Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War!

Yeah, I would recommend this game. But it is a so-so recommendation; the 93% positive it currently sits in is way, way too optimistic. To start, Ultimate Bug War does a lot of things REALLY well. Shooting feels great, weapons have a punch and impact (and there's a solid selection, too), and just shredding chunks off of bugs is awesome. Sound effects are fantastic, too. Visuals are particularly lovely, the style impeccable. All in all, presentation & gameplay are top-notch and hard carry the rest of the game. Short, in-between videos are lovingly schlocky, and I'm especially happy to see Casper Van Dien as Rico again. However, there are also quite a few downsides; the entire structure of the game feels unfinished, more of a proof of concept, rather than an actual game; the free roam on large, open maps is fine, but also clearly done in a way that requires the least dev time. This is further exacerbated by the fact that the game is [b]EXTREMELY[/b] (and I can't underscore this enough) short - I have finished it in under 5 hours, and that's all the content there is, including copious wandering around, checking stuff up (and few deaths on the third highest difficulty). This alone sours the experience quite a lot. The structure of the missions is suffering from the same problem, too; there's virtually no story whatsoever, and missions are stitched together more or less randomly (especially two missions on Earth). One of them also shows how much better it could have been if devs had gone with more linear, scripted missions. This gives me a vibe of a game that was reworked a couple of times, devs not really sure of what to do with it. It would be nice to see a proper campaign for the Ultimate Bug War in the future - the open maps are alright, but as it currently stands, it's a very short one-and-done kind of deal.

[h1]Frantic, fast and fun…but Unfinished[/h1] [b]This review contains no story spoilers[/b] Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War is the latest low-res FPS from Auroch Digital, the makers of the enormously successful Warhammer 40k: Boltgunner. Starship Troopers sees you gun through eight simulated missions as a trooper and five as a Bug as an "in-universe" game used to indoctrinate the civilian populations and drum up support for the bug war. Graphics are quite low-fi but still good; they've taken the lessons from developing Boltgunner and applied them well. The bugs look good, the weapons and structures are all very well done, considering the pixel nature of the art. Where it falls down is the environment design; the open worlds are empty and featureless, and while that's the point for a barren bug planet, previous games in this series have managed to create worlds that weren't so boring. The sound effects and music serve the action perfectly. The weapons all have a satisfying report and are mostly distinct from one another. Much like the graphics, they've gone for a pared-down approach to create an instant, visceral experience. The presentation of the cutscenes is gloriously over the top and matches the ones from the movie to a tee. In terms of storyline, the writers have really hamstrung themselves right out of the gate by phrasing the game as a combat simulator, which kills off a vast amount of the immersion. As far as the plot goes, you are experiencing the war through the eyes of Major Samantha Dietz, who tracks down the dreaded Assassin bug across the war after it ambushed her squad and cuts her friends into bite-sized chunks. This vendetta sees her go from the disaster of Planet K to the beaches of Zegema, blasting anything with more than two legs along the way. The bug missions serve as a "what if" scenario to the human missions, showing what would occur should the bugs win the day. Much like with Boltgunner, the main selling point of the game is the fast-paced blasting action, and Ultimate Bug War does not disappoint. Running around the levels, splattering all manner of insectoid vermin with a plethora of weaponry sounds like enormous fun, and it is….Until it isn't. The main issue with Ultimate Bug War is that, while there is a lot of fun to be had here, what you won't find is a lot of variety. The missions never vary in structure, bar one, and, outside of bosses, you'll have encountered every enemy variant by the fourth mission. This gives the whole game a bland vibe, as if the devs discovered one thing that worked and just copy/pasted it for the rest of the game. The AI, both friend and foe, also leaves a bland taste. Your own troopers are almost hatefully stupid, and I've no idea how the Terran Command think they're going to win an intergalactic war with soldiers who have all the self-preservation instincts of a power slap contestant. Many times, I would look to these absolute puddings for backup, only for them to stand idly by, spouting one of their few token one-liners as their squadmates were blended into a fine paste. This lack of any kind of support makes a lot of the game unworkable, as the instant you hop onto a turret for a wave-defence section, you'll be immediately cut to shreds as your backup ambles around mindlessly like rich kids at Fyre Fest. The bug AI needs quite a lot of work, too, as you seem to be wearing their favourite perfume, and they'll all just beeline straight for you in almost every circumstance. Often, the only thing keeping your squadmates alive is the fact that all of the enemies seem to have a personal beef with you and will just ignore any and all other dangers just to rend you limb from limb. While on the lower difficulty levels, this doesn't affect the gameplay much, on the higher ones, where it could take up to half a standard mag to drop just one bug, it leads to you running for your life in almost every encounter. I spoke of the weapons earlier, and I want to go back to them now. Despite there being close to 30 , many of them don't seem to have a lot of thought or balancing put into them. Your standard rifle is decent enough, and gets an upgrade later on to make it more effective, but outside of a few others, you'll quickly realise that lots of them are pretty useless, especially on the higher difficulty levels. There's a shotgun that works well but only holds six rounds, a flamethrower that the bugs will just walk through and mince you, none of the scoped weapons make any sense as you'll never need to take an enemy out from distance, and their smaller mags mean you run out of ammo quicker, and the nukes are set piece weapons more than anything. The combat does have many good aspects, though killing and progress increase your Fed score, which enables you to call for a supply drop with health and some good weapons. The special weapons that enable you to call in air-strikes or white phosphorus attacks are, again, mostly useless, but they’re fun to use, and some of them will really help you out in a pinch. The marauder is a particular disappointment. In every previous iteration in this series, they're presented as dual-cannon-wielding death engines. Here, they’re a slow-firing, useless chainsaw-wielding taxi whose sole use is to get you across the map faster. I suppose if there's one word I could use to sum up Ultimate Bug War, it's Unfinished. Almost every aspect of the game has a real "This needed a few more weeks" feel to it. From the sparse level design to the mission structure to the AI. I haven't even really mentioned the bug levels, as they seem the most unfinished of all. Each one lasts barely 15 minutes on the hardest level, and I'm ♥♥♥♥♥ at games. But it's better to look at what's here than what isn't, and what is here is really good fun.

Finally, a Starship Troopers game that captures the feel in a way that only a video game could and should. Many have tried, but this one is the best so far in my opinion. I'm doing my part!