Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War!
Review
Squishing bugs
by Alex Moretti
reviewed on PC
"The only good bug is a dead bug"
Released back in 1997, The movie Starship Troopers was a great mix of dumb fun and smart satire. It went on to spawning two unsuccessful live action sequels, as well as multiple animated spin-offs. Though despite being around for decades, there has never been a video game that has truly managed to bring out either the retro vibe or the sheer fun aspect of the original '97 film. That is until now.
I'm happy to report that Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! (I'm not sure why there was a need for the exclamation mark in the title, but there is) is a great time for both fans of the movie and boomer shooters alike.
"I have only one rule. Everybody fights, no one quits."
After completing basic training, you will be sent off on a mission to aid your soldiers in a variety of ways. You can carry two guns at once, and some guns have a secondary function like in the Resistance games. You can also carry a third heavy weapon, however, when you switch from a heavy weapon to another gun at your disposal, you will drop the heavy weapon, this keeps it from being a longstanding part of your arsenal.
There are a good variety of enemy character models, as the developers seem to have truly taken to heart the creatures featured in the source material. Warrior bugs will disperse green ooze when shot, whilst the Tanker Bugs will shoot out a geyser of carrot juice whenever they are wounded. It is small things like this that show the developers have taken note.
To add to the variety there are also bug missions, where you are given a chance to play as an enemy combatant and perform a series of unrelated missions. There is no real narrative structure for these missions, but there doesn't need to be. They do a good enough job of adding replay value to the package.
There are also cool secrets that you can find in each level that when turned on offer fun little challenges, though finding these secrets is a challenge in itself, as you're probably not going to find all of them without a guide, and there is no hint system or indicator that gives you an idea as to where they are.
"You're it, until you're dead or I find someone better"
The hardest difficulty was a bit too hard in my opinion, not just because of how much damage the enemies dealt, but because of the dismal checkpoint system. On the third mission towards the end, I had to fend off waves of bugs until I got to the end segment where I could only progress after defeating two giant bullet sponge enemies. There was no real strategy, I just had to keep spawning in support capsules until one of them happened to give me an air strike offense capsule. Since the offensive capsules are random, and you can only spawn them after you’ve gained enough points, it felt as though at this point I was relying on luck rather than skill. Add to this the fact that the checkpoint system made me restart from the first wave of enemies, meant that I spent multiple times fighting off the same waves just to get to the hard part at the end.
While it lacks a big budget, Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! is a great game in its own right that is both newcomer friendly, and does a great job of respecting the source material and then some. Given that it is a budget title, I'm really surprised at how much detail and effort went into Ultimate Bug War. It could have just been an easy cash grab, but thankfully that is not the case.
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8.2
fun score
Pros
Goofy, gory goodness. A budget title with heart that respects the source material. A good variety of weapons and enemies.
Cons
A lacklustre checkpoint system might make the game feel unfairly difficult in some areas especially on the hardest difficulty. Some secrets are very difficult to find without a guide
