Highlights

  • Helldivers 2 strikes a balance of humor and tension.
  • The game's d-pad input combinations add depth and excitement, requiring skill and quick thinking in intense missions.
  • Interactive features like Stratagem abilities and extraction codes elevate the gameplay to create cinematic moments of chaos and excitement.

It’s easy to see the transparent Starship Troopers inspiration in every corner of Helldivers 2, even when it does a good enough job of coming up with its own generic science-fiction terminology. This is a strength of Helldivers’ because it finds a perfect balance of humor in its writing and presentation while its moment-to-moment gameplay is actually far more tense than one may initially presume based on its slapstick premise of humorous happenstances marrying militarism and civic duty.

There’s a lot to love about Helldivers 2 and much of that boils down to how simple its formula is, which is a massive boon as a live-service game that isn’t even full price. It’s highly unfortunate that matchmaking, server issues, crashes, and other issues currently plague it, but it’s a testament to how great the game is that it’s still been as successful as it is despite those valid criticisms. Of its more unique features, though, a light deserves to be shone on the d-pad button combinations in Helldivers 2 that contribute to how pulse-pounding its missions are.

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Helldivers 2 How to Play Rock, Paper, Scissors
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Helldivers 2: How to Play Rock, Paper, Scissors

Engage in an innocent game of rock, paper, scissors in Arrowhead's Helldivers 2 to break the tension.

Helldivers 2 Understands How Important Interactivity is

Helldivers 2 forgoes typical hotkey or button-mashing prompts and substitutes them with directional input combinations when it comes to Stratagem abilities or mission-based interactions, and the result is profound. In what only amounts to a few more buttons pressed than usual, these commands are incredibly effective at issuing engagement.

Caring to memorize unique Stratagem combinations will likely be what’s necessary for high-level play, but the frantic nature of novice play is accentuated brilliantly by how hectic it can be to manually input these commands for an orbital strike or resupply drop in the heat of a mission. These commands would fail to elicit the same level of interactivity if they had players simply hold a face button, for instance, as there would be no room for input errors and mistakes.

Meanwhile, input errors regarding d-pad prompts can mean the success or failure of a mission in Helldivers 2 and engagement goes a long way in making an otherwise simple shooter formula tremendously comprehensive.

D-Pad Codes in Helldivers 2 Make for Perfect Climactic Moments

Automatons are a nasty enemy variant to confront in Helldivers 2 and can easily overwhelm players. Coupled with needing to land successful input prompts while also diving around and exchanging gunfire, Helldivers 2 is ripe with exciting moments with epic meme potential, as many have already shared. Missions are dramatic and suspenseful as is, but where d-pad prompts excel at turning missions into a cinematic spectacle is during extractions.

Here, players must access a terminal with a lengthy d-pad combination, and depending on how chaotic their surroundings are it can be a lot of responsibility on the player’s shoulders to input it correctly. Many of Helldivers 2’s Terminid missions are fairly relaxed and straightforward compared to Automaton missions and yet the fear of incorrectly inputting an extraction code can be debilitating, especially if a squad of divers is patiently withholding an enemy horde around them.

Helldivers 2’s Exclusive Mini-Game Celebrates Its Directional Codes

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Helldivers 2’s Stratagem Hero mini-game then tests and bolsters players’ skill with these codes in rapid succession, though this mini-game aboard the ship only currently seems accessible if players have the Super Citizen edition. Either way, code inputs are significant in Helldivers 2 and that subtle degree of interactivity pushes the envelope in ways that are perfect for the naturally ensuing hilarity and mayhem on any mission.