Starship Troopers

DEVELOPER : Blue Tongue
PUBLISHER : Microprose/Hasbro

 

System Requirements Pentium II 233MHz, 64MB RAM, 3D accelerator card

Recommended Pentium II 400MHz, 128+ MB RAM, TNT2 or better 3D card

Ratings
Code Issues Graphics - 9 Brilliantly rendered bugs killing and being killed by Mobile Infantry troops in really cool looking powered armor. And you get to defend forts that look exactly like the one in the movie. Buy a new 3d card for this one. Sound - 8 Realistic weapon sounds, that are important to game play, (when you hear pistol fire you know someone is about to buy the farm). Creepy bug sounds will give you the willies. I still have not shut off the music after 3 weeks. Interface - 8 Simple but effective interface and camera control. Hot keys for important functions, but can not be remapped. There is a learning curve, because the camera is tied to your squads, but a well-implemented, easy to grasp system.	Play Issues Solo Play - 9 Elaborate single player campaign. Interesting missions with varied objectives, and cool locations. Very challenging, occasionally extremely frustrating, but tons of fun. Would have been a ten it you could save in mission. Replay Value - 5 Only one campaign, but there are quite a few missions, and they are long. There is no editor, so once you finish, your only option is to play again. But there is a lot of value in the campaign. Multiplay - N/A Learning Curve - 6 The first few missions are pretty easy to pick up, but the difficulty increases steadily to keep the challenge up.
Other/Notes Documentation - 4.0 Note to Microprose/Hasbro: Finish the game before you print the manual. The manual gives vague descriptions about the weapons and tech items. The manual provides absolutely no game information whatsoever! You have to go to the readme file to find important info-like how to control the camera. No data whatsoever on all of the really cool weapons and armor. Weak. Pros - Great gameplay, graphics, and fun! Cons - Bugs and more Bugs! Other/Notes - When I began playing, I swore that I would knock off a point for the bugs, a half point for the manual, and a point for not including an in mission save. But after playing, a lot of playing, I feel that I should add at least a point for overall fun. In the end, I am going to leave this one blank. Overall: 8.0 Starship Troopers is a really fun game, great graphics, music, sound, plot and missions, but it is marred by a few ugly flaws. If it were not for these problems, this would have been an Editor's Choice. But games shouldn't crash because you have a USB device, and patches should not create more problems. Registry editing should not be required to uninstall & reinstall software. But the game is damn fun. And even though there are frustrating moments, Starship troopers kept me coming back for more, and more, and more.

Back in the early 90's, Microprose created X-Com, a game turn based game about hunting down and killing bug eyed alien invaders. X-Com would go on to become one of the all time classics, a standard against which others would be judged. Now, just in time for X-mass, the bug hunt is on again with Starship Troopers; Terran Ascendancy. In a nutshell, ST is a 3D, real time tactical game based on the movie (and very loosely, the Book) of the same name, pitting the Terran Mobile Infantry (MI), against the pseudo-arachnid bugs. ST also pits your USB devices and registry editing skills against another type of bug; the ship it now-patch it later bug. But if you can get past a couple of significant bugs, you will discover a game that takes a touch of the old X-Com magic, combines it with sharp 3D graphics and real time action to create an entertaining and challenging gaming experience.

The excitement of receiving a new game to review came to a screeching halt when my first attempt to install and run ST ended up with a crash to desktop. After uninstalling and reinstalling to a different directory, I was still no closer to joining the MI and stomping the bugs. After a bit more tinkering I checked the web site (STTA.com), and found out that there were known conflicts with USB devices. (I have a USB mouse and joystick). But the nice people at Microprose had been so kind as to create a patch, before the game had even arrived at the stores. (Ship it now, patch it later.)

While the patch was downloading, I installed ST on another computer, to check it out. It installed flawlessly, but then I patched it, the skirmish began to escalate. The patch fixed the USB conflict, but my trooper's statistics were no longer visible. I could still see the actual numbers, but the labels were missing. I launched a furious counterattack and uninstalled the program. The bugs, obviously anticipating this attack, easily resisted all attempts to uninstall the software. Unfazed, I deleted the Microprose folder, committing a huge tactical blunder.

My attempts to reinstall, was completely unsuccessful, as the setup program would only offer an uninstall option. Feeling cagey, I unveiled my secret weapon "REGEDIT" (DON'T try this at home unless you really know what you are doing! Seriously.) When this didn't work, I called the support line. The person who answered could not help me, but promised that his supervisor (who was 'Microsoft certified') would call me back. He never called back, but eventually I managed to get all traces of ST out of the registry and reinstalled it. (I later found out that the patch partially works if unzipped to the wrong directory, and that is what I had done.)

OK, that was the bad part. If you are still reading this you either a) are comfortable troubleshooting, or b) really liked the movie/book and want to kill bugs. And you are in for a treat, because this is actually a very cool game. There are four tutorial missions that teach you how to move, look around, give orders and fight. These missions are critical to learn how to play, because the manual does not contain a single paragraph about how to play the game.

