People who work on games love how well Helldivers 2’s characters move.
On the surface, Helldivers 2 looks like a really tough third-person shooter, but it has a great sense of humor, and I’m not just talking about how lame its jokes are.
The combat in this game is surprisingly funny, with players killing each other by mistake, getting squished by dropships, and being thrown across the ground by enemies charging at them.
In fact, that last point is what makes some writers write such nice things about Helldivers 2. KindaFunny founder Greg Miller is thrown backwards by a big bug in the video below.
This made Michael Barclay, lead artist at Naughty Dog, notice the character animations, especially the way Miller’s character is thrown backwards and then gets back up.
Miller’s Helldiver passes over the top of the terrain with ease, taking into account any areas that are outstretched.
There is no clipping, so the character model passes over obstacles instead of getting stuck on them.
Another area of praise from Barclay is the character’s comeback from their “ragdoll” state.
The character finally stops, almost in a sitting position, and they can stand up on both feet almost in one seamless transition.
For Helldivers 2’s animation, other coders have also chimed in with praise.
According to People Can Fly’s lead game designer Jamie Smith, “yeah, they have a really nice transition from dive to ragdoll based on the height you leap from.” Infinity Ward game designer Steve Holmes chimed in, “That is pretty cool.”
Also, Helldivers 2 got a new patch yesterday for PC, but it has already been rolled back because it was drastically slowing down the game.
Thankfully, the same patch went off without a hitch on PS5, so it’s now live and players can use servers that can handle more requests.
