Bugs sir - millions of them. They just keep coming!
Now to those who never heard of Starship Troopers, where have you been? Planet P?
Anyway, to those who know Starship Troopers will know one thing for sure; there are bugs, millions of them! And that's what the game is all about. And what comes with millions of bugs, millions of dead bugs; and only a good bug is a dead bug right? And the new 'swarm' engine does that quite well with minimal declining in the frame rate. Ironically enough it's not the swarm engine that drops the frame rate, it's the actual size of some of the maps and some are h-u-g-e. If you have played any of the Serious Sam games you know what I mean.
When I first set eyes on the movie I was asking myself the age-old question...what's with the re-load? There were none. Out of ammo - yes but only in a few occasions however no reloads. However when playing the game it actually answered my question. Your first weapon, the Morita Mark 4 has unlimited ammo however does has the tendency to overheat and your second weapon the Morita Mark 2 can hold a maximum clip of 800. During the course of the game you have the opportunity to collect more weapons that makes G.W. Bush proud. Other weapons include the rocket launcher, shotgun, sniper rifle and the (in) famous nuke to name a few.
The bugs arrive in a variety of flavours which typically resembles what the military uses to employ for mass combat. Some examples are the warrior bug: foot soldiers; the cliffmites: snipers; the chariots: scouts and the tankers: tanks.
The missions even though it takes place five years later from the first movie, most of the missions tend to replicate both movies. On the surface this may be a little lazy on behalf of the developers however how can you not resist in playing say the Outpost level. In saying that, there are many newer missions but once thing is for certain; killing stacks of bugs; yum yum yum.
Graphically it's a mixed bag. The bugs look and feel good. Again referencing back to the movie I loved the part when the troopers fire on the bugs, the bugs legs will fly off and eventually will stagger and die. In the game this replicates very well. You fire on the bugs, the bugs legs will dislodge, stagger and then fall; simply brilliant! The overall landscape appears decent however at times it looks like the land has been carved straight out of clay, especially the mountains. The soldiers on the other hand are little off-putting. However I really don't care about looking at the soldiers - I'm here to kill bugs...zillions of them!
The soundtrack to the game is great. It plays well and suited admirably for the situation; especially when the track 'Klendathu Drop' is playing in the background. The sound for the weapons, explosions, bugs roaring and everything else is clear but nothing to write home about. Acting wise is a little flat as there was no real feeling in their voices and even Casper Van Dien's voice sounded like a flat tyre. The female 'flight jockey' voice on the other hand is presented well.
The game does have that typical difficultly levels of low, medium and high settings and does support campaign, multiplayer and coop modes. The campaign mode is quite lengthy and can be exhausting because of the mass onslaught of bugs. I personally like spraying the enemies down however at times I was glad when the game slowed down when it did. It actually gets your senses back into order waiting for the next big mass assault. During the campaign mode you will have the opportunity to unlock the bonus materials for your viewing pleasure. Unfortunately when I jumped in the multiplayer option there is nothing more than a whisk of sand shifting.
There are some really bad elements in this game. The most noticeable are the cut scenes. When a new mission is being rolled out, the game will reel parts of a poorly coded film 'digitalised' from the actual two movies. Seriously the film is heavily pixilated. It would be much better if they invented their own cut scenes using their own game engine.
Being a PC game the developers should make it more interactive. The movie famous saying 'Would you like to know more?' is only shown as a poorly digitalised clip straight out of the movie, yet again. Shame on them. It would be a lot better if there was a page solely devoted to this when you progress through the missions and use this option to learn more about bugs, weapons and whatever else.
And there are bugs. And I'm not talking about those killing machines either. At times you can hide behind a wall and suddenly you will be slashed by a bug as it attacks you through the wall. Again this can happen if you are standing above them. They simply materialise through the floor and swipe at you. A friend of mine provided a good explanation to this miracle feat. They have sharp teeth. This however did not deter me of not playing the game. Actually it made it better and more humorous as it's like the bugs are saying 'You can run but you cannot hide!'
However there is one thing I really missed in this game that the movie and the novel portrayed very well. It's about the politics. In the movies and books the story was based on the idea of fascism and pro-military. These and the ideas of citizenship, pro-democracy and acts of meritocracy didn't appear at all in the game. The game however is based on combat. Not that is a bad thing however I was hoping better cut-scenes which delves in these issues.
Overall, looking on one side of the coin, the game is seriously fun and aggressive. The swarm engine served its purpose very well as the constant wave of enemies attacking you will put the hardiest FPS fan to their knees. As there are bugs in the game and the game can be more interactive will of course will boost the game play however it's about different strokes for different folks. If you like the in-your-face action and/or like the movies don't miss this game otherwise you're not a true FPS fan.