Editing it one more time:
Sony retracted their nonsense and we're back on democracy baby.

But keep an eye on them for future PSN nonsense. Especially since at the time of writing the game is still not being sold in areas where you can't make a PSN account. So that's extremely suspicious.

Editing this review again:
Sony decided that after months of the game existing- you'll need a PSN account to play this game that you bought without that requirement.
Because they want to give the ability to . . .stop harassment. Sony apparently doesn't know their own game because they already have a kick and block function in Helldivers 2. So, that's a load of nonsense.

I don't recommend this game till that is changed because, no company or person should be able to change the requirements like this after selling the game for so bloody long.

Anyone who wants to say "Just make a PSN account" I encourage to grow a spine and stop taking corporate BS up their backside. If it was required first? Fine. But months later? No.

There's no benefit for the customer, it's likely for data collection and I'm not interested in giving them anything because the game took off better than Sony thought it would. Sony is sinking this game.

Also- not every country can make a PSN account, so it's comically anti-consumer for just 'gimmie yer data'

Arrow Head didn't do anything wrong here, so don't send hate their way, this mandate was signed SONY.

Editing this review because they have, at the time fixed my problems with the game which I will leave listed at the end:
The game is very starship troopers inspired, tongue is firmly planted in cheek and it's very amusing. It's all presented super well and it's pulled off really well.
What little I have been ABLE to play, the gunplay feels nice, the visuals are nuts, the missions seem like they can be a lot of fun.

The game has some solid communication too allowing players to tag points of interest and you can always see the laser sight of the others so you know where they're aiming so friendly fire is a lot harder to do on both ends of getting hit or shooting.
Guns sound really nice too, with a good bassy thump even with the basic pistol. The production value is really, really solid and I look forward to being able, to play more.

What is very, neat is the resupplies/turrets/orbital strikes don't have very long cool downs. They're all different depending on what you're deploying but I think it's 2 or 3 minutes for an orbital strike which is a lot faster than you'd think but you really need to utilize them along with whatever drops you can because on harder difficulties there's a lot, of bugs. Also bugs that are hard to kill, where you can run into several if you're not careful and they will overrun you in fewer numbers easier than being swarmed by lots of other bugs.
There's also the robots which are similar to bugs, they'll get stations that they deploy from that you can destroy, just like bug nests, but the robots get mountable turrets, can request dropships to reinforce them and ya know- have guns (also chain saws for arms and what not)

There's a reason you have station that you can deploy from orbit that flings out like 30 landmines- that will only slowdown what you run into.

What I like is there's more than one thing to do permission, explore and find outposts with supplies or resources to spend at base to buy new weapons, gear for your ship or cosmetics. Which you have to do at the risk of running out of time and like Lethal Company the area you're in might be experiencing bad weather that can effect stamina or visibility so you have to weigh these options.

Below are problems that I and friends experienced during our time early with the game that now seem to be fixed!
----------------------------------------------------------
The issue:
The servers are overburdened at the moment, to the point you can't even get to any menu to do anything till you get past till you can access a server. It took 7 minutes for me to be able to get into the hub- not even a level, you can only get a loading screen till you get into your ship/hub so accessing anything such as even graphical/audio settings or the solo training area, means you're left with the inability to do anything till you're able to get access to their servers. The next time I tried it took me 15 minutes to get into my ship, again- can't do anything except "Retrying to connect to game, servers are overcapacity"

Once in I've tried joining matches where there's 1 person and as soon as I launch I'm back in a glitched out 'return to ship' animation where my character slides in before the pod holding him does and then I'm back aboard wondering what went wrong.
Trying to even purchase (with in game currency) a new weapon to use took 2 minutes of waiting, the servers are just way over burdened and I don't know how they managed that with a publisher as large as Sony.
The game also employs a very aggressive anti-cheat which I'm a fan of in a way - because I hate cheaters. But root level access to your entire system doesn't sit well with me. Especially given this is strictly a PVE game, the aggressiveness of the anti-cheat doesn't make any sense. Yes fight cheaters, but that level of access to your rig? Uhhhh-.
I see some people say "That's normal" yeah- for a competitive shooter maybe, not a game that the devs themselves said "This game is strictly PVE" so it's weird.

The game also has microtransactions which- think what you will on that- I'm not a fan but what I will comment on that's a massive negative:
The inclusion of premium currency is always a redflag to me because- if you can't be upfront with the customer about the price? You're trying to screw with their perception of value with fake currency you either have too much or too little of. It's a scam and I'll always mark it down as such. There's no reason they can't say $5.50 instead of 250 crystals or whatever- it's a detestable tactic that I'm not going to shy away from noting.

So what I COULD play of the game seems really fun but at the moment I'm not sure I can recommend it since their servers don't seem to be able to keep up.
I think there's a lot of potential here but there's also no denying that it's hard to recommend a game you can't do much with since the servers are not able to handle the load.

So before you drop that clown award: Yes, game seems like it's got potential and I had a LOT of fun with the matches I got into but I can't recommend a game you might not be able to play and it's not the user's fault but instead the publisher because of server issues.

