Dutch cinematic legend Paul Verhoeven has given us plenty of memorable celluloid moments over the years. You may fondly recall Robocop's iconic 'Prime Directives' or Sharon Stone's exposed lady garden in Basic Instinct, but when it comes to standout moments, then sci-fi epic Starship Troopers always gets our vote. The spectacle of seeing the arrogant forces of mankind face off against a deadly insect alien threat was particularly entertaining.
German developer HandyGames would appear to agree us if its latest game is anything to go by. Sturmtrupp Mars is clearly inspired by Verhoeven's satirical cinematic critique on fascism. It's all grey uniforms, goose-stepping soldiers and interplanetary warfare as mankind goes to war against the malevolent forces of an ant-like race hell-bent on eradicating every last trace of human resistance on Mars.
Taking a rather large dollop of inspiration from Westwood Studio's Command & Conquer series, Sturmtrupp Mars attempts to take the real-time strategy (RTS) model so excellently championed by the aforementioned title and shoehorn it into the diminutive frame of your mobile phone.
Naturally, corners have had to be cut. RTS titles need mouse input to really get the most out of them and because your average mobile phone obviously lacks such a peripheral, developer HandyGames has simplified things somewhat. So, none of the units you create in Sturmtrupp Mars can move; once you build them they stay put. This may seem like a rather extreme limitation but it actually works better than you might imagine.
By removing the need to give orders to each unit, as is the case in games like Command & Conquer, it means you're less likely to get frustrated and hopelessly overwhelmed in the thick of battle. Imagine trying to dish out commands to several different units whilst under fire using only your mobile phone's keypad – sounds nightmarish, doesn't it?
Set across several different Martian levels, Sturmtrupp Mars calls upon the player to defeat the surging insect forces and prevent them from destroying the fragile human outpost that serves as the central hub of each stage. Fortifications such as gun emplacements, fire-breathing watch towers and high-tech laser defence grids can all be utilized to repel the impending threat.
Other installations can be constructed that enable you to research advanced technologies and execute special abilities – such as cluster bombs and the capability to see the entire map for a short time – all of which make your mission a hell of a lot easier.
The format of each encounter is fairly straightforward. The enemy bugs come from a certain direction, which is highlighted on a map in the corner of the screen. These insectoid nasties attack in pre-determined waves that must be destroyed in order to progress. In some of the later missions they attack from different directions, which calls for the strategic placement of units to ensure that nothing slips through your defensive net.
Because your forces are stationary you never do any hunting; to complete each level you merely have to ensure that when the final (and usually most powerful) contingent of alien forces rolls up to your fortress you're equal to the task of sending them packing.
With each mission lasting only a few minutes Sturmtrupp Mars is ideally suited for mobile gaming. However, it does get rather repetitive after a while. Each unit and building can be upgraded which adds a little bit of variety to proceedings, but once you've seen all the possible improvements it just becomes an exercise in placing your units effectively, repairing them when they get a beating and waiting for the next group of insects to foolishly wander into view.
Bringing the RTS genre to the mobile phone was always going to be a tall order and HandyGames has managed a half-decent stab at it, but sadly the constraints of the hardware mean much of the depth one might expect from such a title is sadly absent. Sturmtrupp Mars will provide a few hours of moderate entertainment but dedicated RTS fans will probably find it a little too lightweight for their tastes.
Sturmtrupp Mars
There's much to like here but ultimately Strumtrupp Mars is too ambitious for its own good and will be remembered as an admirable – if not entirely successful – attempt to create a compelling RTS title for the mobile phone
Damien McFerran
Damien's mum hoped he would grow out of playing silly video games and gain respectable employment. Perhaps become a teacher or a scientist, that kind of thing. Needless to say she now weeps openly whenever anyone asks how her son's getting on these days.