Starship Troopers: Extermination – Early Access Preview

ign.com:

The 1997 cult classic movie Starship Troopers by director Paul Verhoeven is a relentless war film that leans heavily into the spectacle and over-the-top nature of intergalactic warfare. With the upcoming Starship Troopers: Extermination from Beyond the Wire developer Offworld Industries, the video game adaptation seeks to expand upon the film's chaotic and gory combat sequences for its focus on co-op squad-based action.

I got an early look at Extermination ahead of its early access release on May 17th and saw its unique blend of large-scale combat and tower defense-style gameplay firsthand. And so far, it has the makings for a compelling twist on the original film's concept of soldiers out of their depth being thrust head-first into a fight against an endless swarm of alien bugs.

Extermination takes place decades after the original film and sees a new division of Deep Space Vanguards face off against the extremely hostile alien species known as the Arachnids – otherwise known as "bugs." The squad of troopers takes on a variety of resource-gathering and bug hunt missions, all while facing off against an onslaught of vicious Arachnids that can easily tear your squad apart.

The main loop focuses on running and gunning against the bugs, capturing territory, and building bases and ammo depots to mostly even the playing field against the opposition. Before each game, you get to choose from one of three different class types; the jet-pack-wearing Assault class, a Heavy class that can pull up a mobile shield to hunker down and lay down suppressive fire on bugs, and a support unit that can call up medic drones to heal the squad.

When the action goes off, Extermination features some solid shooting and team mechanics at work, including