Starship Troopers: Terran Command Review
The new Starship Troopers RTS captures the atmosphere of the movie, but doesn't accomplish much else.
Terran Command
Starship Troopers: Terran Command is a real-time strategy game with a focus on unit control. Base management is minimal or absent in many missions; when it is present, it is mostly unit logistics. “Supplies” for purchasing new squads of soldiers are rewarded by exploring the map or through completing story objectives. They are also dedicated to units, rather than spent, so that once a squad is killed its cost is refunded.
This can be done instantly, but each unit has XP and levels up. At level three they earn a new ability and receive increased combat capabilities.
The unit roster has good variety. Basic Mobile Infantry excel at mid-to-close range. Engineers use flamethrowers up-close. Mk. 2 soldiers have more firepower but are more vulnerable in melee. Snipers snipe, Officers give buffs, and Radio Operators call down dropships for reinforcements. By the late-game, high-powered Plasma units and power-armored Apesuits will be under your control. Most missions involve leading some combination of these soldiers through cave systems, canyons, ravaged MI bases, or the open deserts of Kwalasha as Archie is driven from the lands.
Terran Command is at its strongest when the player is forced to defend a single point. Arrange lines of fire and watch the bugs come:
MI barrels flash and rain fire down on the enemy. Arachnids pop and explode in gory death animations, each perfectly capturing the spirit of Verhoeven’s classic film.
Terran Command begins to crack when missions involve moving out of static defenses. Its micromanagement systems are not refined. Soldiers do not fire while moving unless given an Attack Move command. But if Attack Move is used, soldiers will continue moving to their destination regardless of whether they encounter enemies—marching them directly into melee range.
You do not want your MI in melee with Arachnids.
There is no reason for the infantry in this game to not shoot at bugs while moving. The control scheme does not reflect this. The only exception is the Marauder mechs, who do stop moving at range when they encounter enemies. Of course this is the only unit that this isn’t a desirable behavior for; Marauders have melee-range flamethrowers, and are also invulnerable.
I was constantly frustrated with the controls. Units were rarely where I needed them to be in my army. Each has an ability, but I rarely managed to use them while I was fighting with micromanagement, trying to keep each squad out of melee while remembering to use their guns.
SWATing Bugs
Like the MI, bugs come in many different shapes. Plasma Bugs for artillery, Tigers for heavy infantry, Spitters for long range, and worst of all the dreaded Scorpion. These special Arachnids, especially the ranged variety, force the player to leave fortifications and break his lines of fire. This forces engagement with the awkward pathfinding and targeting systems, which often leads to the entirety of the Mobile Infantry becoming stuck on one another and doing nothing while they are massacred.
The designs of the special Arachnids amplify this problem. They are tremendously damaging and strike from across the map. The long-range bugs also tend to have the best armor and by far the most HP.
Consider the Scorpion.
These handsome creatures shoot plasma from their tails. They're also nigh invulnerable and attack in groups. A single blast from a Scorpion will annihilate a unit of MI troopers. It is also the only way for a Marauder to receive serious damage.
The Scorpion does this from vast range.
Scorpions can only be killed by Rocket Squads. But Rocket Squads will never target Scorpions on their own, because some other target will always be closer, and there is no AI that prioritizes threats. The late-game missions become enormous slogs of endless Scorpions stinging from miles away.
The real problem with ranged Arachnids is one of design principles. Terran Command is best when defending fortifications and fending off waves of melee Warriors and Tigers. This is the fantasy of Starship Troopers, and it seems to have been the starting point for this game. Forcing the player to engage long-ranged bugs disrupts the fantasy and spoils the game, because moving troops is awkward, clunky, and miserable.
I liked Terran Command at first, but I was ready to be done with it by the halfway point.
Verhoeven's Legacy
The story is an attempt to ape the tone of Verhoeven's film. The Federation is a comically militaristic and oppressive space empire without any regard for the lives of its soldiers. The best mission is about recovering an escaped insurrectionist, bringing him back to a fort, and fending off the bugs as his execution is televised across the galaxy. The story is simple, but it works moment-to-moment.
Its overall plot is lacking. The missions feel disjointed. There is some kind of through-line about retaking Kwalasha, but the levels do not seem to flow into one another. This is partially the consequence of how the characters are written. Only three appear in the story, and they are never present as units. Despite being absent from the map, they make comments like, “Whew! It stinks in these sewers!”
This is bizarre and confusing. I do understand why the developers wrote the game this way, though, and it was to have these characters function as narrators. They tell the player what to do, and they do this adequately.
There is one nice moment at the end that does a lot to bring the story together. I only wish they had done more to build a cohesive plot.
What I wish they had done less of is cutscenes. There are far too many of them in this game, all of which interrupt the flow of the missions. The Colonel and the Major are welcome to narrate over gameplay, but I cannot stand it when control is taken away from me. Do not do this.
Conclusions
Starship Troopers: Terran Command is short. It took me about ten hours to beat. It has no multiplayer, no custom games, no co-op, and beyond its 20-mission main campaign, only two additional scenarios to play. It's also cheap, at $30. As an adaptation of the 1997 film, it succeeds. At times it's a unique and enjoyable RTS. More often, it’s clunky and frustrating.
For fans of Verhoeven's Starship Troopers, I'd recommend it, maybe at a discount. For those who don't care about the franchise and just want a new RTS, I advise you stay away. The final six missions are an awful slog, and the controls really do steal all of the fun.
Terran Command is available on Steam here.
Edit: Terran Command would ultimately go on to receive two DLC packs. These synthesized the lessons of the base game and are big improvements. I recommend both.