Booster Trooper is an indie game developed by DnS Development. The gameplay is similar to that of Bionic Commando Rearmed (the multiplayer part of it) and the other indie game named Soldat. It puts players in a specific selected map or level and within each round you simply battle it out with other players. It plays like an action side-scroller with the use of both the keyboard and mouse for movement and firing. The game is out in Steam for $9.99 USD.
There are a total of 4 game modes to try out in 8 different maps. The game modes are Team Deathmatch, Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and Destroy the Beacon. Team Deathmatch and Deathmatch are simply killing your opponents and winning when you reach the set amount of kills/deaths. Capture the Flag involves taking your opponent flag to your base and scoring whenever you succeed in doing so. Destroy the Beacon awards players with points whenever they destroy a randomly placed target around the map. It is good to note that only Team Deathmatch and Deathmatch are available offline (with bots). Within each mode there are settings to play with mainly to decide the winning rules and conditions of that particular round. You can set the number of wins or deaths, points or captures etc.
Players can customize their weapon lockout before and during each round. There are 3 main categories of weapons you can choose from. Firstly is your primary weapon, then the secondary weapon and lastly is the grenade. There are 4 different primary weapons to choose from: assault rifle, minigun sniper rifle, shotgun and rocket launcher. Secondary weapons include a pistol and an Armcutter (some laser like sword, melee weapon in other words). Grenade types are differentiated in the way they are used: One being an instant explosion upon release and the other something like a remote controlled mine.
The different weapons all have their pros and cons but the thing about the game is that it is not that balanced thus some of them do have more pros than the rest. For example the rocket launcher is much easier to frag opponents and it simply is over powering as long as you know how to use it. The Armcutter is much more useful than the pistol and the effectiveness of it cannot be further expressed in that whenever your opponent gets closed it is almost as though its meal time for you. The balance among weapons isn’t exactly there but that does not really kill off the fun, it just makes it a little frustrating at times during a match when it is weapon based rather than skill based.
The main problem with the game is the lack of players online. The community is simply not there and for a game heavily if not solely based on multiplayer action, without a strong player-base the game simply cannot go on. Yes it is fun playing with bots but the fun is extremely limited. What players would want is to battle it out with real life human opponents and test their skills. Playing with bots all the time also gets boring as the bots skills are quite limited in some sense. I hardly am able to find players online and even if there is it is a mere one to two players. I believe this is the major if not the greatest setback of the game.
As long as you are able to find people to play with, yes the game is fun and the fun doesn’t get boring. You can go on and on fragging and killing and humiliating opponents without feeling bored and with different environments to look at every single time, I cannot help but say that the game can certainly kill off quite a substantial amount of time. With bots that aren’t that smart, not really. With that said the graphics and sound effects of the game is fine, average nothing too outstanding or jaw dropping. Explosion and gun sounds are adequate, effects of weapons and blood spilling is good.
Overall the game is pretty good for an indie game. It is fun, if there are people to play with. It is still fun with bots, but the fun is definitely short-lived. For those considering whether to buy the game or not, I would say to actually pass it unless you’re getting it for a group of friends or know people who play it. If not wait till the player base gets bigger or for a sale and maybe you can grab it and give it to friends and family and play it together.
Official Site: Booster Trooper
Steam Game Link: Booster Trooper $9.99 USD