The story behind Starship Troopers, (for those of you not familiar with the movie), is classic pulp sci fi. Outlying Terran colonies discover an insect like species of alien that proves to be prolific and very hostile. The areas infested by the psuedo-arachnids (bugs for short) are quarantined, but when the bugs drop a meteor on Buenos Aries, the Mobile Infantry is mobilized for a counter attack. You take on the role of a newly commissioned Lieutenant in the MI, responsible for selecting and leading strike teams of 2 or three squads on different missions against the bugs.

Your first responsibility is to select which of your troopers to take on each mission, and then you must equip them with appropriate armor, weapons, and tech gadgets. (This part is a lot like X-Com). Your choice of weapons, equipment, and armor for each of your soldiers is limited by that trooper's rank. Each successful mission yields experience, stat increases, and most importantly, promotions for you and your troops. As the missions progress, specialists like medics, combat engineers, psionic troopers and snipers also become available. The first few missions will be fought with smart rifles, and rocket launchers, but later missions will add flame-throwers, Chain guns, energy weapons, nerve gas and more. This is a very effective way of making you care about the fate of the troopers under your command. When a highly decorated veteran Sergeant (who wears Class II Marauder armor, with built in jump jets and rocket launcher) buys the farm, and is replaced by a wet-behind-the-ears-rookie, (with a rifle) it hurts. A lot.

After you have assembled and armed your squad, your first mission is to take part of an attack on the bug home world of Klendathu. (If you have seen the movie, you know how this particular attack turns out). Your objective is to destroy all bug holes in your mission sector, and survive. Opposing your strike team are small groups of warrior bugs. Individually they are easily stopped by the combined firepower of your team of 12. Unfortunately for the MI, the bugs don't always come at you one at a time. And when the bugs get close your troops will fall back, firing, or they will fall, staggering under the stabbing, slashing pincers of the bugs.

As the Lieutenant, it is your job to prevent that from happening. To do that you will have to make good use of the available formations. You will have to learn to spot bug holes, and destroy them quickly, before the emerging bugs can overwhelm your squad. You will need to use the excellent camera controls to constantly look around and avoid having your stragglers picked off from behind. And most importantly, you need to learn to stay cool under fire, to avoid panicking when your troops are shouting for backup, or screaming in pain as they are torn asunder. And you will have to call for a Medevac, or recover the dog tags of your fallen troopers when you mess up.

With each successful mission, your troops gain experience, get promotions, and gain access to better toys, and upgrade existing technologies to improve your weapons and tech items. However, your opponents also become more numerous and more varied. All of the bugs from the movie are represented, with a few more added for good measure. Hoppers swoop and dive on your troopers. Acid spitting bugs wreak havoc with closely packed formations. Giant tanker bugs burst up from under your troops for a surprise barbecue that frequently ends a mission. Which brings me to the only seriously annoying game play flaw, the save system. There are no in game saves. You must complete a mission to save your progress. Most of the missions are quite lengthy, usually 45 minutes to an hour, and one of them took me eight attempts to complete. (Ok, so I am a bit slow sometimes). It is incredibly frustrating to be in the final few seconds of an hour long mission, only to lose critical team members in the final few seconds. But despite the occasional urge to take my own handgun to my computer, ST kept me coming back for more, and more and more. Finishing one mission usually led me to take a "quick look" at the next mission, which of course led to playing that mission. And I generally do not like mission based games.

So what makes this game so good? Is it the graphics? The game play? Is it the plot, or the licensing deal? The graphics are very good, with the aliens looking very realistic and scary as they scramble, fly, hop and maim your troopers. Your squad members are resplendent in the different suits of armor, with camouflage appropriate to the terrain. Things look and behave the way they should. Weapons eject shell casings. Bugs communicate when they spot your team, even going so far as to retreat to a bug hole to call for reinforcements. Your troopers will withdraw firing as bugs get close, and will even switch to their sidearm when they are out of ammo or when the bugs are too close for heavy weapon fire.

The movement AI is generally good, and it is possible to give movement orders on the tactical map. This is helpful because the mission areas are fairly large and complex A variety of formations are available to keep your squads in order, and most of the formations are useful at one time or another. Units rarely get stuck, but on a couple of occasions, one trooper got separated from the squad, requiring a fair amount of backtracking to retrieve. And on one occasion a trooper got stuck next to a pillar and would not move at all, preventing the retrieval boat from taking off. (No one gets left behind). This resulted in having to quit and restart after playing for over an hour. This is the kind of frustration that mars the beauty of this game. But I still go willingly back to the front to fight for my species.

Overall Starship Troopers is a very good game. The graphics, sound, plot, and game play, are all top notch. But the rush to get the game in stores for the holidays detracts from the package as a whole. And I wish that developers would realize that not including an in game save is a cheesy way to lengthen a game. Contrary to popular opinion, we do have lives, and those lives often interfere with our gaming. It is frustrating to like a game, and want to play it, but to know that you don't have enough time to complete a mission, so why even bother. But when you do have an hour or so, (or better yet, two or three hours) Starship Troopers is an awfully fun way to spend 'em.