Starship Troopers: Extermination (First Impressions)

Developer: Offworld Industries

Publisher: Offworld Industries

Released: May 17th, 2023

Price: $25 USD

The Starship Troopers films are regarded as cult classics. It's full of violence and action, which many people are drawn to because of their nostalgia for the 1990s. Because the game is still in very basic Early Access, you don't need to know anything about the movies to understand it. It's essentially load & play.

Many of the reviews for this game are more or less memes. People yelling movie phrases and being generally amusing. Currently, the community is what drives this game forward, and in these first few hours of gameplay, I was sold on it.

Presentation

Acceptable

The game crashes occasionally when opening up the game, and it can take some time to load into a mission, but aside from a few hiccups here and there, I haven't had many complaints with the overall gameplay, music, or graphics.

First Gameplay

A bit confusing

However, this is because I didn't bother trying the tutorial before embarking on a mission. So I had no idea how to build, repair, resupply, or anything else about the game until I spent a few hours learning for myself along with some buddies.

The Game

You currently can only play this game with an online connection with friends in a 16-person lobby; if you don't have buddies, you'll be able to pick up a mix of random players queuing up alone or with their friends so don't worry too much.

You'll meet a wide range of people. Some are wacky and loud, while others are silent. Occasionally, you may come across the unsavory sort, as seen in games like CS:GO. So far, it appears to be a very kind and great community.

Classes

There are as of right now three playable classes in the game, each offering different tools on the field, from Mobility, Defense and Revives.

You can have a whole squad of one kind if you really want to, but being helpful, aggressive, and defensive is essential if you want to survive the higher levels, which are ridiculous with how much the hoards of bugs become stronger.

I've been loving the Hunter because he's a lot more mobile than the others. This enables him to escape a bad situation and seek higher ground while also having a better attacking arsenal while the others offer more support overall.

Concerns

A mixed bag

You must understand that this game is in Early Access, and it shows a lot of potential for the first time in a long time. This is not something I say lightly.

The game is fantastic in every way except for its janky gameplay and bugs and glitches, which can range from amusing to irritating, such as the inability to see anything due to everyone's flashlights being turned on automatically during the night time version of the same map, because there is currently only one map.

You can see, just so long as you're not all stacked around each other flashing your lights in the same direction, which turns the game into a saturated mess.

If you can put up with the inconveniences until the Devs change things, then the game may or will continue to evolve over time, into something awesome.

This is one of few situations where I am willing to give the Devs a pass. The game works well enough to get you from mission to mission despite the graphic flaws, crashes, and extremely blinding moments it's so far a great game.

Lifespan

The Devs stated that Mods, Community Servers, and a Server Browser will not be supported. This makes me think that if there are no dedicated servers to pick from that allow region locks. The game will match you up with random individuals so you can't just connect with others who speak your language it's mostly mixed.

This leads me to believe that the game may only have a few months to "live" before people depart to pursue other interests, especially given that there is now only one objective on the same area in a new place each time.

Conclusion

The most fun I have had in ages

From the bloodcurdling screams of dread from fellow marines through voice coms, to the frenetic and merciless hoards of bugs coming at you from every direction while you struggle to fend them off, to the tension music that begins atop the waves, everything about this game currently feels exciting and fun.

I had my misgivings about this game because most movie-to-video-game adaptations are quite terrible and weak. The only thing missing here is some polish and a willingness for this game to have a bright future.

If nothing else, the community will keep the game alive, especially if you have pals who like a challenging experience, such as surviving hoards of creatures in the confines of a bunker in the center of the earth in GTFO.

My initial thoughts on this game come to a close with the caveat that, while others may disagree, that is what makes gamers unique. You don't have to share their interests or agree with them and are welcome to critic me on mine.

If you want to catch me on one of my streams or locate me on social media, you may do so at the following locations, I'm always playing something new.

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- Pawkt