Editing it one more time: Sony retracted their nonsense and we're back on democracy baby. But keep an eye on them for future PSN nonsense. Especially since at the time of writing the game is still not being sold in areas where you can't make a PSN account. So that's extremely suspicious. Editing this review again: Sony decided that after months of the game existing- you'll need a PSN account to play this game that you bought without that requirement. Because they want to give the ability to . . .stop harassment. Sony apparently doesn't know their own game because they already have a kick and block function in Helldivers 2. So, that's a load of nonsense. I don't recommend this game till that is changed because, no company or person should be able to change the requirements like this after selling the game for so bloody long. Anyone who wants to say "Just make a PSN account" I encourage to grow a spine and stop taking corporate BS up their backside. If it was required first? Fine. But months later? No. There's no benefit for the customer, it's likely for data collection and I'm not interested in giving them anything because the game took off better than Sony thought it would. Sony is sinking this game. Also- not every country can make a PSN account, so it's comically anti-consumer for just 'gimmie yer data' Arrow Head didn't do anything wrong here, so don't send hate their way, this mandate was signed SONY. Editing this review because they have, at the time fixed my problems with the game which I will leave listed at the end: The game is very starship troopers inspired, tongue is firmly planted in cheek and it's very amusing. It's all presented super well and it's pulled off really well. What little I have been ABLE to play, the gunplay feels nice, the visuals are nuts, the missions seem like they can be a lot of fun. The game has some solid communication too allowing players to tag points of interest and you can always see the laser sight of the others so you know where they're aiming so friendly fire is a lot harder to do on both ends of getting hit or shooting. Guns sound really nice too, with a good bassy thump even with the basic pistol. The production value is really, really solid and I look forward to being able, to play more. What is very, neat is the resupplies/turrets/orbital strikes don't have very long cool downs. They're all different depending on what you're deploying but I think it's 2 or 3 minutes for an orbital strike which is a lot faster than you'd think but you really need to utilize them along with whatever drops you can because on harder difficulties there's a lot, of bugs. Also bugs that are hard to kill, where you can run into several if you're not careful and they will overrun you in fewer numbers easier than being swarmed by lots of other bugs. There's also the robots which are similar to bugs, they'll get stations that they deploy from that you can destroy, just like bug nests, but the robots get mountable turrets, can request dropships to reinforce them and ya know- have guns (also chain saws for arms and what not) There's a reason you have station that you can deploy from orbit that flings out like 30 landmines- that will only slowdown what you run into. What I like is there's more than one thing to do permission, explore and find outposts with supplies or resources to spend at base to buy new weapons, gear for your ship or cosmetics. Which you have to do at the risk of running out of time and like Lethal Company the area you're in might be experiencing bad weather that can effect stamina or visibility so you have to weigh these options. Below are problems that I and friends experienced during our time early with the game that now seem to be fixed! ---------------------------------------------------------- The issue: The servers are overburdened at the moment, to the point you can't even get to any menu to do anything till you get past till you can access a server. It took 7 minutes for me to be able to get into the hub- not even a level, you can only get a loading screen till you get into your ship/hub so accessing anything such as even graphical/audio settings or the solo training area, means you're left with the inability to do anything till you're able to get access to their servers. The next time I tried it took me 15 minutes to get into my ship, again- can't do anything except "Retrying to connect to game, servers are overcapacity" Once in I've tried joining matches where there's 1 person and as soon as I launch I'm back in a glitched out 'return to ship' animation where my character slides in before the pod holding him does and then I'm back aboard wondering what went wrong. Trying to even purchase (with in game currency) a new weapon to use took 2 minutes of waiting, the servers are just way over burdened and I don't know how they managed that with a publisher as large as Sony. The game also employs a very aggressive anti-cheat which I'm a fan of in a way - because I hate cheaters. But root level access to your entire system doesn't sit well with me. Especially given this is strictly a PVE game, the aggressiveness of the anti-cheat doesn't make any sense. Yes fight cheaters, but that level of access to your rig? Uhhhh-. I see some people say "That's normal" yeah- for a competitive shooter maybe, not a game that the devs themselves said "This game is strictly PVE" so it's weird. The game also has microtransactions which- think what you will on that- I'm not a fan but what I will comment on that's a massive negative: The inclusion of premium currency is always a redflag to me because- if you can't be upfront with the customer about the price? You're trying to screw with their perception of value with fake currency you either have too much or too little of. It's a scam and I'll always mark it down as such. There's no reason they can't say $5.50 instead of 250 crystals or whatever- it's a detestable tactic that I'm not going to shy away from noting. So what I COULD play of the game seems really fun but at the moment I'm not sure I can recommend it since their servers don't seem to be able to keep up. I think there's a lot of potential here but there's also no denying that it's hard to recommend a game you can't do much with since the servers are not able to handle the load. So before you drop that clown award: Yes, game seems like it's got potential and I had a LOT of fun with the matches I got into but I can't recommend a game you might not be able to play and it's not the user's fault but instead the publisher because of server issues.