Starship Troopers
- August 10, 2005 00:00 AM PST
The Bugs are back in this frenetic, visceral sequel set five years after the 1997 feature film.
Starship Troopers, set in the same world as the 1997 film, puts you in the boots of an elite Marauder trooper in an army at war with giant alien insects. With cutscenes taken directly from the film, the game preserves the film's tongue-in-cheek take on wartime propaganda that ultimately defined the film for its fans, as well as its detractors. Your opinion of the film is very likely to carry over to the game.Of course, the film's most dramatic scenes showed our human heroes defending against endless waves of vicious insectoids, and that kinetic thrill is well represented here. One particularly impressive level has you protecting a tech trooper as he retrieves battery packs and revives electric gates that keep the Bugs at bay. You'll escort him through a dank tunnel patrolled by hidden snipers before going toe-to-toe with dozens of invaders as you provide cover while he restores power. Layer, you even take the helm of a stationary machine gun to mow down swarms of airborne, fire-breathing Bugs. This all occurs within the span of a few minutes in one level.
Starship Troopers' visceral, pulse-pounding action looks promising, but some overly-simplistic level design, slightly dated graphics, and an odd physics model threaten to keep the game from the PC shooter elites. We'll see if the developers manage to pull it together this September.
