Starship Troopers: Extermination has been released on Steam in Early Access, which will please fans of the 90s cult movie Starship Troopers. This is an exciting co-op first-person shooter developed by Offworld Industries, known for its successful Squad project.
Players will take on the role of an elite commando from the Deep Space Vanguard squad to fight alongside other soldiers against an invasion of terrifying space arachnids across diverse and expansive maps. In addition, in some missions, players will have to build to repel enemy attacks on key points. Interaction and cooperation between players are essential factors, as the threat from giant insects will grow with each new mission.
The game’s heroes are the vanguard fighters who must complete tasks, extract resources, build and protect the base, and then run together to the extraction point. In total, 16 people participated in the match – 4 groups of 4 players (12 were originally planned).
However, not everything is so good – there are warning signs. Even in positive reviews, players sometimes note that the shooter is now “raw and monotonous.” The shooting is described as arcade-like and “like nothing at all”. Nevertheless, Starship Troopers Extermination received about 90% positive reviews, and the peak online is more than 16 thousand players. The novel entered the top 100 best games of 2023 according to SteamDB.
Story
Starship Troopers: Extermination is a pure team PvE shooter, and there is no plot in the truest sense of the word, one phrase comes to mind that can describe the entire gameplay of “good bug – dead bug”. It remains to be seen whether the game will eventually get a campaign mode or a story mode. Offworld Industries hasn’t said anything directly about this yet.
Although the missions are somewhat versatile, they are not just run and shoot. You really need to coordinate with your squad and the whole team in order to complete missions and ensure survival. And the moments during the mass attack of bugs are very reminiscent of scenes from films filled with action, and sometimes you just look in all directions and you understand – “yep, we are dead.”
Gameplay
I’ve always believed that PvE shooters have to go through a complex balancing process. Unlike competitive shooters, they can get boring over time if there isn’t enough variety. It is also generally recognized that the challenges posed by human adversaries are much more significant. As for the arachnids in Starship Troopers: Extermination, they are not weak sheep, but if you get caught, expect problems.
The game has a choice of mission difficulty. And on the minimum, difficulty and survival will not be a problem. After all, the game takes an interesting approach to the squad aspect, with five separate squads taking part in each round. There are four people in each squad; all players must communicate and plan for the execution of tasks for the successful completion of the mission because if you do not collect enough resources to build the base, you will lose the final battle and will not be able to get off the planet. Unfortunately, all missions are similar – you complete tasks, which lead to the final task of defending the base, and after that, you need to survive in order to get to the evacuation. Interestingly, the implementation of the building mechanics looks pretty nice. Carefully built defenses can ensure that you and your squad return unharmed.
At the moment, there are three classes of soldiers in the game – attack aircraft, tank, and support. By playing all of them, the key differences will become more apparent as you level them up. Initially, things like equipment and weapons used are more or less similar and simple. You can access more unlocks as you level up along the progress path.
Have you already imagined how you will soar over the hordes of bugs on a jetpack, shooting them from an unattainable height, like a sky Valkyrie? Forget: the charge of the jetpack is barely enough for the second flight, so much so that it can only be saved from one or two blows of bugs by simply rising into the air. The Heavy can increase Defense and Accuracy once every half a minute while standing still. Reminds default skills from some MMO – pressed cooldown, shot, nothing special. Only a stand-out support class is able to instantly raise teammates and heal them with a drone – not that it’s insanely fun, but at least it can be useful. At moments when a ban on instant respawns is introduced in the game.
The arsenal of all three fighters coincides by more than 90%. Two pistols and two rifles are available to everyone, they just open at different levels of pumping. Only the machine gunner (oddly enough, an assault rifle) and the medic (the only grenade launcher in the game) have unique barrels. At the same time, the default weapons are replaced at the first opportunity with imba rocket launchers scattered around the map. Perks are generally the same for everyone and extremely dull: passive buffs like reducing the cooldown after throwing a grenade or increasing the supply of ammo.
Oh yes, the very process of gaining experience is also a pattern of imbalance. So, let’s say you decide to play base-building mode for a support squad: that’s why it has two slots in its inventory in which you can carry an increased amount of resources. And so you drag containers with materials to the base in order to provide the front with everything necessary for building and repelling waves of enemies … How much experience will you get for your efforts? Zero. Because only inflicted and healed damage goes into the balance of pumping and completing side quests. It was necessary to shoot the Zhukov, but not to think about the economy!
Performance, music and bugs
I haven’t encountered any major bugs while playing Starship Troopers: Extermination. Yes, there are times when the gameplay feels awkward, especially when bugs or our team members are scattered across the floor of the map. There are of course problems with synchronization and ping, but this is to be expected.
Considering that Starship Troopers: Extermination is a co-op PvE shooter, gunfights are a joy. This is despite the simple nature of the main weapon that you will have access to initially. Using an advanced weapon after unlocking it is much more fun.
Offworld Industries also did a great job with the sounds and music in the game. It brought back my sweet memories of watching the movie in my youth. The choice of a retro theme certainly fits well with what the developers wanted to achieve.
Final
Even though Starship Troopers: Extermination is in Early Access, it works well. This provides the same level of carnage that we have seen in popular films. There is a significant difference between classes, and individual development paths complement the overall goal of the game.
However, Offworld Industries still has a lot of work to do. More regions need to be supported first, including Asia. Even though I’m a PvE shooter, I could easily spot any issues in 10 hours of play and it’s not a very pleasant experience.
More game modes are also needed to keep players interested. I’ll be happy to see the Offworld Industries roadmap for the fans. Perhaps Starship Troopers: Extermination will become a cult hit or another promising launch that will quickly lose its relevance.
Compared to other similar games. Do you want to save the galaxy from giant bugs with your friends? Play Earth Defense Force 5. Need an action game with the same giant insects but more tactical and resource gathering? There is Deep Rock Galactic. At this stage, each of these games is much deeper than Starship Troopers: Extermination. What does she have to offer in return, other than references to a great movie and a lobby for 16 people? So far, nothing. The weapons are not much different from each other, the modes at this stage are the same, but the fact that the classes are almost the same in terms of improvements.
This game review was completed thanks to a code provided by PR.
