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Starship Troopers: Extermination is a little janky but so much fun

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A little janky in places as expected from an Early Access game but Starship Troopers: Extermination is a lot of fun to play with friends and even complete strangers. Note: copy provided by Evolve.

Luckily I was able to get a good couple of games in before the release, so I could already see that it was working quite nicely on desktop Linux with Proton. I've been testing it with Proton Experimental and everything as far as I can see works great! As a big fan of the original film, the books and the old Roughnecks CGI series I've wanted a game just like this for a long time but nothing before it really came close. This is good enough that I can easily see myself spending a whole lot of time crushing bugs because as we all know — the only good bug is a dead bug.

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The statement "good enough" I think is really hitting the nail on the head here though. There's a lot of potential but it's early days for the game. A great start to what I honestly think will end up as a great game overall, if they manage to fix the janky feeling of some of the alien movement like how they jump to the side sometimes, which just looks a bit ridiculous and get a lot more content in there.

With multiple player classes, each with their own levelling and unlocks, there's space for them to make this really interesting and worth playing more but the problem is just how light it is on level content. We just seem to be repeating the same few levels over and over right now. Wouldn't be so bad if there were more dynamic events so I'm looking forward to the multiple planets they say they'll be adding in.

Part of the jankiness is the building system, with all of you being able to build when the time comes to prepare at the end of a mission. This generally results in a big mess. Feels like it's also part of the charm though at the same time, with a whole bunch of you building walls and towers with no real plan and then watch as it all crumbles down as the Arachnids crash through it later.

Features:

  • Cooperative Gameplay - 16 players can team up in squads of four to defend their base, complete objectives, gather resources, and try to kill every Bug in sight. 
  • Three Playable Classes - Choose from Assault, Support, and Defense classes to best suit your playstyle and support the rest of your squad. 
  • Build Defenses - Construct walls, towers, ammo stations, and more using resources acquired from planetside refineries. 
  • Class Progression System - Unlock new weapons, equipment, and perks for each class to become an elite warfighter among the Deep Space Vanguard. 
  • 5 Unique Bug Types - At Early Access launch, encounter Drone, Warrior, Gunner, Plasma Grenadier, and Tiger Elite enemy Bugs during missions. 
  • Escalating Infestation Levels - Increasing Bug threat levels during missions bring bigger and more dangerous enemies to the fight. 
  • Large-scale Battles - A massive map with five unique zones, and swarm-based combat with hundreds of enemy Bugs on screen delivers the sense of an overwhelming planetary war. 
  • Ground War - Retake bases and refineries, destroy hives, and complete a variety of side objectives to wrest control of the map away from the Bug menace. 
  • Ping system - Communication is key! The ‘Ping’ system gives players a quick and easy way to call out points of interest, objectives, incoming enemies, and more to teammates.

I should note it does use Easy Anti-Cheat, which can often be a problem for Steam Deck and desktop Linux. In this case though it has worked fine throughout pre-release and now after release it continues working. I did ask for an official statement of support on EAC + Proton but have yet to get a reply on it from the developer but I am chasing them on it.

For Steam Deck, you may want to sit and wait a while for some big needed optimizations, because even on the lowest details possible it often couldn't hold 30FPS or even 20FPS during the late-game hordes. Here's some gameplay from Steam Deck and desktop Linux:

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You can buy it in Early Access on Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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About the author -
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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16 comments
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grigi May 17, 2023
Well, the original movie was janky in its own way
StoneColdSpider May 17, 2023
Quoting: grigiWell, the original movie was janky in its own way
But so much fun.......
ElectricPrism May 17, 2023
Just like the RTS from last year -- I was super hyped but then found out there was No Multiplayer.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1202130/Starship_Troopers_Terran_Command/

At first glance I thought this review was about the RTS and not a new FPS.
TangoBaker May 18, 2023
Quoting: ElectricPrismJust like the RTS from last year -- I was super hyped but then found out there was No Multiplayer.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1202130/Starship_Troopers_Terran_Command/

At first glance I thought this review was about the RTS and not a new FPS.

And, Ironically, I was hyped about this till I saw there was no single player...
Botonoski May 18, 2023
I quite enjoyed that Starship Troopers FPS from... 2006? well "enjoyed" is a bit of a strong word rather I saw immense potential past all the jank and bad design, it did huge swarms on a scale I didnt see again until World War Z. Looks like this'll be a substantially better game, glad, series really deserved a better game than that, maybe a tad sad that it's doesn't seem to be aiming to replicate the swarm size of the movie or 2006 title though.
g000h May 18, 2023
Great movie, heh. I wouldn't mind seeing this realised as a 3D Shooter game (like here) but where the alien bugs are as *lethal* as they were in the film. One hit kills. Games tend to be so unrealistic on this front, compared to films.
TheRiddick May 18, 2023
I think they made like 4 or 5 more SS movies after the first one. They were not all bad.
Tchey May 18, 2023
My issue with these games is, i find it fun to play with total strangers randomly logged in, and at the same time i really hate playing with people yelling in the mics, panicking, swearing etc. I’ve always been a very calm and quite player, never yell or stress or throw my mouse over the desk or anything like that. For years i was still typing on keyboard, players muted, while "everyone else" was already on mics...
TheSHEEEP May 18, 2023
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Quoting: TcheyMy issue with these games is, i find it fun to play with total strangers randomly logged in, and at the same time i really hate playing with people yelling in the mics, panicking, swearing etc. I’ve always been a very calm and quite player, never yell or stress or throw my mouse over the desk or anything like that. For years i was still typing on keyboard, players muted, while "everyone else" was already on mics...
I find that it depends very much on the kind of game.
With a more cooperative game like Deep Rock Galactic, people tend to be very chill, so voice is fine. I'd assume the same here, to be honest. Everyone is just doing their part

But with competitive games like PUBG, Fortnite and all those... hell no! Bunch of amped up tryhards just being pissed half of the time. I don't need that in my ears.

Of course, I almost never play games of the second category anyway.
dpanter May 18, 2023
Voice chat with randos is hard No Thank You, looks great otherwise.
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