Running around in FPS shooting bugs in the face is like peanut butter & jelly. They not only go great together but also put a smile on your face. This is exactly what Starship Troopers: Extermination was able to achieve.
Did you see the 1997 film Starship Troopers? Remember every iconic one liner from your favorite on screen bug slayer? If your answer is no, than great! Because there is no deep story connection to the film what so ever, at least not in this early access version.
Yes, Starship Troopers: Extermination is within the ST “Universe” but let’s be honest, we’re not booting up for a dragged-out story about why we need to kill the Arachnids. What we do need are big loud guns, a couple of friends and plenty of bullets.
Thankfully, Starship Troopers: Extermination checks all the boxes on my short list. You can play alongside 15 other players with the sole cohesive goal to kill every bug in sight, from the big uglies to the ant size crappers, and maybe they were just ants but you know what, I don’t care! There are 3 classes to choose from including:
- Bastion (The Heavy)
- 2 Hunter (Assault trooper)
- 1 Operator (Medic)
Each class comes with its own unique set of perks. I most played as the hunter since they are equipped with a jetpack and carry a lot of ammo. The Operator has this cool drone that can revive downed teammates and I know firsthand since its returned me to the fight numerous times.
The more bugs you kill, the longer the waves you survive the more XP you earn to level up and get new perks, such as level 10 perk “Bloodlust” which regenerates health after every successful melee hit.
Once you clear a wave of bugs, another wave will spawn in greater quantity and include tougher variants to spice things up. While in the process of exterminating, you also need to complete the objective so that you can call for an extraction. The objectives usually consist of you or members of your team heading to another part of the map to obtain some materials and return them to the base. I usually played as the support mowing down all bugs in sight.
Once all of the materials has been gathered, you now have to keep that base up and running as you wait for your extraction team to arrive. This is where it can get absolutely chaotic. Bugs are everywhere, players are down screaming for medics, others are rage quitting because it seems hopeless. You need to have a few members stay back at the base and perform repairs and protect the materials.
To add one final bit of stress, the extraction ship arrives way off in the distance and you now have to run for your lives to the extract while an endless wave of bugs attack by ground and air. Will you fail to extract? Probably, but once you eventually make it to the extraction ship you’ll be handing out virtual high-fives to all that made it after X amount of tries.
I love the premise of the game and had to play it on my Steam Deck since this is exactly the type of game I want to play while laying on the couch. As you can see from my performance screenshots, I was pulling around the range of upper 30s to 40s FPS. Of course, this would flux depending on how many bugs and other players were on screen.
I’m not going to lie and say this is the best way to play Starship Troopers: Extermination, because its not, but it is still a damn fun game to play and is constantly getting updates to boost performance. I have no doubt that with the popularity of this game and with the high player rate that sooner rather than later Starship Troopers will get the Verified check mark (It currently has a gold status on proton DB) and this could be one of the best jump in & play MP games in the palm of your hands.
This preview was written based on an early access preview key of Starship Troopers: Extermination for PC provided by Offworld Industries.
