A Review of Starship Troopers: Extermination’s Early Access Launch

For fans of the Starship Troopers franchise, playing Starship Troopers: Extermination during its early access launch was a no-brainer. The opportunity to team up with friends and take on enormous waves of bugs in an immersive tower defense-style running and gunning game was irresistible. However, for those who are new to the franchise, there may not be much of a reason to join in just yet.

The game is set decades after the events of Paul Veerhoven’s cult classic sci-fi film. Humans are still threatened by the looming arachnid threat and it’s up to you and 15 of your peers to drop directly into the chaos. Although the base-building mechanics add an interesting angle to the gameplay, there isn’t much of a story to speak of besides the basic setup.

One of the biggest disappointments for fans of the franchise is the lack of satirical substance. While the game looks like the 1997 movie, it doesn’t quite capture the same essence. Although the old-school shooter feel is there, there’s no attempt to subvert the “head empty” grind inherent in these sorts of team shooters in the way that the movie did for war films. However, superfans of the series will still enjoy it.

There are two mission types available at the early access launch: Attack and Secure (AAS) and ARC. AAS is a lighter, quicker style of gameplay that’s prone to bugs. Meanwhile, ARC requires much more coordination and is locked behind an account level that takes around an hour and a half of gameplay to achieve.

The base-building systems are easy to use, making constructing walls, bunkers, and gun turrets a breeze, and fabricating pieces with the repair tool is intuitive. The tense escape dashes always feel appropriately desperate and dangerous, although self-respawning is disabled once you reach the extraction point.

There are three classes available in early access: Operator, Hunter, and Bulwark. Healing comes at a premium, so the Operator class is the most valuable, while Hunter and Bulwark have unique features in their jetpack and deployable mobile fortifications, respectively.

In summary, Starship Troopers: Extermination’s early access launch has some room for improvement, but it’s still enjoyable for fans of the series. With its easy-to-use base-building systems, intuitive mechanics, and impressive gameplay stability, it’s worth giving it a try.