish them at least once - especially the final boss, just to see the end of the story.

Lots of fun. Don't be put off by the graphics - if you like great gun play and movement, this game rocks. It's even more fun with friends. The game is simple and straight forward, and doesn't over-complicate itself with unnecessary mechanics and widgets. And it's a steal for the price.

Very fun game. Depending on difficulty settings and player skill, a run can be completed in anywhere from under 30 minutes to an hour and half or so. As with many of these kinds of games the loop is good if you're OK with doing repeated runs. Most of the upgrades feel meaningful, and the general gunplay and movement are good. For the price it's pretty much a no-brainer.

This is everything the alpha demo promised and more. It's currently EA, so there are bugs and missing content, but that's to be expected. The devs clearly have a vision for this game and it seems to be coming together nicely. Combat (in general) is fun, and space combat strikes a nice balance between straight up shooting action and damage control/management on the higher difficulties. Some of the current mechanics are being reviewed for updates or sweeping changes as the community weighs in on what really works and what needs tweaking. The devs are engaged and are clearly more interested in making a great game than just making the exact thing they originally came up with. This game isn't for everyone - if you get frustrated easily because you lost your favorite weapon or don't like repetitive game loops find something else. Beyond that, I can recommend this gem wholeheartedly - especially for the current EA price of $20 US.

This game shows LOTS of promise. For a pre-early access demo it has very few bugs and gameplay issues overall. It's a little light on content (needs more mission types, more sector types, etc.), but the basic gameplay loop is enjoyable. It's about time that a game developer acknowledged the value of pineapple on pizza.

Ignoring the myriad performance issues, broken Vulkan implementation, and Ubisoft's penchant for releasing broken games and never fixing them (like this one). And looking beyond the fact that Ubisoft has gone out of their way to make sure their customers know how much they care...about their customers' wallets... Do you know how to tell when a company that's had no new ideas in a very long time still has no new ideas? The answer is simple: The video and images they post for their game show no actual gameplay - they're all cut-scenes, or images from cut-scenes. Well done, Ubi - at least you're consistent.

I've seen a lot of comparisons to DooM and Duke 3D - and they aren't totally off-base. While the game play isn't exactly the same, it's nearly identical in many ways (although maybe a bit tougher as of this writing - enemies are, at times, a bit too aware). For me, the great similarity is that this game could easily have come out in that era and almost certainly would have been well received and quite popular - and it would likely have big nostalgia points today. This game offers the best representation of how it felt to play those games 'back in the day'. It's not perfect, and that's OK. It'll get better with time and, other than a few bugs here and there, it could actually drop now and would continue to be well rated by those looking for that 'thing' that DooM, Duke 3D, Blood, and so many other games offered in the early FPS days. But...this game does more - the levels are often larger, and while the enemies are still sprites (just like in the old days), some items that used to be sprites are now 3D objects (or at least appear to be and behave like 3D objects) allowing for a slightly better experience. Beyond graphics, there's the sound - you often know when an enemy or group is close by, either because they are talking/yelling, or because you can hear their footfalls. And you usually have a good idea of which direction they are in and roughly how far away they are. While many modern games and engines do this as well, there's something about how the DooM-based engines (like GZDoom here) do it that actually seems better in some ways.

If you're looking for something authentically old-school this is it. At this point, the only thing that would make it a LOT better would be coop and PvP. But, for a single player experience, this is a great ride in the way back machine...in all the right ways.

=== HOW DO I SAY THIS? ===

I'm going to leave the review as a thumbs up, but with caveats. The devs have this bad habit of breaking things badly, over and over again - then fixing most of them well enough while breaking other things...then breaking everything again - rinse and repeat. And, at any particular time in the process, at least one of the enemies will almost assuredly be stupidly unbalanced and overpowered to the point that only the most leet players will find that enemy enjoyable, since playing against that enemy will no longer resemble fun but will feel more like doing the worst day of military basic training over and over again. It's damned inconvenient and seriously annoying.

When things are mostly right, and when fighting one of the enemies that isn't broken, the game provides some of the most entertaining stupid fun any game can offer. It *is* repetitive, but in a good way...so long as this particular game play loop is your kind of thing.

In the end, buy this knowing that it'll feel like an early access game some times, and every so often the devs will need more money so they'll drop a series of war bonds in quick succession, hoping people will be feeling spendy. But between those times, it'll be a game you'll come come back to again and again...especially if you can come back to it with friends. It's challenging, it's fun, it's stupid, and it's definitely worth the $30 asking price...much of the time, but not all of the time. Then again, when it's working right it's more fun than a lot of games that cost more than twice as much, so there's that.

