Starship Troopers: Terran Command review – the only good bug is a dead bug

RTS is not exactly a genre that will thrive. On the contrary, not so many are published every year and only a small percentage of them manage to break into the consciousness of the general public. Starship Troopers: Terran Command’s brutal strategy has many names. Who in the world doesn’t know the iconic star infantry, right? We will tell in our review whether the brand was successful enough for it.

• Platform: PC (peer-reviewed version)
• Publication date: June 16, 2022
• Producer: Artistocrats
• Genre: RTS
• Czech location: Not
• Multiplayer: Not
• Data to download: 10 GB
• Game time: 10 – 15 hours
• Price: 617 CZK (couples)

Drawing style film series

The story of Starship Troopers: Terran Command is set in space, where human society favors the state over the individual. If you really want to mean something, you have to start your life path in an army that is steadily immersed in battles against space invaders. More precisely, the bugs, whose expansionist strategies have already cost the people more than one well-functioning world. This time, the center of the fighting is the desert planet of Qualasha, suddenly attacked by a giant army of many enemies. Her people need help, which only the Starships, led by none other than you, can provide.

The bug crusade in this strategic work consists of more than a dozen scenarios. This happens mostly on corridor maps where you go from one point to another and reach different objectives. Of course, there are a few parts that deviate from the mold and offer a wider variety of fights. However, they are few and far between, which is a pity because these exceptions can give you a wider range of tactical options and a correspondingly higher replay value than a battlefield where you have several valleys and more or less well-defined conditions necessary to achieve victory. .

Scenarios take place mainly on corridor maps.

I came up with a very beautiful, for example, mission that revolved around the launch of a power plant. This was a scenario that took place in a very large space with several bases from which I had to choose the initial one at the start. I won’t lie. For the first time, I made the wrong choice. Although at first glance the position seemed like a nice point, I quickly realized that I would not shoot from the siege, so I restarted the entire mission, chose a more habitable base and began clearing the landscape of beetles. However, even the second attempt was not a walk in the rose garden, because thanks to the space, I had another opportunity to make a mistake. First of all, I work recklessly with units, for which, of course, I paid with their loss at a certain stage of the game.

For example, the mission to launch the power plant has been very beautifully redesigned.

Fans of this film series probably won’t be surprised that the story campaign is all about storytelling with a handful of brilliant moments that won’t stay in your head for too long. You are waiting for jokes from the movies and especially a bunch of iconic messages that soldiers repeat at the same speed as they shoot at enemies. I could really imagine a more complex storyline, but there is no basis for it. Plus, mission length alone is disappointing at least half the time. Personally, I have, in addition to their scope, the problem is that they are too tied to the script, which is why they often encounter bugs. As a beautiful example, I will mention the situation when a ship arrived for my boys at the end of the event and did not arrive, which sentenced them to death, and me to restart the event.

Star Infantry is not to be intimidated

And how are the fights with bugs really going? Pretty simple. You always get a few infantry battalions that work basically the same as the soldiers in the Company of Heroes series. These are smaller sections with a clear specialization. The backbone of your army is made up of guys with assault rifles, just the perfect front line stuff from which you build really important fighters. Imaginary sour cream, which you can no longer mindlessly send to your death, includes snipers, guys with rocket launchers, commanders with support abilities, heavy robots, an elite in power suits and, of course, radio operators. The latter may seem completely useless at first glance, but they are there mainly due to the stable supply of meat to the meat grinder, because you can add units with them.

If you’re thinking about why there hasn’t been a word about building here yet, it’s because there’s no base building here. That is, to be precise, with the help of a technician you can build a few turrets and build production facilities within a well-defined control point, but that’s about it. In Starship Troopers: Terran Command, there is no construction of defensive ramparts, no complex work at the base, which is a shame, since the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bdefense formation is clearly proposed here. There are also not too complex development trees associated with laboratories. Instead, there is personal progression, where veterans always get access to a special ability of your choice. You can unlock, for example, area attacks, support airdrops, or various baits for the bug army.

There was not a word about the construction, since there is more or less no base.

An army of insects is no worse than the Star Infantry. Exactly the opposite. Literally every warrior beetle is a deadly instrument that, the moment it reaches its prey, begins a deadly dance. Therefore, human units must keep them away from the body. However, there are not only beetles with giant claws. In addition to them, in the swarm in Starship Troopers: Terran Command there are also monsters that spit acid or plasma discharges, capable of destroying several battalions at once. Each mission has to deal with a slightly different lineup, but fighting them is always difficult.

An army of insects is no worse than the Star Infantry.

The game can very effectively punish you for every move. I like the high difficulty here, although at times I hated Starship Troopers: Terran Command for it. It only took one wrong step or a thoughtlessly sent detachment, and my whole plan collapsed like a house of cards. Beetles do not mate with him and in an instant tear apart everything hostile. However, their AI is not complicated at all, they simply pursue their goal, regardless of the losses.

The only good beetle is the one in the back

Starship Troopers: Terran Command looks like a very primitive affair at first. On the one hand, heavily armed soldiers, and on the other, insects are presented that literally undertake suicide attacks. Not much, right? But over time, beetles go through a certain form of development. They send more interesting varieties into the field and slowly show that they are able to shape this fight not only with brute force, but also with a certain dose of tactics. I am not saying that there is any depth in their behavior, but at least at certain moments they can surprise a person and create decent losses for his faithful. Especially when you get out of tactics.

You know, underestimating your opponents doesn’t pay off, and that familiar notion of bugs is doubly true. It can also be applied to Starship Troopers: Terran Command. While this game is probably hard to fit into the annals of strategy, it’s definitely a title that doesn’t do much damage to the Starship Troopers brand. Exactly the opposite. This is a good real-time strategy with an emphasis on the tactical side, ignoring which can at any time hit you in the claws of the first warrior bug. When you try out a short B-story full of units constantly pouring with stereotypical buzzwords, bugs, and the fact that the whole with its graphics probably won’t win any beauty contests, it can offer you an immersive experience where every step depends . Just something that fits into the portfolio of publisher HC Slitherine Ltd.