Starship Troopers: Extermination – Spotlight

Based on the 1997 film of the same name, Starship Troopers: Extermination is a cooperative first-person shooter in which up to 16 players work together to eradicate an alien invasion. The game’s Early Access phase is currently live on Steam for Windows PC, granting players access to one of the game modes and a selection of the available classes. Early Access players will have access to enough content to dive into a number of games with friends, despite the fact that much of the game will alter over time when new material is added, such as additional game variants. Is it enjoyable, nevertheless, to band together with total strangers in order to fend off swarms of deadly insects? It might be for a little while, but eventually the novelty will wear off.

There are currently two playable game modes in the Early Access version of the game: ARC Slam and Assault & Secure. The former is locked until the player has reached Trooper Rank Level 5, which can be accomplished by grinding the latter. As a squad, you’ll be dropped onto a planet and tasked with completing missions while dodging waves of bugs that will appear at random. While insects emerge from the earth, you must secure areas, gather supplies, and construct defences at strategic points. Fun times can be had by teams of up to 16 players, if they are capable of cooperating to achieve their goals.

You get to pick your squad and soldier class before each match. This is how your mission-specific abilities and weapon loadout are determined. Although you may find additional weapons in crates, you should plan on making do with what you carry. Hunter, Operator, and Bastion are the three playable classes, and they specialise in offence, support, and defence, respectively. Each character’s special ability and perk set works in tandem with the rest of the team, whether it’s providing support in the form of health and ammunition or erecting a defensive barrier. Some classes are better suited than others depending on your preferred playstyle. To be successful on a mission, a team needs everyone to play their assigned duty.

You command your soldier in the same manner as in other PC first-person shooters. The controls for your actions and abilities are conveniently placed on the keyboard, and the mouse is used for aiming and shooting. The controls, thankfully, are remappable as needed and compatible with controllers. Depending on your character’s class, moving around on the ground may feel slow. Hunters can sprint more quickly and use their jetpacks to get higher, whereas Bastions move more slowly but have more powerful weapons. Operators can move between two points, and in a pinch they can lay down health packs and ammunition. As a result, you can weigh the benefits and drawbacks of various strategies with each operation you undertake. As you advance in Trooper rank and gain access to new gear and bonuses, the game becomes progressively more engaging. More features become accessible as your level rises.

However, these insects are no pushovers. There are five different kinds of bugs that might appear on the map and overwhelm you with their numbers. Bugs can range from tiny crawlers to dangerous giants, and being alone and away from the squad is a surefire way to get destroyed. From a safe distance, some bugs will fire plasma at their target, while others will unleash enormous explosions that will decimate a large region. In addition to such issues, you and your team must contend with swarms of insects that rush you and lash out with their enormous pincers. Most insects may be dispatched with a moderate amount of gunfire, however others will require considerably more force. Most powerful foes can be defeated by banding together with a small group of pals and firing at a single target until reinforcements arrive.

When adversaries are continuously popping up to harass you during missions, things may get very chaotic. It can be more challenging when your goals involve transporting minerals from one location to another. The key to staying on the move is communicating with your squad so that some can collect resources while others defend. When the aim requires you to construct and defend a specific location, the game can become extremely hectic. You can use a construction tool to create defensive structures and obstacles, as well as to set up platforms from which to shoot at intruders below.

But when a huge swarm attacks your base, everything can get pushed together, making it hard to see what’s going on in the area. Insects will sprint up to you, and there will be regular explosions that leave a thick cloud of smoke that makes it difficult to see. When you’re trying to react quickly to unexpected events, like a bug invasion or a change in the mission’s goals, it’s possible that something in the way of the camera will get in the way.

Damage dealt by bugs and hit detection are two areas that need the most work in Starship Troopers: Extermination. Some insect attacks won’t deal much damage unless a group tries to overtake you, while in other cases the damage seems to escalate exponentially. As the crew advances through the mission and completes tasks, the infestation level rises, and more bugs appear on the map at once. However, it is not entirely clear in-game whether or not this also affects the severity of assaults from bugs. The same bug species will charge you and slash you, but it will only hurt so much. Sometimes getting bit by the same insect won’t even hurt, but other times it will kill you instantly. The screen may not shake or register a strike from some bugs, but they will still drain your health. It’s possible that this is a glitch or a technical issue, but it happens frequently when you’re hit from behind or off to the side.

There’s potential for Starship Troopers: Extermination to be a great game, but it’ll need patches to hit just the right balance. The cooperative missions are exciting and hard, especially when a large group of players must work together to defeat increasingly difficult bugs. Over time, we hope to see new trooper customization possibilities, as well as perhaps new class types that can shake up the typical mission structure and give players more freedom to experiment. Starship Troopers: Extermination is available now on Early Access for PC, however there are currently no plans to release it on consoles.