Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! Review – I’m Doing My Part

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Since the original book came out, the world of Starship Troopers has appeared in many different forms of media. While Paul Verhoeven’s 1997 film is the most well-known adaptation, several games have drawn inspiration from it over the years. Examples include the insect-like Zerg in StarCraft and the Tyranids in Warhammer 40,000, and more recently, Helldivers 2, which shares a similar style of satire and storytelling. Following in that vein, Auroch Digital—the studio behind the retro shooter Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun—has created Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War!, a new fast-paced shooter.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! is how it looks and feels. Auroch Digital has created a playful interface – instead of a standard menu, you click around your base to find options. This is also where you discover a key feature: the game lets you play as both humans and the bugs, but we’ll discuss that in more detail later.

Despite looking like a classic ‘boomer shooter,’ Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! actually borrows its gameplay ideas from newer games.

The game’s story is essentially a piece of interactive propaganda. Throughout the game, fully acted cutscenes reveal that ‘Ultimate Bug War’ is an in-universe game created by the Federation to encourage people to join the ongoing war against bugs. The plot is designed as a playful parody of classic action movies, filled with the over-the-top violence and drama typical of that genre.

Despite feeling like a classic ‘boomer shooter,’ Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! borrows design elements from newer games. Instead of strictly linear levels, it drops you into bigger areas with multiple goals you can complete in almost any order. These smaller objectives all contribute to a larger story about the Federation struggling against a bug offensive, and each level ends with a major, dramatic event.

The moment-to-moment action in Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! is exactly what you’d expect – quick and intense. Bugs constantly swarm you from all sides, keeping you alert. Unlike modern shooters, your health and shields don’t automatically recharge. You’ll need to find health packs scattered around the map or request supply drops when you’re running low. The combat stays engaging because enemies have a balanced amount of health. Regular bugs die after about 15 bullets, but tougher ones, like armored or ranged bugs, require more firepower.

The game features a good range of enemies. You’ll face fast, close-range attackers like warrior bugs and aphids, as well as ranged enemies – archers – who attack from a distance. Occasionally, tougher enemies like centurions or heavily armored foes appear, demanding more strategic gameplay. These intense encounters might push you to use your strongest abilities, such as airstrikes, or expend your limited, powerful ammunition.

Okay, so the moment-to-moment gameplay is pretty much what I expected – it’s super fast-paced! You’re constantly having to react because bugs just swarm you from everywhere. It definitely keeps you on your toes!

The game features a wide variety of weapons and equipment. You start each mission with a Morita Assault Rifle and an attached shotgun, but exploring the map lets you find even more options like carbines, burst-fire rifles, and sniper rifles. I especially love using the shotgun – it’s incredibly satisfying because of the great sound effects, visual impact, and its ability to quickly eliminate most enemies in Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! You can carry two main weapons at a time, plus a third slot for special weapons. While these special weapons are enjoyable, their implementation isn’t perfect and is one of the game’s weaker points.

Once you grab a special weapon, you’re committed – you have to use it right away. You can’t switch back to your normal weapons to fight regular enemies, because switching will make you drop the special weapon. In the intense, chaotic battles of Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War!, you’ll likely lose track of it completely. This forces you to either desperately find a safe place to hide it while enemies swarm around you, or just use it to deal with the immediate danger instead of saving it for a tougher opponent.

Moving around in Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! feels unnecessarily frustrating. While standard running and jumping work as expected for a fast-paced shooter, the game includes a sprint button for quicker movement. Unfortunately, sprinting relies on a stamina bar, and when it runs out, you’re suddenly slowed back down to a normal run, which feels disruptive.

The sprinting mechanic itself isn’t flawed, but it becomes frustrating because releasing the sprint button causes your stamina to refill almost instantly. This forces you to pause sprinting briefly every few seconds, which wouldn’t be a problem in a game with straightforward levels. However, in Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War!, the wide-open maps make these frequent stops a constant, minor annoyance that slows down your progress.

Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! really nails the feeling of using a shotgun – it’s super satisfying.

Bug missions offer a relaxing change of pace from the challenging human missions. They’re quite short, usually lasting around ten minutes, and let you play as a powerful “Assassin bug” capable of easily defeating Federation soldiers. These missions unlock as you complete human missions, letting you revisit familiar maps with enhanced abilities. You can transform into different forms – Warrior, Hopper, and Tanker – for even more power. Ultimately, they’re a fun, over-the-top experience, and the game suggests these bug missions are actually Federation propaganda designed to encourage recruitment.

Technically, Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! runs very well. Despite its unique visual style – a mix of 3D environments and 2D character art – I consistently achieved a smooth 144 frames per second. This performance was tested on a PC with an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor, 32GB of 6000MHz RAM, and a Radeon RX 7800 XT graphics card with 16GB of video memory.

Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! is a really enjoyable shooter that shares similarities with games like Helldivers 2. It’s accessible to players of all skill levels thanks to its range of difficulty settings, and the diverse missions and engaging story kept me hooked. The game also strikes a good balance between challenging human combat and satisfying, over-the-top bug-blasting missions, offering a fun change of pace.

This game was reviewed on PC.

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2026-03-16 21:12