Helldivers 2 Should Become Even More Like Starship Troopers
Ask someone what Helldivers 2 is and what it's like, and there's one constant touchstone in every description: Starship Troopers. Spending a few seconds with the game makes it easy to see why the 1997 film is invoked so often, as your early experience of playing as a high-tech human soldier will likely include getting torn apart by a giant insect, just like in the movie.It's not just the "space marines fighting giant bugs" gameplay that draws from Starship Troopers, though. Helldivers 2 also invokes the presentation of Paul Verhoeven's movie at every turn. The film is set in a future in which democracy has "failed" and been supplanted by a form of government in which citizenship and the right to vote have to be earned, usually through extremely dangerous military service. Intercut between scenes are newsreel-like episodes that always read as propaganda from the governing Federation, and usually double as intensely patriotic recruitment messages.Helldivers 2 takes that general feel and goes even harder, with just about every word spoken or read in the game carrying an over-the-top patriotism that belies a dystopian world. You're not a soldier of Earth, but of "Super Earth," fighting for "Managed Democracy" and killing giant insects on their own planets in the name of "freedom." Starship Troopers' satire of militarism isn't exactly subtle, but Helldivers 2's hits like a wrecking ball, elevating its fascistic portrayal to ridiculous comedy. It's very funny to blast literal insects while your character screams about fighting for democracy, seconds before getting shredded by your own orbital strike and replaced by an identical soldier with just as much Super Earth nationalist pride.Continue Reading at GameSpot
Ask someone what Helldivers 2 is and what it's like, and there's one constant touchstone in every description: Starship Troopers. Spending a few seconds with the game makes it easy to see why the 1997 film is invoked so often, as your early experience of playing as a high-tech human soldier will likely include getting torn apart by a giant insect, just like in the movie.
It's not just the "space marines fighting giant bugs" gameplay that draws from Starship Troopers, though. Helldivers 2 also invokes the presentation of Paul Verhoeven's movie at every turn. The film is set in a future in which democracy has "failed" and been supplanted by a form of government in which citizenship and the right to vote have to be earned, usually through extremely dangerous military service. Intercut between scenes are newsreel-like episodes that always read as propaganda from the governing Federation, and usually double as intensely patriotic recruitment messages.
Helldivers 2 takes that general feel and goes even harder, with just about every word spoken or read in the game carrying an over-the-top patriotism that belies a dystopian world. You're not a soldier of Earth, but of "Super Earth," fighting for "Managed Democracy" and killing giant insects on their own planets in the name of "freedom." Starship Troopers' satire of militarism isn't exactly subtle, but Helldivers 2's hits like a wrecking ball, elevating its fascistic portrayal to ridiculous comedy. It's very funny to blast literal insects while your character screams about fighting for democracy, seconds before getting shredded by your own orbital strike and replaced by an identical soldier with just as much Super Earth nationalist pride.
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