A Starship Troopers Game Came Out, Why Is Nobody Talking About It?

It's not the greatest game ever made, but it deserves a talking about.
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0:00 - Intro
0:29 - Menus and Options
0:43 - The Tutorial
2:22 - The Campaign and Mechanics
10:04 - Is Starship Troopers: Terran Command Worth Buying?

[@TOOTHBRUSHDUCK]

Honestly, big props to the devs to not do multiplayer stuff. They focused on the precise core experience they wanted, and it's turned out great, and worth the money for what it is. I don't think it could have a multiplayer, other than co-op, that would work with how the game is designed and balanced either

[@4lc4p0rn]

exactly, units are hillariously unbalanced, which is part of what makes the game fun, they'd have to take that away to build a reasonably balanced multiplayer mode.

[@GruppeSechs]

Sad when good games fall under the radar. Definitely wishlisting this. Nevermind. Already did apparently, lol

[@MyLittlePonyTheater]

Co-op would be great, though.

[@benedict6962]

Coop sounds like a lot of fun. With much less base management, you can focus on getting into each other's firelines and trying to spread out grenades.

[@ShadowWolfTJC]

I'd be interested in a co-op mode as well. Perhaps there could be a challenge mode that's like Chickens mode from the free rts game Zero-K, in which the players must hold out against progressively-stronger waves of enemies until the queen arrives, and must then kill the queen, which is extremely powerful and difficult to kill, though the players could also opt to destroy nests to weaken the enemy waves at the cost of causing the queen to spawn sooner.

[@MyLittlePonyTheater]

Playing a campaign as the bugs is the one tipping point that would actually get me to buy this game. Completely agree with Grant.

[@rustyskeleman]

*Need to swarm intensifies*

[@rayzerot]

I would play the hell out of some bugs

[@Twistal2]

Exactly!, Let us play the good bugs for a once :-D Just imagine, you having nice day and some evil humans come and start killing you.

[@aaronbennett3966]

The Bug tutorial could be the flip side of the trooper tutorial.

[@colinmartin9797]

I think a bug campaign would be outrageously fun, but I can't recommend it enough already just with the mobile infantry campaign. The game rewards micro, unit positioning, smart compositions and careful skill usage so heavily, while rarely ever letting you feel like you "crushed" the mission. And I got about 25 hours out of the MI campaign, so the value is totally there.

[@SephirothRyu]

I've actually thought in the past that something like "war support" would make sense for a faction in an RTS. Basically, something that isn't a resource so much as it is a justification to continue sending soldiers and equipment to the battle you are in. Successfully defending what in other games would be a mine or something could generate some, but so could rescuing civilians from the enemy, or other actions. And that you could perhaps have special "units" that are war reporters which cause war support to increase or decrease further based on whether they are nearby when one of your forces wins or loses an encounter or are nearby when escort targets are successfully (or unsuccessfully) defended.

[@KillerofGods]

I always viewed minerals and such as war support. The more minerals you get, the more war support you get to requisition units.... After all it takes longer then a few seconds to build a spaceship or train a marine.

[@SephirothRyu]

@@KillerofGods To a point, though it may vary on the game. In Starcraft and Starcraft 2, things are canonically built very quickly. Like, the Zerg actually grow that fast, and SCVs actually build stuff that fast. Less sure about Protoss, but they warp everything in anyway.

[@GarkKahn]

@@SephirothRyu yeah maybe protoss already have them, they just send it to the map

[@GunShark0]

Stellaris has a mechanic called "war exhaustion" and a "resource" called influence that's used for claiming war goals and for peace time expansion (building new outposts in unclaimed systems). Also has a few other uses as well.

[@Jupiter__001_]

@@GunShark0 Those are carry-overs from Paradox's grand strategy games (especially EU4, which features both war-exhaustion and diplomatic points).

[@mranderson9553]

they nail the universe (movie version) in this game, for example in the last mission you get a royal guard unit after doing a bonus objective but it has a "cost" of an ai unit that's just a cameraman and a host that you cant control and just follows the unit

[@thomgizziz]

only the movie universe. The creators of the movie didn't understand the book and instead put it though their ideological lense and pumped out an inane movie that did nothing but get much much worse with each iteration.

[@thomgizziz]

@Newsbender II gullible? They told and showed you exactly what was going on in the war. People dying and how dangerous it was. While at the same time in real life TV commercials about joining the military tried to make it seem like it was all good things. Which one is actually worse and which one is more honest. The funny thing is you have actually been propagandized to think the honest commercials in the movie are the ones that are insane.

[@Monotony619]

@THOM Gizziz that is your lame opinion, because you are lame.

[@jeremoople]

@@thomgizziz The creators of the movie did understand the book and deliberately went against its message as a form of satire which is an artistic endeavor in its own right. The book is undeniable influential and well-crafted, but its aggressively pro-military ideology is something a lot of people understandably have a problem with

[@lucius8453]

@@jeremoople have you ever read the book to claim that it is "aggressively pro-militaryy"?

[@douloureuxcrouton5780]

4:42 - the combat engineer's grenade does not do damage. Instead, it applies fire to the ground which blocks pathing for a short duration. It's the most OP and interesting ability IMO (the rocket troopers have a better version of it they can get when they level up).

[@twotoohonest2907]

I think does some damage if it's a direct hit

[@OOClayAcorn]

@@twotoohonest2907 the engi flame grenade is an insta kill on a direct kill but yes even if the bugs on the edge it still gets damage

[@MoreGeneration]

@@OOClayAcorn Unless its been changed then no the Engineer flame grenade is area of denial and any bug hit by the fire is pushed out of the fire radius. Now if its been changed since I played at release then alright but I don't remember seeing that.

[@OOClayAcorn]

@@MoreGeneration I played at release as well and your right about the area of denial but in my experience if the bug was in the center it would just straight up die and I think the push did like 1 point of damage nothing noticeable I maybe wrong on that one

[@RichterBelmont2235]

It deals damage if anyone get forced into the flame carpet. ie; fleeing from another one if you spam it.

