Super Trooper by CronoTech, Price: $9.95
Reviewed August 2003

After playing so many 2D snail/slug shooting games, it’s quite refreshing to see a 3D snail shooting game. Developed by CronoTech, Super Trooper takes the slugfest to an un-named planet where the super troopers are usually stranded on an island and must kill the other team of super troopers to survive.

The concept of the gameplay is a familiar one: two teams of players take their turns to shoot at enemy troopers and the team with the last player(s) standing wins the game. Super Trooper adds more elements to this classic gameplay, taking advantage of the 3D game design. When you start a new game, you can choose to play against another player or the computer, one of the three difficulty levels, number of troopers on each team and select the amount of money available to purchase weapons and wind conditions. There are 15 weapons available for you to purchase before the game, the more money you set in the beginning of the game, the bigger the weapons you can purchase. You will find the weapon collection includes the usual suspects such as rockets, grenades, shotgun, as well as some unique weapons like laser guns and nuclear weapons.

Like the 2D snails type of games, you can move your troopers to positions with better shot angles and distance, except in Super Trooper you have more freedom in moving around in the landscape, thanks to the 3D environment. You will enjoy using the terrain to your advantage, adding tail wind to your shots and flying around the island to spy on your enemy’s territory. The camera works very well with zooming in and out smoothly. You can even have the camera chase the bullets so you can see exactly where they landed and what they hit. Very cool feature! You control the game using a combination of stylus and buttons.

Super Trooper is played in top view mode where you can see the terrain as well as the characters. There are 27 maps and most of them feature different types of terrain with minimum background details. The game window shows both a playing field and a control area where you can select your weapons, actions, shooting angle and view the entire map. I find that even though the control area is very useful when it comes to planning a perfect shot, you will still need to look at the actual terrain to see the altitude and terrain obstacles. The weapon system seems to have pretty realistic feel to it, though long shots can be quite hard to aim perfectly. You will find the explosion and terrain damage more satisfying when you play this game in 3D. While the graphics of the sky or galaxy in the background seems picture-realistic, the playable terrains and the characters seem more pixilated.

The sounds FX and background music tracks compliment the gameplay well. You will hear upbeat rock music in the background, and explosions and screaming FX when your weapon hits the targets. You can adjust the volume on both FX. The game currently supports ARM/Xscale Pocket PCs. Versions supporting MIPs Pocket PC and Palm OS are currently in development.

Just when you think a classic game has been re-made enough, a game like Super Trooper will come out and open up your mind again. I enjoy the new 3D concept built on the classic form and the bells and whistles that come with it. The weapons and terrain design look very promising. The graphics are good but still look pixilated. A good number of maps give this game some really good replay value. According to the developer, you can expect even more add-on maps to come!

Playing Hints and Tips

The Spy mode is very useful when you are far away from your opponents. Make sure you always check out the terrain condition around your target and adjust your shots accordingly. Each weapon behaves differently when explode. Make sure you test out all of them before heading into the tough battles.