OK, so I bought the latest issue of PC Games (German gaming mag), and they shipped the full version of Starship Troopers along on their DVD. So far so good. Unfortunately the game is heinous!

Graphics: The SWARM engine looks like an early beta version of Doom 3's id Tech 4 (or even worse, a modified id Tech 3). If we think back to 2005 when the game way published, think of other releases: Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil, F.E.A.R., Black & White 2, Quake 4 - just to name a few. And Starship Troopers simply doesn't stand a chance.

Sound: But the sound is even worse. Music from the first film played randomly, and sound effects that make your guns feel like cheap plastic guns. NPCs have a habit of talking to you, but they sound like frightened attorneys (NOTE: I played the German version, and it was so bad and cheap I could cry.)

Controls: Standard WASD + jump + crouch + usebutton. Pretty much the standard. But it starts with the mousewheel: Do I have to scroll down for the next weapon, or up? It's never clear. You can access the weapons also via 1-9 keys, but apparently not all of them.

Story: There is none. Well, you kill bugs, some 5 years after the first film. Mission after mission, connected by mission briefings. But the missions are really simple: at any given moment during gameplay you have a navpoint on your HUD telling you where to go. Every now and then you get presented with some clips from the film that look and feel really out of place.

Fun: Killing bugs is fun, many levels resemble the ones from the film, but it gets repetitive quickly, and the bad graphics and even worse sound make you wanna quit it soon after you started the game. Pity, I loved the film on so many levels (pure action flick, space opera, war-movie, but deeply cynical and critical on the subtext), but the game is just cheap.