Helldivers II First Impressions

I've put nearly nearly 14 hours into Helldivers II now and here's what I think:

They launched the game too soon.

There's good stuff here;  solid game loop (kill aliens, accomplish objectives, get out before time runs out), a fantastic vibe clearly leaning into Starship Troopers except taken up a notch (we are the bad guys, folks), and a progression system that has players feeling like they are a small part of a giant collective, contributing to the war effort.

So it's a real bummer that crossplay has had so many crashes. That the tutorial left me feeling like I didn't know nearly enough to play-and I was right. I fumbled and often messed up how things worked. That the chat audio frequently lead to feedback issues. 

Most damning for me, though, are the controls. They feel too lose: I don't reload a weapon when I feel like I should, and this game lives and dies on being able to reload your gun. I don't swap weapons like I should: I have tried to swap from a gun to a grenade and back multiple times and been frustrated that I hadn't and the game is terrible about letting me know what I'm currently armed with. Clicking the button to run doesn't happen sometimes and that's bad.

These are fixable things. But they should've been locked in on day one. I'm willing to give Helldivers a chance because there's already been a patch for a game that launched on Friday and there is always a learning curve to a game. If I threw it out just because I wasn't instantly having a good time, then I'd probably never play Magic again. 

There's also some interesting design at work: the game utilizes the d-pad more than any modern game I've played. But this creates a tension when I need to move and use the d-pad, since I only have one thumb, like most humans. My buddy's solution was to reach over with his right thumb to keep his character moving and use the d-pad with his left.

This is...not ideal. It is awkward as fuck. It's a design choice that was likely made for people with mouse and keyboard setups, and without consideration to those with handheld controllers. OR, it is a deliberate choice the game has made to make a specific kind of gameplay. The tension of punching in the d-pad while hordes descend on you is a choice to make.

In my experience it isn't a good choice and it might be the thing that breaks the game for me. If my options are try to call in support and just getting my ass kicked, or do this awkward movement with my hand every time just to play the basic game, how is that a good choice?

Still; it's just entertaining enough that I'm sticking with it, at least for now. But heads up: they hype is overdone.