=== THE NEVER ENDING JOKE ===

And yet again the devs keep screwing up the balance, introducing unfathomable bugs (dying of burning when you're not on fire, dropping in with a randomly wrong weapon, etc.), and trying to get more money by spending time making more warbonds instead of fixing the nearly uncountable number of bugs in the game.

Until the devs refocus on fixing bugs and making the game fun again, I can't recommend it at any price. What a shame - so much promise.

=== FINAL REVIEW UPDATE? ===

The game is good. It's repetitive, but still very good if this particular game play loop is your thing.

The content additions have slowed to a more reasonable rate and there is enough content now that new players will have plenty to unlock. Sadly, some of the most recent ship modules are stupidly expensive without providing corresponding value, but it's easy enough to leave those for last.

As for the past drama, Sony is still a bad guy having not completely put the big middle finger they gave gamers back in their pocket. Valve, after sitting back and watching Sony screw Steam customers, realized what a foolish move that was and changed their tune...and gamers have mostly forgotten. It's almost as if it never happened.

In the end, it's a good game, and if you can get it on sale, even better...but there's no reason to wait since there are few games that offer as much enjoyment as this game for the price. If you are hesitant to buy the game because of Sony or Valve, do it to support the devs - they definitely deserve it.

=== THINGS HAVE MOSTLY RETURNED TO NORMAL ===

Aaaaaand my review returns to positive.

The community came together and sent a crystal clear message to Sony - don't try to unilaterally change the terms of the contract that we already agreed to and is already in force or we're out...full stop.

It took until the game reached a "recent reviews" rating level of "Overwhelmingly Negative" (and many players completely abandoning the game, which they had been playing daily since release), but Sony finally capitulated and has agreed to continue honoring (and offering to new players) the original agreement that was made with so many of us when we purchased the game - no PSN account required, no PSN account linking required.

Maybe Sony has learned that interfering in any way with the spread of Democracy is gaming treason, and will be dealt with accordingly.

Helldivers to your hellpods...

=== PREVIOUS, BUT NOT ORIGINAL, REVIEW ===

I am, sadly, changing my review from positive to negative. SONY has decided to change the terms of the original contract we, as customers, agreed to when purchasing this game upon, or shortly after, release. And, although we can't return the game now that we've played for more than 2 hours SONY is allowed to unilaterally change the terms of the original contract and we have no choice but to agree to the new terms or stop playing and eat the purchase cost. The main gist of the change is that all players must now have or create a PSN account and link it to their Steam account. However, my change of review status is not about having to create yet *another* account just to play a game. This is about SONY unilaterally changing the terms of the contract after the sale is complete and the contract is in force. Not only did they change the terms of the contract, but the new terms mean that many people who purchased the game will no longer be able to play the game at all because they don't live in locations that can create a PSN account from PC - even if they are willing to do so...THE ONLY WORK AROUND is to buy a PS5 console! Can you imagine telling your customers that in order to continue playing a game they already purchased and have been playing is now to spend hundreds of dollars on a piece of hardware solely for the purpose of creating a PSN account?!?!? Adding insult to injury Steam won't allow returns for those of us with over 2 hours of play time, despite SONY's unscrupulous actions.

Both SONY and Steam are the bad guys is this situation. SONY for their actions, and Steam for aiding and abetting this breach of contract by not allowing its customers to get a refund for having terms they never agreed to, and might not have ever agreed to, forced upon them after the sale, with the only two options being to acquiesce or eat the purchase cost and stop playing the game entirely - and that's if the first option is even available to some players.

SONY was never a good guy. Valve, if they ever were, certainly isn't in this situation. Even if Valve changes their mind at this point, many gamers will remember that another company chose to screw Valve's own Steam customers on the Steam platform and Valve's first impulse was to help that company get away with it.

UPDATE: Steam is now allowing returns for those with game play time over 2 hours apparently. I'm not sure if it applies to all regions or just regions that are locked out of making a PSN account without a console. Either way, it's an improvement on Steam's part.

=== ORIGINAL REVIEW ===

Things have improved dramatically in the last few days. I am now very comfortable wholeheartedly recommending this game for the current price ($40 US). While connecting can still be an issue on occasion, the major connection problems plaguing the game earlier seem to be gone and most (but not all) of the major game stopping bugs have been eliminated. With the rapid pace of updates and repairs the dev team is making I have little doubt this game will be in ship shape and Bristol fashion in no time at all.

The game can be repetitive, but if the game play loop is your kind of thing there are few games that do it as well as Helldivers 2. Suit up, grab your gun, bring in the cat, and hop into a hellpod, Helldiver - Democracy needs you!

Bro! This game is bro-tastic! Favorite movie hero or heroine bro version? Check. Extreme chaos? Check! Bro-op? Check! Check? Check!!!