The eternal enemy of the human race is once again back to torment us. This time in the style of a chaotic retro shooter with a ton of gore—human and insect alike! Welcome to the demo of Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! My impression after playing the demo is: this will not be known for its story, except that the bugs need a good stomping.
Zegema Beach
It starts with you being dropped in to save the legendary Zegema Beach (from the Starship Troopers movie), and I have to say, I understand why Rico’s father wanted him to go, because this was truly a beach paradise once. So, beyond unloading about one million bullets into foul smelling bugs, this location was fun to witness considering the famed line from the movie (“You said you wanted to see the Galaxy, how about a trip to the outer rings, Zegema Beach, huh?”).
Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! is essentially a shooter of old, with a mix of 2D sprites and 3D models, where everything dies in an explosion with blood spurting all over the screen. On that note, the movement, and gameplay feel the part, so if you expect something deeper, like a tactical shooter, you are out of luck. It’s more of a run-around-in-circles-to-avoid-getting-melted-by-acid while hearing your 2D-sprite buddies scream out in pain since they are not as agile. The chaos is fun, though, and I didn’t think I would enjoy it that much—but I found it charming and above all entertaining. It certainly captured the mayhem from fighting the bugs from the movies.
If you have played the old 2D shooter NAM from back in the day, it’s very similar in style of having friendlies and enemies fighting each other in the background, while you try to finish the objectives. Besides using the Morita rifle, you will also come across shotguns, plasma weapons, turrets, and mini-mechs, which are fun to climb inside and use. There are also special items/events to call in, like getting to play a door gunner of a dropship for a couple of minutes.
On a final note, I just want to say that it’s an interesting type of game for a single-player audience, since the setting relies on you doing combat with others. But as it is, it worked fine, the AI did a good job making it feel alive. I’m not sure if the gameplay will hold up for the full release, but even so, I recommend giving the demo a go, especially if you like the franchise, and of course Casper Van Dien!
Thanks for reading.
– Thomas
Tom's Gaming Vault 