[@blackmailer26]

This game made me write my first review. Quality game by an indie dev deserving of more support. Definitely needs more content and 100% willing to buy the DLCs for it

[@sintanan469]

Definitely needs better main menu work. It feels... very bland and blocky. There also needs to be more options for fine tuning your graphics. However, I enjoyed the core mechanics. I would love to see what they accomplish with DLC or a sequel, and a bigger budget.

[@spawnkeeper999]

as long as the DLC's stay in the 5 to 10 dollar range sure

[@neofromthewarnerbrothersic145]

@@sintanan469 Same. This game obviously didn't have much of a budget. Happy to support it though, in hopes that it gets a bigger and better sequel.

[@fumarc4501]

I’d buy a bug dlc

[@nigeltheoutlaw]

This looks awesome and I really like that they just fully embraced single player rather than splitting their focus. Definitely going to pick this one up.

[@Poynting_Vector]

I think Grant did a great job with this review, but he did miss something that I think is important to mention: the immersion. After every mission there is a cutscene in the style of the FedNed broadcasts from the first movie. The music swells when combat rages and calms down when you move to the next position. The unit voice lines feel like they come from the Starship Troopers universe. The devs clearly understand the material they are working with and that makes the game a treat. Another thing is the satisfaction I get when the battlelines are setup and the bugs get mowed down, the rattle of machine gun fire, rockets screaming overhead and grenades blasting holes in the advancing hordes feels so good. Especially knowing that one wrong move and have your army quickly becomes bug chow. I do agree with Grant that the $30 asking price might be a bit steep for people who are on the fence, but I enjoyed every bit of the game and find it well worth the money. Lets hope for a bug campaign and map/scenario maker so the community can do its thing.

[@skara7378]

Just so everyone knows, the devs are working on updating the game, adding new content, giving players QoL changes and other stuff.

[@ruffusgoodman4137]

the game spells Early Acess, but without being a shitty beta. I think these devs are making history on quality standards from what I could gather (I'll still play the game eventually)

[@trevmizer9784]

No bugs no buy

[@tabula_rosa]

@@trevmizer9784 the game is good *because* it's one-faction only. we don't have any high quality non-competitive RTS's and i really appreciate them for being brave enough to do it. i really dont think playing as the bugs would be as fun as you think that it would, and if they added it then people would clamber for them to add pvp, and then they would have to completely un-make the game they've made and just make another starcraft ripoff. and we've got starcraft ripoffs!!! we don't have this tho. i want more of this and fewer starcraft ripoffs

[@commissarvolkheim]

real thing that I like about devs is that they ask people what they want. Can't wait for Survival, coop or even campaing as bugs.

[@pandahsykes602]

That’s good but can also be very dangerous . Listening to too many people tugging your staff in too many directions can completely stall if not kill a projects future progress .

[@tennoskoom2233]

There is lots of room. They can pull stuff directly from Raczak's Roughnecks if they can get the copyright. Would love to see the war expand to other planets

[@GloriousGrunt]

@@pandahsykes602 yea agree, sometimes adding more in and refining it is better released as a separate sequel. It's cool they are not spamming micro transactions and DLC though :)

[@neofromthewarnerbrothersic145]

Yassss a survival/tower defense type mode would be perfect. That's really all I ever wanted from a Starship Troopers RTS - to replicate the movie's scene at Whiskey Outpost. The campaign has a couple of defense-oriented missions that are _kinda_ like that, but I'd still really like to see a massive wave defense mode.

[@radiobabylon]

as long as 'what people want' isnt a tactical pause option, anyway.

[@rossvilledylanplays8610]

I feel like years of playing challenge modes and various difficulty-enhacing and gameplay-heavy mods have really skewed Grant's review away from what I think is the most important component of this game: the story and immersion. This is the first Starship Troopers game since the early 2000's, and it has done a fantastic job of capturing the comical grittiness of the first movie and the bonkers stories of the second and third. All the cutscenes, voice acting, and story elements fit perfectly with the movie universe, and it's clear the developers know what they're doing in the realm of immersion and storytelling. Grant only barely mentioned the story at the beginning, when it is arguably the main reason someone would buy this game.

[@asdfasdf-mn8iu]

Tbh, nowadays a story alone cannot keep me in games anymore as you could also enjoy the story by watching let's plays or other videos about it. A game needs to have at least decent, preferrably good gameplay so one wants to keep engaging. Doom 2016 is a perfect example for me. It has less atmosphere and its story is not as good as Doom 3's (imo), but the gameplay itself is so good that i kept coming back again and again even after completing it twice.

[@GazTen]

Agree, plot is important

[@Mrsoldier847]

@@asdfasdf-mn8iu I'm not going to say Story is all important, or that Gameplay is all important, but I will say that Story can greatly enhance your gameplay, provided the gameplay is a solid foundation to build a Story on.

[@singularityraptor4022]

A videogame primarily needs good gameplay before all else imo. For a pure story based immersion make a book or something

[@rossvilledylanplays8610]

@@singularityraptor4022 Starship Troopers is a book; what point are you trying to make here? Story-rich games do exist, and often the gameplay is meant to elevate the story, not the other way around. Players of Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Final Fantasy, Shadow of the Colossus, etc would likely disagree with that, as most of the early entries in their respective series look and play like compete ass. Especially in the case of singleplayer exclusive games, like this one and the aforementioned RPGs, the story is the main thing keeping you going. No one thinks "That level was hard, but I feel like I haven't been challenged enough. Let us proceed to the next level." That's asinine. Singleplayer games rely on their stories to keep the gameplay fresh, and more importantly, assign reasons to the mechanics. Like War Support in Starship Troopers. TL;DR, sure, you could read a book if you wanted an immersive story. But you can't interact with that story. It is set and done, and there is nothing that you do to change it. At least in Terran Command you drive the plot forward, a plot that is, in my opinion, well-executed and presented.

[@solaom2655]

I know this is months old but hey, worth a shot. Terran Command has a player generated content option now with maps and campaigns being created. Someone has even recreated SST: Terran Ascedency to a degree (an old Starship Troopers RTS I think.) Finally, to go at the end of the video, someone has also made a small campaign where you can control the bugs so it is possible.

[@Ollidol]

This is a case of a developer knowing what they wanted to do and then did just that. With focus on the core you can make it as good as it can be. And this game has a great core.

[@thomgizziz]

No they didn't even live up to their own standards and a ton of quality of life things are missing here when cheaper indie games that were made in a shorter time... with a 2 year delay you'd expect more

[@potatosalad9085]

@@thomgizziz the game's good tho, and that's quite the achievement these days

[@JH-en4ur]

@@potatosalad9085 No it isn't

[@theovoldjopus4272]

I can't tell you how much pain I've experienced every time a fragmentation barrage from the wrong Mk2 trooper squad just pulverised another squad caught between the grenade launchers and the bugs. This is one of the coolest abilities in this game but it also has an insane friendly fire potential. What a great game, 10/10

[@magni5648]

Standard grenades are ballistic arc though, and fly over yur guys. The elite "Ripper Shot" is the one with big blue-on-blue potential, because that's a salvo of Vietnam-style flechette rounds turning the squads GL's into oversized shotguns.

[@retrospectus]

@@magni5648 I remember the first time I used that ability before I fully grasped that the game had friendly fire. that poor trooper squad never knew what hit them.......

[@GunShark0]

It has friendly fire? That's interesting... kinda wild, but interesting.

[@sevenshadesofsmooth]

MEDIC!!!

[@redwisp2689]

Playing a campaign as the bugs where the only voice over are increasingly panicked humans is actually a thing in battlefleet gothic armada 2. Very different game, but you just reminded me of it

[@johanvanderwalt2772]

This does remind me a lot of World in Conflict and how it approached its gameplay. I feel the devs could have learnt a bit from them on how to deal with the special abilities and unit positioning, as that game automated positioning largely and had a quick access to all the available special abilities for all selected units. Would save time on the micromanagement without actually changing the game balance.

[@KeishinB237]

I'm still playing it on occasion and love every second of it! There just isn't anything to really keep me around unfortunately. I've heard rumors of more scenario's and campaigns but not much else. Otherwise I play out various scenarios in my head thanks to console commands!

[@ruffusgoodman4137]

Maybe the game may benefit from community maps. No More Room in Hell suffered from the same problem and the community took over to, well... meme of course, but made some pretty great hommages as well

[@AAhmou]

Hopefully you get to play as the bugs. It'd be a game changer.

[@mochithepooh5368]

Yeah if they make workshop so the community can make their own map and share it, it would be gold.

[@magni5648]

They recently announced that there'll be an endless mode challenge.

[@ChannelMiner]

"Flamethrowers are actually good in this game" Ok Jayborino.

[@TankHunter678]

They are. They can stop the movement of most bugs in their tracks, they destroy structures incredibly quickly, and the incendiary grenade blocks unit pathing. For small bugs like drones and warriors, stuff that comes in swarms, they cut through them easily. It takes armored bugs like tigers or flying bugs like sky hoppers to actually overcome the flamethrower touting combat engineers.

[@ChannelMiner]

@@TankHunter678 i was not doubting it

[@rumia3691]

"The Black Hand has arrived"

[@aries144]

I want a game based on the book. Heinlein's Starship Troopers had powered body armor, orbital insertion wrapped in a bullet-like cocoon inside your powered armor, command, scout, and soldier armors, movement primarily based on using jumpjets to cover ground more quickly, weapons primarily based around explosives or incendiaries, bugs that used energy guns as well as melee, and an entire society that believed that you needed to demonstrate that you cared more about the people around you than your own life if you wanted to vote or run for public office.

[@sdsdfdu4437]

Yeah, the book and movie are super different and I honestly prefer the book. This game is still good though

[@vinnietorres1145]

Giant issue is that with the movie already being so well known, a book focused game might've turned people away in massive droves as they don't recognize it, especially the early 20's age range like myself who was watching the movie before I could read a book

[@John-qv5ux]

The circlejerk surrounding the book version and my experience with other Heinlein texts, such as The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, has completely turned me off the concept of ever reading the book. Even if it means that the movie series didn't exist, I now wish that Heinlein never wrote the ruddy thing.

[@maxliverpool]

Got terran command when it came out. Loved it to bits. It was just great fun to have so much on offer in a nice, concise package where there wasn't a major focus on anything other than story and universe. Can't wait for more campaigns and missions

[@Unormalism]

Deathballs was already solved at least as early as Age of Empires 2, which forces unit formations. This is an innovation devs either forgot or decided not to deal with in favour of having 50 tightly packed humans moving around like runny egg yolk.

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

Yeah, I really detest Deathballs in RTS, formations help a little but aren't really the be all and end all.

[@GarkKahn]

But at least they help minimize the damage Better than nothing

[@martinkrauser4029]

Competitive AoE2 very much relies on deathballing with your best unit and it's particularly bad with arbalest or any horse archers.

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

@@GarkKahn fair.

[@guyincognito959]

There has not been exactly a lot of movement in the segment of RTS those...last 10 or so years :/

[@JonathanLundkvist]

While I am pleasently suprised to hear its not a waste of time, I still would have loved to see a remaster of Terran Acedency. It was a truly interesting mix of movie and book and had very interesting missions and a decent story to boot.

[@padmanabhanvaidyanathan7182]

Hey, I still have that game, downloaded a couple of years back and saved it, maybe I should install it again.

[@ApocGuy]

@@padmanabhanvaidyanathan7182 i bought it back in 2000, still have it on my shelf. one of better non building oriente rts ever made. it wasnt perfect, but it was engaging and fun to play.

[@SueMyChin]

The unit leveling system In Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy was awesome! Units would level up and get stronger equipment and abilities after gaining XP. It was really adictive. If that system was in this game I'd be playing it right now..

[@sirbarther]

Good stuff. Your play as the bugs idea is great!

[@TKamp09]

Seeing the real time tactical style of game reminded me of another series that I think you'd enjoy. It'd be a lot of fun to see you try Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. I think you could do a lot with a game like that.

[@ApocGuy]

many bashed deserts of kharak, but i personally find it quite fun to play. must be the name "HOMEWORLD" that triggered the outcry, cause im sure if thsi would be only deserts of Kharak and wouldnt have any ties with Homeworld, people wouldnt bash it so badly...

[@PraetorPaktu]

Yo i loved that game

[@TheArklyte]

What I find interesting is how they dragged in content from all sources. Maybe except the book since it's different reality to movieverse that was a satire of Desert Storm. However even book is referenced and the tone itself is somewhere inbetween. As if you start in a movie universe, but slowly the Federation itself tries to improve and become what it shows in propaganda. I feel like a lot of IPs could benefit from such treatment. P.S.: are the book and movie even still considered same IP nowadays? Movieverse grew and split out into independent creation beyond just political critique after all. I feel like shared name is only holding both back now:(

[@some_shitposting_idiot3023]

The original movie didn't even do political critic very well The military literally goes round saying "hey you really wanna do this? You'll get fucked up" And to vote you need to be a productive member of society And when the general fucks up the original attack he takes responsibility and steps down with a new general stepping in Idk bro I ain't seeing any critic all I'm seeing is a competent society and military

[@jesusbarrera6916]

@@some_shitposting_idiot3023 the original movie was more of a satire of overtly militarized societies.... Like they said, you need to serve to vote and "I am offended by the mere thought of a thinking bug" is the satire There's heavy implications that humanity is who attacked the bugs first and actual propaganda from the movie is meant to be insanely goofy The military is still competent enough to change course but the political faction is what drives the problems

[@StarshadowMelody]

@@some_shitposting_idiot3023 You're certainly selling the military but "to vote you need to be a productive member of society" yeah that sounds a bit too close to eugenics for my liking. Which is to say it sounds ableist, which is a big no-no for a competent society. Bear in mind I have no prior experience with this IP, so... yeah your comment and the video is _all_ I'm going off of here.

[@Hindsightt2020]

I would say the Book and movieverse are entirely different settings that share two similarities: names, and that both are fighting bugs. The infantry in the books are specialists in armored suits that can jump around like Fencers in EDF and have rocket turrets on their shoulders or other cool weaponry. The infantry in the movies are canon fodder. Only one of these settings actually care about their men as well.

[@mayoniez4308]

Yeah reallly love seeing how we start off with Morita MKI and MKII soldiers, then we get E Pluse 44 rifle soldiers from the second movie onwards, the Babars/Marauders from the 3rd movie, and even the power armored soldiers from the animated movies. Does give the feeling that the MI is adapting to threats.

[@hibanamain5709]

Having bought it at launch, I really hope the game gets more campaigns, some kind of holdout mode or maybe in future- if possible, a coop, more stuff would be great

[@GamerzWRLD]

Fantastic review, really interested in checking this out as i loved the first movie back in the day!

[@not_hanky_ou]

30 dollars for 15-20 hours? That's INCREDIBLY by today's standard. Most AAA games as well as many indie games are 20-50 dollars for 5-10 hours tops. I'm very pleasantly surprised by this and will definitely give it a go. Great review!

[@thomgizziz]

No that isn't standard... most AAA games are 60 dollars for hundreds of hours which they heavily advertise. 60 dollars for 5-10 hours is the vast minority and pretending any different is just being disingenuous.

[@5peciesunkn0wn]

@@thomgizziz Hundreds of hours of *multiplayer* usually. *coughCoDcough* Singleplayer parts of AAA games can be very hit or miss on how long you get.

[@skeptic_lemon]

Hollow Knight 200+ hours of content and extreme suffering but you still enjoy it

[@linkhidalgogato]

@@thomgizziz hundreds of hours of work you fucking pay to do 5-10 hours of gameplay if any

[@Argellius]

i feel like this game has one thing really going for it its one of the best introductions to rts out there most rts games come out focusing on the "super hardcore competitive gamers" that played rts since the 90 and tend to forget there are alot of casual gamers and new players in the rts community also i think showing the map was an intentional decision to make players look at the maps more often there are alot of intances where the game teaches players basic stuff about rts without text things like army composition, the importance of micro, there is even sections of the game where the optimal strategy is just throwing units into the grinder into a more "macro" gameplay and it never punishes the player for trying things or taking things slow there are not many games that i can recommend to someone new in the rts genre certainly not new ones as even starcraft fails to teach players HOW to play an rts but this one does an amazing job at it

[@JJJBunney001]

in terms of new games i agree but thinking back before SC2, there were heaps of RTS games that built their campaigns around being basically tutorials for playing skirmish or MP which i think is great. Games like the Age of Empires series, Dawn of War and even Empire at War were great at giving new players an easy entry into RTS games

[@Argellius]

@@JJJBunney001 yeah but those are VERY old games by now even starcraft II is old they become increasingly difficult to recommend especially to someone on the younger side

[@TheBAGman17]

@@Argellius I played red alert when i was like 8, i wasn't good at it of course but it was always still fun. kids these days play way more complicated stuff than a traditional RTS.

[@dogehkiindogeborn5339]

@@Argellius Old? Sure but many of them work better than any recent attempt at a RTS and some even look great, the only issue is that custom keybinds might be necessary (looking at you WC3). The genre hasn't really evolved and the most popular later entries were either sequels or spinoffs for established franchises like BFME or Halo Wars

[@Argellius]

@@dogehkiindogeborn5339 yeah i love older games and there are some amazing classics but remember i am talking about the casual and new in the genre old games have two fatal flaws for newcomers the clunky controls and the difficulty people have options of things to play now if the game stops being fun for even a second most people will end up dropping it you need to see it from the perspective of someone that never actually touched an rts and is just starting out from a mild interest add to the situation that he is probably younger than 15 with access to the internet and an insane libraby of free to play games and with that formula it becomes difficult to introduce someone to the genre

[@blakedake19]

I mean, in SC2 you get a deathball in the campaign if you know what will happen in the mission and you have good macro mechanics. I remember the first runs I did in the wol campaign years ago (2013 maybe?) and I had some real problems on hard difficulty winning because you have to be on top of everything if you do not know what is coming to you. Sure, after playing the campaigns 20 times, I know everything and I can clear every map wiht no problem 9 years later.

[@BotRetro]

Death balls are a problem in most modern multiplayer RTSs. StarCraft 2, CoH2, you name it.

[@3217491]

@@BotRetro coh 2 deathballs are easily countered with artillery/machineguns (m10 cheese is still almost impossible to deal with (same with T34/85-cromwell spam))

[@VashxTSx]

If you're fighting against deathballs in SC2 you're sitting back and doing nothing for 20min and allowing yourself to get wrecked.

[@loganw7101]

I am new to RTS as a whole, and for my first WOL hard run I am having major problems.

[@thomgizziz]

You get a death blob in this game because it is programmed poorly. The people will literally form a flesh ball on the screen... not a good thing

[@ManPanther728]

Dude I just needed to say, I think this might be the best review I've watched in a very long time. Well done and keep it up!

[@OzMee]

Finished. Good video, dude. Probably circling back during my playthrough.

[@playwars3037]

I really liked the game, however I have a few qualms with it, which I think if they were adressed would take this game from a good experience into greatness: 1. Fix the micro missions. Most of them are tedious, the 'reinforcement tunnels' system is obscure and capricious, and overall every time I stumbled onto one I just wanted to get through it ASAP so I could go back to playing the actual experience. 2. Add a scenario editor. By FAR the biggest thing that is keeping this game from greatness is its limited number of missions, giving the community the ability to palliate that would elevate this game on a whole other level. 3. Coop. The way the game is structure right now gameplay wise would favor coop a huge deal, and allow for far more complex maps and strategies, especially with the current system, allowing for players to actually specialize and support one another against specific threats. Also, just a PS, they need to nerf the scorpion bugs, they're such a huge pain in the ass every mission they're in I plan the mission around them and literally ignore everything else when making my composition. I can compensate for the rest, but these guys are literally mission breaking every time they appear. The tankers are jokes in comparison and I've never, ever had any issues dealing with them, which is counter-intuitive, and they should probably be buffed.

[@irishihadapotato7084]

Yeah they've mentioned in the latest update that they had plans for the scorpion bugs but I have no clue what's going on there. My best guess is either they are making a huge change to systems that would make focusing on scorpion bugs right now pointless... or they are falling apart with some internal problems. That update I mentioned came out August 30th.

[@OOClayAcorn]

I've asked for a scenario editor in the forms but the loudest voices are the ones saying they cant enjoy it if it doesn't have achievements

[@SophiteSomewhere]

The coop and scenario editor ideas sound legit perfect for such a game. I would like to play this one back-to-back with someone

[@irishihadapotato7084]

Welp a roadmap was just released with both a scenario editor and dynamic replayable campaign on the horizon. Still no co op tho.

[@ciscornBIG]

Not everything needs multiplayer. You guys have got to get over this, seriously.

[@amateurishauthor2202]

I was hoping you'd cover this! although I'd have loved to see this on the archive's channel as I tend to miss the streams and I don't like watching old vods

[@amateurishauthor2202]

4:43 incorrect, the Engineer grenade doesn't do damage, it blocks an area off so bugs can't cross it, it can block off a chokepoint entirely for a decent time

[@flare242]

Great! Concise, informative review! Thanks!

[@hooah]

Just wanted to say that I loved this review, first video of yours that I've seen

[@gaoaibai6243]

Tbh I really like the fact that they DID NOT make the whole minimap black. As a casual RTS fan it is much more easier to see everything and plan out my moves, rather than pointlessly "scout" the map, especially when bugs are coming to screw me over in 90% of the missions. Like seriously, the bugs in this game is an insanely tough enemy. They always swarm all over my asses if I blink even for a second and tbh the micro in this game is already intense enough aint nobody got time to look at the minimap to micro the recon unit. Also it will destroy the immersion that the military has the upper hand and the bugs are the one who are on the defensive, because having a black map will immediately screams to the player that you are in the dark and bout to get fked. Imho having atleast all objectives revealed and points of interest layed out to you make you think you are the one who is winning, not the bugs, and that is legit a really good tactic to me (in MP imho it is much better to make it black but in SP? I would prefer to know wtf I am doing).

[@rayzerot]

They could do both- show the mini-map for lower difficulties and black it out at higher difficulties with fog of war on top of it.

[@djenei2564]

Or make the above ground visible (because why would humanity not see the surface) and make an underground part where u dont see anything

[@TankHunter678]

@@rayzerot They actually do both on some missions. On missions with open sky you can see the map, because you got spaceships in orbit to map for you. On missions where you go underground you can only see what had already been mapped, like a sewer map or a base, but are otherwise blind the moment you hit bug tunnels because it is unknown enemy territory that has not been mapped because no one has come back from it alive to report in.

[@adamsteele23]

First off, just to get it off my chest. As someone who read the book before the movie it is important to note that Verhoeven, the director, only read a few pages of the book before tossing it aside and giving us "his take". And even the movie didn't shy away from when the military screwed up with the original leader of the military stepping down after the debacle. In the book also the MI had a saying of "no one left behind" in that they DIDN'T view soldier's lives as expendable, which is something a reader of the book would know and understand considering how it was soldiers that basically brought the world back from the brink. Rant over. Abilities can be tedious to use but they all have their use. The engineer's grenade isn't an aoe damage, but is similar to the one of the Rocket trooper's upgrades which is it leaves a wall of fire. This is perfect from blocking off an area where you're getting overrun or to split a large horde so you wipe it out easier. Most abilities are situational and take some practice to get the useage down. My three biggest complaints is that 1)the campaign feels too short, 2)It feels wrong seeing the Marauder's moving without a heavy THUMP THUMP sound each time they take a step and 3)fucking Scorpions are overpowered.

[@Redlady1917]

Well considering that the book was legitimate reactionary propaganda, it was ripe for a bit of mockery.

[@Dragoblade811]

sounds like you had a lot of fun making this one. have a great day.

[@LK.Cynric]

Awesome vídeo. Really informative!

[@MrStealYoBeef]

Honestly I feel like you needed to inform people about the bugs. And no, not the enemies, not those kinds of bugs. I watched the streams and I frequently saw the AI just bugging out and not functioning properly, the tanker bugs had like a 30% chance of just standing there doing nothing as you slammed all your damage into them. I still agree with the assessment that the game is good and does a lot of things really intelligently, solving problems that have been around a long time. I just feel like buggy AI is something that does need to be brought up and at least mentioned, even if it happens to not be a deal breaker.

[@fonesrphunny7242]

In the 90s, I had high hopes for future games. The possibilities seemed endless. But now our 'heroes are dead' (ie Westwood), and new teams struggle with basic AI and UI design. Often times we end up with inferior games, but somehow they still get a 9/10 rating. Average is the new near-perfect? WTF?

