Starship Troopers: Extermination Preview: Accurate and Brilliant Homage

In this preview, we will explore the gameplay mechanics and graphical aspects of Starship Troopers: Extermination by Offworld Industries. This game manages to provide plenty of fun while staying true to the series’ roots brilliantly by combining the two aspects into a streamlined experience.

At first, I did not expect Starship Troopers: Extermination to be this great due to my bitter experience with previous installments of the franchise. However, to my surprise, I find the core mechanics and gameplay of Starship Troopers: Extermination extremely enjoyable and rewarding. Everything in this game, from blasting down hordes of bugs to defending our base while waiting for the scanner to complete its scan, is all I wanted in a Starship Troopers-esque genre.

Starship Troopers: Extermination is available on Steam for $24.99.

Story: Federation Vs Bugs

If you are familiar with the Starship Troopers franchise, then you know that this franchise is about mankind fighting against bugs in an unknown world.  And this is exactly what you’ll find in Starship Troopers: Extermination.

Personally, I’m happy with the developers’ choice to stay true to the original rather than veering off and trying to be new and failing in doing so. The story expositions are minimal, but effective since they pop up during each mission’s briefing. This allows us to have an experience that is in line with the main franchise without derailing us from the main attraction of Starship Troopers: Extermination, which is its gameplay.

Federal Network.

Gameplay: The War Effort Needs You!

Starship Troopers: Extermination offers plenty of game modes and progression systems even during the Early-Access stage. For starters, there are 3 Main Classes that players can choose from, ranging from the Hunter Class, the Bastion Class, and the Operator Class. These 3 act as the assault, defender, and support operators respectively.

Trooper Classes

As mentioned earlier, Starship Troopers: Extermination offers 3 different classes with unique abilities that players can choose from. If you like to go guns blazing and traverse the terrains with ease, then you should pick the Hunter Class, as they have Jump Jet and High-Intensity Speed Training abilities that allow you to quickly climb up hard-to-reach areas such as a cliff or a building’s rooftop. 

If you prefer to defend your ground while mowing down all the bugs coming your way, then you should go for the Bastion Class. This tough Class comes with Heavy Armor and Siege Mode abilities, where you can erect a mobile defensive position to hold down that area against the incoming bugs.

And lastly, if you prefer to maintain your fellow troopers’ health, then you can choose the Operator Class. This archetype has two abilities that can help sustain the battlefield, Canister Slot and Medical UAV.  Players can pick up two objective canisters at once (as opposed to one per soldier) and this Class can also revive the injured troopers, enabling them to continue the fight against the bugs.

Mission Types

Each mission in Starship Troopers: Extermination pits 16 players that can form up to 5 Strike Teams with different callsigns against two game modes, Assault & Secure (AAS) and ARC Slam (available after players reach Rank 5 in their Trooper’s Career).

Although the current selection is limited, Offworld Industries promises to add more game modes throughout the Starship Troopers: Extermination‘s development.

Map Screen – Patrol Objective.

Graphics and Sound: Starship Troopers’ Finest Iteration

Now, let’s move on to the technical side of Starship Troopers: Extermination. And oh boy, there are many things the developers have successfully done. For starters, the graphics in this game are great and vibrant, particularly the bugs. Meanwhile, the audio is also brilliant, managing to complement every frame of the gameplay.

I tried many graphical settings within Starship Troopers: Extermination to see if there are substantial differences between them, and I have to say, even the Low Graphics setting still captures some details on the game’s environments. Furthermore, the performance is also passable as I only encountered minor performance issues such as FPS drops during the bug horde attacks.

Moving on to the audio section, although there are no pieces of music from the original movies, Starship Troopers: Extermination offers brand new soundtracks that pay homage to those scores, creating a fitting atmosphere during our games. 

However, the server options within the game are still limited to European or US-based servers, and there are still no Asian-based servers which I hope they will include in the future. Overall, besides the minor performance issues and the limited server options, Starship Troopers: Extermination is incredibly solid in all departments and it’s a game where you can truly have fun blasting off the bugs that try to hinder your progress. Remember: The only good bug is a dead bug!

Starship Troopers: Extermination is previewed on PC with a review code provided by Evolve PR.