In 1998, the movie ‘Starship Troopers’ dropped in Australian theatres. So enamoured after the first viewing I re-entered the theatre another six times that day. Not since ‘Aliens’ had I been so adoring of a space-based science fiction film.

It’s now 25 years later and Offworld Industries have developed and published ‘Starship Troopers: Extermination’. They’re doing their part, are you? Join the Deep Space Vanguard and save the world. Playing guarantees entertainment.

Starship Troopers: Extermination is based decades after what happened in the film. In the far-off frontlines, you will battle the Arachnids on planet Valaka as part of the Deep Space Vanguard. You play as an elite special forces mobile infantry trooper tasked with defeating the Bugs and removing their hold on the planet.

Starship Troopers: Extermination is a cooperative first-person shooter with base-building elements. Consequently, there is no single-player option. There is a simple tutorial that will teach you the base building. However, even if you don’t do the tutorial, you will not find yourself struggling in-game. Everything is so easy to learn that becoming fresh meat for the grinder is as easy as hitting the play button. The controls are everything to be expected of the genre of the game, and all keys are remappable to your liking.

When starting a game, you will get to choose the level of difficulty and type of game you want to play. Currently, the difficulty options come in easy, normal, and hard, with an additional difficulty coming later. Easy is exactly that, easy.

Normal provides a nice challenge and hard will have you take a walk down the washout lane if you don’t work as a team. The two game modes available are AAS (Advance And Secure) and ARC. There is a quick-play option that will allow you to join any available game at any time. A horde mode is yet to be released. AAS will have you advance to a position and call in a forward base.

From there you will be tasked with moving forward and securing an objective. Once the objective is complete you will need to move to the extraction point. ARC will have you building a base to protect the Arc Scanner. The Arc Scanner will also require fuel, so you are tasked with gathering the fuel to operate it. Once your base is built and the Arc Scanner is fuelled you will need to protect it until it has finished scanning. Once that is complete you will need to make your way to the extraction point.

Once you have selected your difficulty and game type you will be put onto the squad page. Here you will get to choose which of the five team names to join. Up to four troopers can join the team and a total of 16 troopers can join the mission. Once your squad has been selected you then get to choose one of the three class types to play as. The three class types are Hunter, Bastion, and Operator. Hunters are an assault-class trooper that comes with a jet pack.

The Bastion is a defence class trooper that comes with a deployable shield and the Operator is a support class trooper that comes with a medical droid. The class you choose will earn experience at the end of the mission. This experience will unlock more loadout options for that trooper.

Changes to your loadout differ with each class but the fundamental changes that can be made are the same. Be it a different weapon, utility, grenade, or perk the options are diverse enough to build a trooper suited to your play style. Also, with more options coming the diversity of builds will grow.

The graphics are beautiful and crisp to look at. A realistic homage to the film is a visual treat. The environment of the planet, the weapons you use, the base you build, and the Arachnids themselves are all befitting of the movie. Unfortunately, when the action dials up to 11 some minor bugs can disrupt this pleasure.

The sound and music are no exception as well when it comes to being befitting to the movie. The sound of the weapons, the radio chatter, the screams of your fallen troopers, and the Arachnids thundering toward you with their heart-chilling trills are all on point. The music though not taken directly from the movie you wouldn’t know otherwise. The selection made fits so perfectly with the Starship Troopers theme. With in-game chat for squad and local talk coordinating is effortless. Unfortunately, just like the graphics when the action hits minor technical bugs begin to disrupt the pleasure.

Starship Troopers: Extermination is a good start. With a little time to tidy up the minor bugs, and with the release of more content coming. This cooperative shooter will be just as entertaining as the film. As it stands right now there is plenty of fun to be had, and if you’re a Starship Troopers fan you’ll feel right at home. So, come on you apes, do you want to live forever? Offworld Industries are creating a great Starship Troopers game and, they’ll keep fighting, and they’ll win.

Written by: Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove