Review: Starship Troopers Continuum
Starship Troopers seems to be having quite a resurgence in the gaming scene recently, and Continuum has brought the franchise to Virtual Reality. As someone who is a fan of the original movie, it was great to see Casper Van Dien announcing that it was coming to VR – which certainly caused ripples of excitement in the VR community. I have now been taking down the Arachnid’s, is it worth signing up to be a Trooper?
Release Date: November 14th 2024
Developer: XR Games
Publisher: Sony Pictures Virtual Reality
Price: US $19.99 / €17.99 / £14.99
Reviewed On: Meta Quest 3
* Access Provided For Review *
Tip The Balance
It’s twenty-five years since the Battle of Klendathu, and the war between the Federation and the Arachnid is deadlocked. But the planet Janus-4 holds a secret that threatens to tip the balance of the war – one way or the other.
Stop The Arachnid Dominance
What shocked me about Starship Troopers Continuum was XR Games mixing different elements of genres into one, and how well this actually worked. Where the main gameplay element is essentially an arcade wave-shooter, they have also included a fantastic progression system and rouge-like elements.
You play as a PsyCommander, someone with advance psychic powers, this allows you to control troopers on the battlefield. As a PsyCommander you will have your own rank progress system and perks to help you build a perfect trooper. Giving you and your trooper more of a connection, as the perks linked to you can make them the better troopers and more equipped for the battlefield.
So, you will be sending your troopers on campaign Missions or patrols, when completing these successfully it will reward you with points for your own rank, rank for your current trooper and credits you will be spending on the games weapons. The missions follow the same loop, you will work your way through the area the level is based in while taking on waves of Arachnid’s to progress, with it ending in either taking on a boss or doing an objective like plant and defend a nuke as it charges. This gives the games main feel of the arcade wave-based shooter. The Patrols are extra little missions, which will see you defending points or surviving waves of Arachnid’s, again completing these will increase yours and your current Troopers rank and give you credits. You will hit points where your campaign progress will be halted because you are not a high enough PsyCommander rank, meaning you will find yourself moving to do the patrols and replaying the missions you have already completed.
The trooper is where that rouge-like element comes in, as your trooper has one life so, once it dies in combat you will be starting a fresh with a new trooper at Rank One. You will also lose the weapon and perks that you have equipped at that time. Meaning if your new trooper does not have you favorite weapons, its time to visit the armory and buy back the weapon to keep using it on your new Trooper. Once your Trooper hits a set rank, you can choose to make them a civilian, the bonus of doing this is will give you big rewards towards your own rank as a PsyCommander.
You can go into the battlefield in Single-player, doing this will earn both weapon and trooper upgrades, perks and customisation options for your trooper. This means you to change your troopers look from the helmet, gloves, chest and trousers and also set their perks to make them perfect for your play style. You can also play it in two to three player co-op, allowing you to create an online squad to take on both the campaign missions and patrols. The game can hold its own as a single-player game at first but, then I feel that you will start to want to play it co-op and this really is where the games longevity is going to come from – getting online with a group of friends and taking down classic bugs and some new Arachnid friends.
The game boasts an impressive twenty plus weapons, which I am sure players will find their favorites, with mine being the Morita (Automatic Assault Rifle form the movie), Katana (SMG) and Leviathan (LMG). Of course each weapon has its own advantages and disadvantages, so players will the find the one that suits their playing style the best. Each of the weapons can be manually reloaded, which is the most immersive way to play but, if you are not a fan of this or being over-run you can do a button-press reload. In some cases when playing in single-player the button-press reload saved my troopers bacon, especially when mixed with the PsyCommander’s dash ability to get out of the way quickly. One thing I wish they had done with the weapons is make them more physical, like being able to knock our the current clip with the new one when reloading – but this could take away the arcadey feel the game is offering.
As previously mentioned you will be buying your weapons with the credits you earn by completing missions and patrols – these can be purchased back at the base camp between missions/patrols or set stations as you progress through the missions. Where you might think I have my favorite weapon and my Trooper is still alive, it is still worth checking the Armory, as they might have your favorite weapon in stock at a higher grade – meaning you can buy one with improved stats for your next mission or patrol.
Bold And Cartoony
One thing that had my worried from the game trailers was the bold and colorful look, which reminded me a bit of the approach taken with Sony Pictures Virtual Reality’s Ghostbusters game (although this was a different developer). Where I didn’t mind the later, it did take away a bit from the feel of that franchise. However, I am happy to say once I was in the Starship Troopers Continuum, it works well because of the gameplay approach and the Arachnid’s all looked nice in this visual style.
The visual style is similar to what we have seen previously from XR Games, with their awesome arcade-shooter Zombieland: Headshot Fever. Meaning the world of Starships Troopers has the same bold, colorful and cartoony aesthetic. This has allowed for the areas you are taking on the waves of Arachnid’s in to be larger, without hitting any major frame drops on the Quest’s mobile chip.
When it comes the audio, it does the job it needs to. With each environment and setting have the audio that is suited, each weapon sounding different, the Arachnid’s screams and solid voice acting – with Casper Van Dien reprising his role as Johnny Rico. Add to this light music as you moving between areas and waves, and the music becoming more intense as you are in combat with the Arachnid’s.
In this build I did have a couple of audio glitches, where the gun firing sounds just got stuck on repeat. But, this was fixed by reloading my weapon and firing off a round – at least it was not game breaking. I was informed this is launch day build so, you might suffer from this – but, it should be easy to fix with a future patch.
Comfort
The Verdict
When I first saw gameplay for Starship Troopers Continuum and how it looked visually, I didn’t really have high hopes for the game, but this changed as soon as I had done a couple of the campaign missions. The arcade wave-shooter works well for the franchise, and mixing in a rouge-like element for the Troopers and a great progression system gives it the extras that is needed. However, I feel that the games longevity is going to come down to having a coupe of friends to play co-op with or the servers staying populated – as this where the game shines. But, if you are looking for a good arcadey shooter, with a large amount of weapons and a decent progression system this could be an option, especially if you are a fan of the Starship Troopers franchise.