Helldivers 2‘s Halo ODST Warbond has landed, and it’s… fine? It’s fine. There’s not a whole lot of actual Halo in it aside from a handful of weapons and cosmetics, but it does have the classic MA5C assault rifle. Okay, so it’s a little worse than the standard Liberator assault rifle you start out with, and it’s certainly no Adjudicator (which, with all the recoil problems I have, is probably a good thing). But look, it’s just cool okay?
The Halo Warbond has three pages, consisting of weapons and several cosmetics for your daring defender of democracy and their various bits and pieces. The first two pages are a bit underwhelming. Yeah, a Halo-themed drop pod is neat, but you see it for maybe five seconds before it delivers your next sacrificial freedom lamb and vanishes — barely enough time to even notice the details.
The Warbond’s weapon selection goes heavy on Arrowhead’s military realism, with an assault rifle, handgun, SMG, and shotgun, all of which blend in with the game’s standard weapons. These aren’t much different from the gear you start out with — and the MS7 SMG is actually a little worse — so if you’re hoping for function more than form, there’s not a lot here except the SOCOM pistol and shotgun on page three. It wouldn’t have been a huge stretch to include the Needler or even a plasma rifle, not when Arrowhead also has fancy sci-fi strategems like the electric-blast bazooka Epoch, so sticking with the plain guns seems like a missed opportunity to really make this feel properly Halo-like.
It turns out form was enough for me, though, at least where the MA5C assault rifle is concerned. It sounds and feels punchy, and even though its recoil level is slightly worse when shooting from the hip, it handles perfectly when aiming. I never use first-person mode Helldivers 2, since it’s so easy to get overwhelmed by a mob of enemies behind you or off to the side. The ammo display and those MA5C sights were just too temptingly Halo to ignore, though, so I toggled first-person mode on and haven’t shut it off since. Is it helpful? No! I die way more than usual this way and have no clue what’s next to me half the time. But it’s a hell of a lot of fun anyway.
I don’t think the Helldivers 2 Halo Warbond is worth the extra 500 super credits compared to the standard premium Warbond, not when it has no themed throwables or melee weapons and no additional super credits to redeem in return. On the other hand, I’m having a blast with the MA5C rifle and playing Helldivers 2 in a way I never otherwise do. It’s not the Halo fantasy it could’ve been, but sometimes, a little dress-up and a nostalgic space gun are all you need.
