I didn't read it but I'm not going to say he's way off. It's his opinion wether we agree with it or not.

@jmaine_ph

It's an opinion, but opinions can still be properly criticized regardless.

I'm going to highlight the things that he pointed out as negatives and add my comment on it. I find most of these highlights ridiculous and you'll read why.

==

"Like most games of this kind, Helldivers has you runnin’ with the left thumbstick and gunnin’ with the right one. But while many top-down shooters fire automatically, this has you pulling the trigger to shoot."

"This, unto itself is not a problem...
...No, the problem lies in the fact that your ammo is seriously limited."

Basically, Helldivers isn't just a mindless twin stick shooter, but one that requires high dexterity and practice. I bet you took points off because of personal skill, the game wasn't as fault here. The more you play, the better you are at timing your shots. It's like any other game, you play and play, you get better. That's the beauty of it, it's a reward to see yourself progress and become a better version of yourself through time.

"Granted, you can call in supply drops (which I’ll get to in a moment), or you can be more precise with your shots (though that’s easier said than done), but either way it’s still rare, and thus frustrating, that you begin a mission with enough ammo to complete it."

So you can progress easier if you learn when to pull that trigger and not only that, but you also get the luxury of extra ammo now and then. If you combine those two, that pretty much makes the first point about lack of ammo invalid.

==

"As for those aforementioned ammo drops? Well, they certainly do help."

Lack of ammo complaint = not really a problem then.

"As do the auto turrets, aerial strikes, and other helpful items you can have delivered. Except that when you want to ask for something, you have to punch in code using the D-pad, which makes this feels like busy work. It also doesn’t help that the arrow icons for these codes are small and light grey, so they often blend in with the background, while the icons for the kinds of drops available are also small, which makes it hard to distinguish the aerial strikes one from the reinforcements, especially during a firefight."

http://www.technobuffalo.co...

http://media1.gameinformer....

http://www.entdepot.com/sit...

Those arrows really do blend in with the background, don't they? Maybe it's possible that you either set your TV's brightness and contrast too high or an optometrist appointment needs to be scheduled.

You also know how you can fix the problem? You memorize them, again, learn to play... With your mentally, you must really struggle with fighters, those combos though. Incoming 2/10 MKX review because learning directional inputs will feel like "busy work." It's just a unique aspect of Helldivers and inputting 3-5 button presses on average only takes about 2 seconds. With time, I remember being able to remember countless cheat codes on GTA and with time, inputting 10 combo button strings in a few seconds. Once again, taking points off because of personal skill. You practice, you never have to look at that input list while focusing on your surroundings.

(part 2 due to 4000 character limit)

==

"The people behind Helldivers also made a mistake common in games that can be play solo or with friends: You can’t pause your game if you’re playing alone, even if you set the online, uh, settings to “private.”"

It's a game that mainly has drop in, drop out coop in mind. There's many games that have the drop in, drop out feature to prevent the whole level from reloading if one person decides to join your game.

==

"Helldivers also has a really, really annoying map problem: You can’t see the map while you’re moving around. You can pull it up to see where you need to go, but you can’t move while looking at it, nor can you shoot, or even set any waypoints. As a result, it can be really irritating when you’ve completed your objective and are trying to figure out where the extraction point is located while enemies are shooting at you."

Do enemies keep respawing infinitely after putting them to rest? If no, then I don't see how it can really be a problem when you can just clear the zone and then look at the map.

==

"While all of these problems apply whether you go it alone or with friends, playing Helldivers co-op manages to have its own unique issue: You can’t disable friendly fire when playing with other people. Which gets really tiresome after a while, given how people usually play these kinds of games with a “spray it, don’t aim it” kind of approach."

But this isn't a "spray it, don't aim it" game. No matter how badly you want it to be, this game is meant to be more tactical, more teamwork based, a need to be more patient, thoughtful, and discipline. The problem is that you keep looking at this game and you're thinking that this game should be more casual, more easy. No, it's meant to be hardcore, thus, more rewarding to you and your team. There will be pitfalls, when you have a team member be terrible or be a troll, but that's how it also is in any other game. With friendly fire always on, not only is it more hardcore, but it promotes team work, careful planning, mic use, trust. This game doesn't hold hands and that's what makes it unique...

==

I think the problem with this review is that the person reviewing this game expects it to be the same as any other twin stick shooter. Not only that, but I see hints of not willing to take the time to become better at it. It's different, so that's what makes Helldivers a breath of fresh air. Your "negatives" is what makes it stand out even better.

I'm starting to get tired of reviewers scoring a game lower because it's different or not what the casual expects. And difficulty should never be a factor in score or we'll have amazing games like Demon/Dark Souls scoring lower than it should...

@johndoe11211

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

Well said Johndoe, I couldn't ( I actually can't!) have said it better myself.

What rock have you been living under??? Infamous was heavily criticized for story and gameplay by the media. The only thing it was praised for was the graphics. Same goes for killzone. The media all but ignored the multiplayer in killzone (which in my opinion was one of the best multiplayers this gen) and only focused on the single player in order to justify deducting points. Driveclub was NOT received ok, it got a ton of 5's and 6's from the media and was SEVERELY criticized for not "adding anything new" to the racing gen (something Forza was not required to do in ANY review). It also got completely raped by the gaming media for having a broken multiplayer, the exact thing that did not stop HMCC from getting 8's and 9's. I have no idea what blinders you are wearing but you really need to take them off.