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2K View2023-05-20

Starship Troopers: Extermination

9.6

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Starship Troopers: Extermination (Reviewed)

Developer: Offworld Industries

Publisher: Offworld Industries

Released: May 17th, 2023

Price: $25 USD

Starship Troopers: Extermination is a Cooperative mission-based online Early Access game with 3 playable classes to choose from. Build defenses, Survive infestations in an all out large scale war against multiple different bug types.

Your main purpose is to arrive on the planet, accomplish objectives, protect and eliminate insect hordes, and safely withdraw with as many of your fellow marines as possible. It's fast-paced, enjoyable, and contains all of the elements required for a great game to thrive in the future, if polish is applied generously.

It's a much better experience if you play with friends, as random lobbies can differ depending on who you get paired up with overall at the end of the day.

Currently there really isn't a lot the game has to offer, due to the lack of game modes and things being restricted behind levels and limited progression.

Issues

Downtime

Once you've gotten used to how the game works, you'll notice large downtimes where there's nothing to do but wait, and to make matters worse, there's nothing to do while you wait, sometimes for upward to 300 seconds while a pump cools down. Especially if you're trying to complete a run of ARC, which is currently the (1) or (2) modes to choose unlocked when you reach level 5.

The goal is to construct refineries somewhere on the map while doing side events; sometimes these places are literally on the other side of the planet, while other times they are only around the corner from your base of operations.

These refiners pump Gas and Oil into containers, which you must then race across the map to return to your base which if you are not playing the operator with the required perk, you'll be moving at a snails pace. These containers will build up defenses in order to eventually ward off the hoard and escape to safety.

The difficulty is that this varies from game to game, but without coordination, you won't be able to perform any of this, especially on the higher levels, where you need at least three individuals making a run from oil refinery to base together.

Glitches

The longer you play, the more flaws you'll find that shouldn't be in the game. They have no effect on your overall performance and do not break the game but they are plentiful, from falling out of the ship to floating guns and utilities.

There is one major issue: you should be cautious when modifying your settings while in a game. If you change anything, there's a good risk the game may crash, wiping off whatever progress you might have made in that run for an unlockable.

Team Killing

While it's not precisely a bad. Friendly fire is enabled for your weapons, you can accidentally or purposely kill your comrades. But not for your grenades and such, which seems odd to have it on some things and then not on others.

I was playing with a few friends, while being annoyed because they would shoot at me and down me while I was attempting to complete an objective.

Progression

It's a little slow, and requires a level 5 prerequisite before you can access the second game mode. So you're forced to play AAS, which is land, complete, build, defend, and extract. After the first four hours, it becomes tedious. One easy way to rack up some levels easily is to head on over to Veteran Mode as something like the Bastion and set up a barricade to just farm bugs or hunt high priority targets. Once you make it off the planet you'll rake in thousands of EXP.

Class Swapping

I'm not sure if this is just an ongoing issue, but you should work out your team composition and be outspoken about who you will all be playing because once you lock in, you won't be able to switch classes. So, if you all opted to be Hunters and no one is running Operator, you'll have a difficult time returning containers to base and downing a lot because you don't have the perks.

Loadout Resets

Whether you exited the game due to a crash or simply to take a break, all classes except the Operator will have their loadouts reset to default. It's a hassle to have to manually reset them every time you start the game.

Voice

To activate voice for, press (T) when in the lobby. You are not required to hold it. Sometimes the chat may stop working for around 5 minutes after you exit a match, which is confusing so you might go an entire game without voice.

However, while in the game you have (Y) for local, which refers to anyone around you currently and (T) for everyone called party. I think having a little bit of a better distinction between these would be a nice touch as it confused myself and a lot of other players for 8 hours, making it difficult to actually communicate things.

The Future

Community

As mentioned in my initial review of this game, this is something I rarely say because it is almost never the case. The only thing that makes this game truly enjoyable right now is the community more so than the actual gameplay.

The game is the community. You're playing with incredibly enjoyable and passionate people who are outspoken and kind (most of the time) while also having fun with you, rather than berating one another. If the Devs want to have a predictable future in this game, they need grasp this. If you've played games like Killing Floor, it has the potential to be even better with the right guidance.

Most games like this that are released usually have some sort of Seasonal Pass or cash grab for a cosmetics section in order to take as much money from the community as possible, but with this game it's literally all about getting in quickly for a few games and getting out without any additional asking for money.

It's pretty basic and bare bones; you get what you expect. With 15 other players, the gaming is fast and difficult. Enter, exit, win or lose you'll have a blast.

The Insects

5 Unique Types

Throughout your mission, you will come across a variety of bugs, ranging from extremely hazardous to moderate hazards. Most take precedence over others, but never underestimate the lesser priorities, since they might overwhelm you and your squad in a swarm.

Drones – are weak and plentiful, usually not that big of a threat.

Warriors – are up close and personal, so you want to keep your distance, as they can easily take you out in a forward charge. Especially at higher difficulties.

Gunners – are long range & devastating. A high priority while being swarmed, as they will prevent you and your squads from getting to high ground forcing you to keep to the ground which may be overwhelmed with Drones and Warriors.

Plasma Grenadiers – are devastations to your base if a team is not sent out to deal with them. They are huge and difficult to kill on your own without explosives.

They can often be found behind structures or high upon ledges in the distance far from your base lobbing grenades that can take out entire squads.

Tiger Elites – are basically and evolved Warrior that is larger and striped. It can do some serious damage if it is allowed to roam free within your bases defenses.

It's unclear whether there are any plans to include many of the other bugs seen in the movies in the future, but it would be good to have more variety bugs to deal with, increasing the complexity even further.

ARC Gameplay

Much more difficult

Unlike AAS, ARC needs you to use the groups you are a part of to organize proper objective control. You won't get anywhere if you're all rushing around with no communications and protecting.

So make sure you're barking orders using your voice at least 6 defending.

Conclusions

Limited Gameplay

Unless you're capable of playing the same map, same task with the same buddies or 15 absolute strangers, who may run around team killing you and grief to just not playing correctly as a group, the game doesn't give more than 8 hours of gameplay. So you're honestly getting what you pay for, with the possibility that there will be a lot more things available in the future if it doesn't die in a month.

The graphics were adequate, but the music became tedious after a while because it didn't really create tension and terror until you were defending the base from a hoard. The previous hour of gameplay was either quiet or ambient music.

I enjoyed what the game had to offer, even with the numerous troubles I encountered, I saw myself returning for a few more attempts at some of the more tough challenges, while disregarding the drawbacks.

This is one of those games you want to get in on as soon as possible to capture the entire community before it fades out due to burnout.

This concludes my views of this game; while my opinions may be met with criticism, that is what distinguishes gamers; you don't have to like the same things as others, nor do you have to agree with them.

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