[@toddclawson3619]

@@fonesrphunny7242 From what I understand, people that work on programming AI usually get paid way better in actual tech jobs rather than making video games (because game companies won't pay them better) so the better AI programmers will obviously go to where they get more money. To be fair, it is a low-budget indie game and a lot of the reviews are probably made by people who understand and are judging the game by that. The reviews would probably be a lot more harsh if this was supposed to be a AAA high-budget game. Also yes our standards for a good game have kind of dropped. Despite all the jank and issues, the game is still actually a fun game rather than a microtransaction live-service that focuses more efforts on having the perfect store than actually making the game. That alone makes people more willing to bump up the score more than it may actually deserve.

[@leadpaintchips9461]

@@fonesrphunny7242 We do expect better iterations of AI as time goes on, but how many of these companies had Starcraft 2 budgets (and time) to throw around, and how much more do we actually _want_ the AI improved? Gotta remember that AI isn't just for computer controlled factions, it's also for our pathing. The better our pathing, the less micro is needed.

[@HansLemurson]

The only good bug is a dead bug!

[@asdfasdf-mn8iu]

@@fonesrphunny7242 I think you misremember AIs and pathing back in the day. AIs were usually horrible in early games but one wouldn't notice as much because most of the games were incredibly unbalanced for a lot of the missions and you had to cheese the AI or otherwise reload until you'd made it knowing what will come before it arrives to beat it. Nowadays games are better balanced, which smoothes out the experience a lot and in such cases, the benchmark for AI behaviour also changed.

[@djenei2564]

Starship troopers with only marines *oh wait*

[@maltardraco9555]

"It's all marines." Always has been.

[@magni5648]

Funny thing, Fleet Marines are actually a specific unit in the game, one of the two non-Mobile Infantry units the Federation gets. (The other is a Fleet Liaison officer.)

[@Benn1to]

I've been interested in this one since I heard about it in ~February, just haven't got time to pick it up and play it yet. Thanks for the review!

[@greyfells2829]

The line-of-fire mechanic is cool, wish more combat-focused RTS games used it.

[@patchpatch4008]

I really like this game. It gives me those gooey nostalgic feels of the good old days of RTS games with all their jank and charm. I totally agree the game has its jank here and there especially with ability spamming occasionally but I love the process of puzzling out a mission or those tense hold outs where your positioning your troops to maximize that fire power.

[@vvbr2372]

"The first battle is on Klandatu" Me: oh no, you gonna loose!

[@giandomenicomartorelli8069]

Best review I've seen for this game. Thanks for your work.

[@vladislavkaras491]

Thanks for this review!

[@34Francoa]

You can play as the bugs, the devs made a mod so you can do that I think it's on their website but if you do a general search you can find it. There was a road map announced and something extra that's going to be shown soon game was fun hopefully we get exciting new content.

[@WikiHL]

Ohhh nice

[@34Francoa]

@@WikiHL the road map announcement was announced on SlitherineGames YT channel they are the publisher of all the RTS games I think, the bug mod was about 1 month ago from the devs. I hope you enjoy it and this was helpful to all that see this really enjoyed this.

[@RedneckRapture]

Game's got a free update coming sometime this year that adds in a scenario editor that you can use to make your own maps, so the game community is probably going to provide endless replayability.

[@ezcompane]

Great review. I actually love this game and have been telling all of my friends o try it out. I even enjoy repeating the extra missions for the challenge. I haven't been keeping up lately, but have the developers mentioned any expansion content? That would be awesome.

[@AstroNerdBoy]

I'd forgotten about this game. Thanks for the reminder and the review.

[@ZealotOfSteal]

It saddens me that the fascinating world of the book has fallen to the wayside in the public consciousness due to the popularity of the movie. The movie is good in its own way, but is basically a completely different universe.

[@alejandrootero8894]

Wasn't the book a republican autofellatio?

[@omppusolttu5799]

@@alejandrootero8894 Not really republican, more fascistic. Specifically a nation where you need to have served in the military to have the right to vote. In the books it just works™

[@alejandrootero8894]

@@omppusolttu5799 It sounds like when a Democrat denies being a statist, but wants to open more plans and departments of public welfare.

[@clan741]

I found it was 30 dollars for a good campaign, for that price I can’t argue. It’s still got some jank, but nothing game breaking. Except scorpions, fuuuuck those things spawn too numerously for the amount of armor and damage they do

[@AParticularlyConcernedCitizen]

They unironically ruin the Meru mission for me and made me lower the difficulty just to beat it. Not that I couldn't if I tried, but would I have fun waiting four hours for all of them to finally die? No lol.

[@Sorain1]

There's a reason the first major balance patch was essentially "So, it turns out that Scorpions are not only OP, but were spawning in both larger numbers and far more often than intended. So we fixed that."

[@AParticularlyConcernedCitizen]

@@Sorain1 You mean I can finally defend the Fort on the highest difficulty? Sick.

[@clan741]

@@Sorain1 except they hadn’t yet fixed the spawn amount, they just lowered the range and armor the scorpions have by a little bit. It’s not the power of the scorpions I have a problem with, the bugs need some powerful unit to counter Marauders or an infantry rush, its that they can spawn 4 at a time in short waves cause of how the hive system works.

[@axiomapostate6704]

I loved the old Starship troopers terran ascendancy from back in 2000, so I might check this out.

[@MalcontentVet]

Omg I would love to play as the bugs. I did not even think about that until you said it. Such a good idea.

[@kampfer91]

What i like about this game is the price actually match with what i got . I bought it instantly but for 1 year i haven't bought AoE4 even though i know AoE is a big franchise , i got AoE2 and AoE3 after all , but the game simply too expensive for what it offer , especially the single player campaign which is lackluster....

[@dshadows2966]

Well for one it's pretty short game, thus far, but it's a decent experience to say the least. Starship Troopers has historically been kind of a B-list or even a C-list franchise. That the franchise is still alive says something about its stubbornness as a gritty Sci-Fi series. The way the units work makes sense when you look at them. I will give some examples. Regular troopers are always up front and close to the action, their short range upgrades reflect this. The Combat Engineers/Tech Troopers are entirely built to be area denial experts and can hold chokepoints or even create temporary chokepoints themselves. What they are best known for is building turrets that defensively do the work of several trooper units. Snipers can cause immense distractions to swarms or upgrade to slow down heavy targets. The game actually takes terrain into account, so the higher up they are the better.

