This fall the Starship Troopers franchise will finally be getting an FPS game title that will bring all the arachnid killing gore of the movies to your home desk.  After suffering a week release in 2000 of an RTS version of Starship Troopers, this new version sports the rendering of hundreds of enemy Bugs each with their own AI and set of behaviors.  This game looks to bring the chaos and faced paced action that defined the movie so well.  I had the privilege of talking to James Lamorticelli, the general manager for Starship Trooper's publisher team at Empire Interactive.  He was extremely enthusiastic at the prospects to this new iteration of the Starship Troopers universe. 

Borrowing heavily from the conflict and story plot of the movies, Starship Troopers puts you in the boots of an elite warrior who is sent on missions that are five years ahead of the action that took place in the movies.  From the in game footage that I saw at E3, the environments and the sheer rendering of 300 Bugs, vehicles, artillery and friendly AI was an absolute dose of pleasure to the senses.  Every aspect of the latest rendering capabilities is incorporated and used throughout the game.  The developers at Strangelite built their own engine they effectively titled SWARM.  I was very pleased that the graphics engine was able to depict everything that it did, and do it gracefully.

In total there will 19 different Bugs for you to kill, everything from the infamous Brain Bug to the different classes of grunt? bugs, to huge lumbering warriors that spit flame at you.  Each one will be independently controlled by its own AI and set to different aggression levels.  The level that I saw Lamorticelli play was reminiscent of the Whiskey Outpost battle.  Hundreds of bugs rush your walled in encampment, aerial attacks are picking your allies off the wall and artillery bugs are launching their best at you.  Manning the wall guns and surviving in you battle suit, yes I said battle suit, is chaotic and fast paced.  Now , when I say battle suit, I do not mean the one found in the book, which is a shame, but the suits appear to be more than just omages.  The battle suit has the ability to heal your injured, battered body.  It's definitely a step in the right direction, but I must say that I wish the developer, Strangelite, would have included the infamous mech suit that let you leap forty feet in the air and launch missiles at the enemy arachnids. Still, the addition will bring a great amount to the gameplay.

Weaponry in Starship Troopers will consist of the movie classics along with some new and improved, unseen weapons.  In total there will be ten different weapons that you will be able to use.  I was able to see an incredible new rocket launcher that let you target and track ten or so Bugs, then launch ten successive missiles in a row.  Bug appendages and guts flew in all directions.  I was told that this was only a taste of the available weapons that were going to be unleashed on the enemy Bugs.

Going through the missions in Starship Troopers will be similar to the fighting that Call of Duty took advantage of.  You'll have squad mates coming along with you to fight and die by your side, however, you will not be able to directly control them.  As you advance through the twelve levels in your ultimate pursuit of the Brain bug, you will be briefed by none other than Casper van Dien, who played Johnny Rico in the film.  

Multiplayer action will also be a challenge waiting for you online, with the option of co-op missions with your buddies around the globe.  Starship Troopers looks to be a very entertaining and fast paced game.  It will hit store shelves sometime this fall.