If you have been looking for an excuse to grab a rifle and fight for citizenship, Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! might be exactly what you need. Developed by Auroch Digital and Dotemu, this retro-styled FPS lands on Xbox Series X with a simple premise: see a bug, shoot it. While it isn't a complex, high-budget spectacle that pushes console hardware to its absolute limits, it is a fun, mindless shooter that earns a solid 4/5 score.
Service Guarantees Citizenship
The game wastes no time placing you in the boots of a trooper, with General Johnny Rico appearing in the opening cutscenes to set the stage. The narrative framing is a clever nod to the original 1997 film, presenting the game as a training tool developed by FedDev, the United Citizen Federation’s state-sponsored software arm. It captures the propaganda-heavy spirit of the source material perfectly.
Visually, the game opts for a retro aesthetic. The environments are expansive and feature well-designed points of interest, even if the character models for your fellow troopers and the bugs themselves lean into an older, 2D-sprite-in-a-3D-world style. While a modern graphical powerhouse might have been impressive, the current look is functional and keeps the action dynamic, especially when the screen is swarmed with arachnids.
Combat and Gameplay
The core gameplay is where Ultimate Bug War! finds its stride. The Morita rifle feels fantastic to fire—easily ranking among the most satisfying virtual weapons in recent memory—and the arsenal expands from there to include tactical nuke launchers, shotguns, and even massive walking mechs. Missions focus on survival and objective-based tasks, usually culminating in a frantic battle against a massive, nasty bug.
Ammo management is a constant concern, but killing bugs allows you to call down supply drops. A word of advice: aim your beacon carefully, as these supply containers can crush you if you are standing in the wrong place. I learned that the hard way.
The only real stumble in the experience is the section where you take control of the bugs themselves. Playing as an Assassin Bug in a third-person perspective feels clunky, and the required form-swapping mechanics are often frustrating. Once the initial novelty of playing as the enemy fades, these segments feel like a chore compared to the polished FPS action of the main campaign.
- Satisfying, punchy shooting action
- Authentic connection to the film franchise
- Plenty of enemies and heavy weaponry to enjoy
- Third-person bug control sections feel clunky and unpolished