[@Bloodlyshiva]

"That the franchise is still alive says something about its stubbornness as a gritty Sci-Fi series." Or the stubbornness of the people holding on to it and spouting catchphrases.

[@daveb1465]

That shout out to the dev team at the end gave me a good chuckle.

[@pete-ph5xc]

I remember hearing about this and looking forward to it, especially with the Single Player focus, but I didn't realize it released. I need to go check it out

[@Siptom369]

This is one of the best RTS Games out there now with such an amazing Campaign

[@bigmclargehuge8219]

Oh hey, I remember that this game was announced. Interested to see your thoughts!

[@joeltangjerd2828]

Hadn't heard about it, but now I want to know more!

[@Travis-ig7bx]

I love this game. Thanks for giving it some love here on youtube

[@kabriii]

Grant, you really need to try Dawn of war (the first instalment, with or without the expansions): it’s really simple to play and very well done!

[@avo616]

💀

[@calebbarnhouse496]

Can't wait for a challenge run where he exclusively calls the space marines Terran, and the Eldar protos

[@slicemup9]

This game really reminds me of Halo Wars in how unit composition is the key to winning. Which is a good thing, Halo Wars 2 is still one of the best RTS games ever made IMO.

[@whitedragon1204]

EH.....starcraft 2 would wanna say something but yea for a story gameplay its fun.

[@slicemup9]

@@whitedragon1204 Didn't say THE best, just said ONE of the best.

[@MrNachoChannel]

For a indie game, this game hits the right spots as a Starship Troopers fan even in its current state. They announced Free and Paid DLC which is a great move and I'm excited that this wasn't the end of this project.

[@tabula_rosa]

this game was amazing. it innovates so much on the RTS formula & manages to make a game that depicts large-scale battles when its cohorts depict light skirmishing in between long stretches of nothing, and the fact that it did so by being starship troopers instead of a starcraft reskin when making a starship troopers themed starcraft reskin would have been *so easy* makes it even more impressive. it has singlehandedly convinced me that the #1 thing holding back the rts genre is starcraft's deathgrip on the design decisions that go into making them

[@Osteichthyes]

God I want to play as the bugs, instant sell for me. It's like CnC with GDI and Nod, it really helps to have the counter experience on offer. That was my biggest issue with Halo Wars, there was no Covenant side outside of multiplayer. I especially like it when the campaigns have references to what happens in the other side like in CnC 3.

[@MrStealYoBeef]

This is part of why Starcraft is so good too. Imagine only playing as terran and never experiencing the zerg and protoss campaigns. The Queen Bitch of the Universe is iconic , and not having that would make Starcraft a tiny fraction of what it is. And then they ruined that exact experience in SC2 by making the zerg into the other other good guys... Sometimes players just want to play the bad guys. Morally grey and straight evil isn't a bad thing in gameplay Blizzard, it's what really helped put you on the map.

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

@@MrStealYoBeef Everything you said I've been saying for eons.

[@danielskrivan6921]

$30 for 15 hours of entertainment is a lot better than going to the movies!

[@sicsempertyrannis8731]

There is one mission in particular with this game that really stands out among RTS games. It is the mission after the Marauder mission where you are supposed to defend a bridge leading into a refugee camp. After a certain amount of time, a second army drops in behind enemy lines and you have to balance between defending the bridge (Which is not a very defensible position) and using your second army to capture outposts behind bug lines to acquire resources to build a bigger army and eventually start taking out the hives around the city. That was the first real difficulty spike in the game imo. It took me a few tries to beat it because I would be maneuvering my second army only to look back at the bridge and a scorpion has already whittled down my outer defenses. It forced me to be more efficient with my second army movements. Also, a painful lesson I learned, big fancy expensive mechs are not a good investment compared to a balanced group of say 3 riflemen, an engineer, 2 snipers, and 2-3 rockets. Always have at least 2 rockets in an army group to 1shot any scorpion before they fry an entire army group.

[@Nekoyashiki-san]

Thanks for rts community! ^^

[@TheOmegaRiddler]

At the price it's currently at, I think it's worth getting during a steam sale if it's at half price.

[@SirCanuckelhead]

It is worth it at its current price but fair if you want to wait for sales

[@TheFrostspec]

The original Starship Trooper movie is a great movie but it does the book dirty. Enjoy the movie as a fun popcorn flick but give the book some serious thought. The government in the book is not the authoritarian nightmare it is in the movie. The game looks fun but being based off the movie is a negative in my book. I recommend the book.

[@ldn_rumrunner]

Lol do not listen to this man. The movie is a fantastic critique of US militarism, with good satire. The book is fascist propaganda glorifying war

[@joshbruess8849]

@@ldn_rumrunner you've clearly never read the book

[@Evilmon2]

@@ldn_rumrunner Where does the book glorify war? They specifically have disabled and disfigured vets as recruiters to discourage people from signing up for the military on a whim as just one example of it doing the exact opposite. And what at all about their society is fascist?

[@thomastelson5444]

@@Evilmon2 Also Rico’s Recruiter strongly discourages him from joining the Cyber K-9 unit because he describes the pairing of the Person and K-9 as a marriage and death of one is serious reaction to both.

[@magni5648]

@@ldn_rumrunner It really *doesn't* glorify war at all, though? Like, it's actually cynical as all hell about it, with the war in the book being outright stated to be a border clash over resources with neither side having much ideological investment into it, nor any real moral high ground over the other.

[@mattpeters4700]

I love the IP a lot. I really liked the TT game from like 15 years ago. Tanks for covering this.

[@Snootypriss]

Because I was waiting for you to talk about!

[@lordcola-3324]

I don't enjoy unit microing very much. I prefer base building and macro mechanics and this game is everything I don't like about RTS games. Unfortunate, because I love the stetting.

[@johnkonig865]

I mean it's called Starship Troopers, they normally don't sit around and build the army on site when they go somewhere, so actual base building would restrict where the story could take place quite a bit, perhaps they will add another mode in the future for that kind of stuff, but it's just not needed for the campaign.

[@synka5922]

I played through the game nearly day 1, got some 20 hours in it and finished on highest difficulty. It was fun, but a bit boring still.

[@whitedragon1204]

the retreat through the desert suck ass for me but I loved it. yea it could use more but it was a great movie videogame.

[@katathoombz]

The end of tutorials highlighting of the core mechanic of no need to count the casualties seems well made. It also depicts the in-game-universe well, as well as the movieverse. The book's nothing like it, but that's always a different matter.

[@2142clonewars]

Played this from the day it came out. Loved every minuet of it.

[@asdfasdf-mn8iu]

Tbh i feel like difficulty is still one of the most important things in games, no matter if they need 3x the time to balance out than the normal map needs. I hate when games like mass effect destroy immersion completely by making every single enemy a bullet sponge and the game take much longer because of that (and in ME 3's case, some classes just not working properly anymore) on higher difficulties. Implement more enemies, give them new abilities, whatever. If situations get very hard bc of that, that happened in the older games too and one found ways to work around it.

[@qberrygamz7049]

Having played it at launch I have to wonder if they have fixed this or you and I have a different y perspective. 🤔 I played the game at first the atmosphere and sound all thwt wad great but the actual RTS by God wad it bad Snipers and engineers where worthless. The best stray was spamming rifleman and rocket troopers with maybe 1 or 2 mk 2 rifleman to handle the medium armor bugs But the combat man it ws such a slog. I didn't know I was fighting in ww1 where every battle takes years to complete. Clearing hives was annoying and tedious as the strength would just go up. Operators where worthless say for 1 radio man who tou would replace every 30 seconds cuase your troops are made of tissue paper Them the scorpion being rhe anti armor bug thst you can barely scratch but it can wave its tail and wipe entire squads like thry where nothing. Not to mention. Tbe story just was t tbet interesting I got to like mission 14 and just quit cyase I wasn't enjoying it. But thet wad my take on it

[@AceArata]

Im a year late, but an RTS that is focused on the single player experience is ALWAYS worth my time in my book

[@davekendall1338]

Terran Ascendancy was one of my favorites back in the day. I'd love to see another tactical Starship Troopers game.

[@H3Vtux]

I think one of the main things that held the Starship Troopers IP back so much all these is that half the fanbase loved it and but half couldn't get over the fact that it was meant to be a critique of the very thing it was celebrating: the space marine military trope. I personally don't feel like there needs to be an exclusion there. It's like Schwarzenegger films like predator, commando, and conan... they're a parody of AND a celebration of excessive masculinity. You laugh at it but you also admire it. I think in that regard Starcraft was the spiritual successor to Troopers. I would never want a Terran marine to come to thanksgiving dinner, but I would love to have a beer with one. this game looks great though!

[@razvanvasilache7834]

deathless maybe?

[@maximilienpellerin3797]

if you have played the game you are a sadist but if you haven't played it i cannot explain how many resets he will get with SCORPIONS alone xD

[@razvanvasilache7834]

@@maximilienpellerin3797 i have played it and can say he will hate himself if he plays it

[@tarrisfairbroke6899]

The Bug campaign grant suggested at the end sounds like a great time.

[@danielskrivan6921]

Mr. Games, you did a great job on Rank Roulette!

[@HorkSupreme]

The book was well done and thought provoking in its philosophy, it's also better than the movie which is just a spiteful piece of denigrating media. Give it a read.

[@gallendugall8913]

If it had been book accurate with mini-nuke armed power armor troops as the mobile infantry against a wide variety of enemies then I would have been interested. The movie version gives you pathetically underpowered short range weapons on troops with zero practical formations fighting bugs. This was fine for the film's pretense that the war was contrived to purge the growing voter base threatening the political power of the military elite, but as a game it means you're playing cannon fodder simulator. Every mission is a big reset button for more cannon fodder antics. Not interested.

[@cosmo6064]

You have truely envolved from the guy who can play starcraft in a weird way, love this kind of RTS content. Keep it up buddy!

[@wollfary]

Dude, I totally forgot about that game, shame it didn't come out with co-op or a horde mode or something to give it that extra umpfh that I'd need to go and pick it up myself. Great review btw, subbed!

[@SeithonJetter]

The engineer's grenade is actually not primarily a damaging tool, it's an area denial tool that prevents enemies moving through an area for a time.

[@ectogem5626]

You CAN move through it, but it's punishing... learned that the hard way...

[@nikbond188]

I can recommend checking out "Regiments", which is also a single-player-focused RTS (which is a mix between World in Conflict and Steel Division). One core mechanic of its campaign is to balance between getting new types of units for your army, investing enough resources so you can support a larger army, getting enough tactical aid so you can use off-map abilities (like air strikes), supplies to repair and replenish your army in combat, and defensive structure to help you hold gained territory. One of my favorite moments in that game was in the last operation, where on paper, your army is basically unbeatable. But the army was so lopsided towards high-cost units I had to make use of crappy militia. Furthermore, I ended up spending precious resources to invest into supplies (instead of getting stronger units), because logistics ended up being the biggest bottle neck for me, forcing me to be on the defensive. Though the last part is bit ironic, as you play as the US

[@Tomahawkist_]

i love how rts is kinda coming back, first this game, then tempest rising, i am really excited about what is in store for the genre in the next few years

[@unoriginalasshole7879]

Got this and loved it. As a long time fan of the series it was worth the money

[@Archaneus]

I got this game day one, played through it in the next couple days. I think it's genuinely great. I do wish we could do random map skirmishes and/or play as the bugs, but it does almost flawlessly execute on what it intended to do.

[@UnwrittenSpade]

This looks fun and I don’t play these types of games since way back in age of empires 2, Jesus that was like 25 years ago. Just randomly found you too I like I’m subbing

[@samkerr6029]

Playing Brood War with Terran and Zerg always felt good after having seen this movie back in the days.

[@RobG95]

A starship trooper RTS, man what a time to be alive!

[@buggyboy2849]

Terran Ascendancy from 2000 was a much more enjoyable experience than most are willing to mention and it holds up to this day with its unique take on the franchise both in concept and feel. The Queen Bug of TA alone is better than any new Bug design in the franchise after Roughnecks.