E.X. Troopers (pronounced “ex-troopers”, not “eee ex troopers”) is a third-person shooter action game, originally released for the 3DS in 2012 and PS3 in 2013. The game is a loose spin-off of the Lost Planet series, sharing the same setting and worldbuilding terminology, but otherwise has a separate plot and characters. The game was directed by Yasuhiro Anpo, who would later go on to direct Resident Evil Revelations 2 and the Resident Evil remakes. The game’s story was penned by Dai Sato, known for his script writing and screenplay work in various anime, such as Cowboy Bebop, Wolf’s Rain, and Ergo Proxy. Character designs were done by Chisato Mita, a Capcom background artist and illustrator who also contributed designs to Macross Delta. The game was originally passed over for an official localization, due to its niche nature and difficulties involving the game’s hard-coded text assets. In 2019, a rough solo fan translation using machine translation was released in an attempt to make the game more accessible. In 2022, a group called Fan Translations International released a full fan translation, noting the project took them 7 years to complete due to issues with engine limitations and having to reverse-engineer some of the game’s assets.

E.X. Troopers follows the (mis)adventures of Bren Turner, the hot-blooded new recruit to NEVEC Academy, the educational branch of a terraforming company on the planet E.D.N. III. En route to the academy with his instructor Walter, Bren’s transport ship is attacked by rogue mech units (called Vital Suits, or ‘VS’ for short). In the midst of the fray, Bren takes control of a prototype advanced VS equipped with AI, which he christens ‘Gingira’. After finally landing at NEVEC Academy, Bren finds himself in the company of various fellow recruits: Yuan, the nerdy scholar, Julie, a tech specialist and VS fanatic, and Chris, the academy’s crabby ace student who starts a rivalry with Bren. Bren and co. handle a variety of tasks as part of their training, usually fighting mercenary pirates or Akrid, the bug-like alien creatures inhabiting the planet. While completing missions on behalf of the Academy, Bren later connects with TeeKee, a mysterious snow pirate shrine maiden seeking to avert a catastrophic ecological event involving the Akrid. 

E.X. Troopers is a third-person shooter action game structured into short missions, similar to games like Monster Hunter, God Eater, and Freedom Wars. Apparently this was a deliberate design decision to make the game more multiplayer-oriented and the dev team even included a producer who worked on the Monster Hunter games. Most of the game’s missions are straightforward, usually of the “beat all the pirates/Akrid on this stage” or “capture the flag/defend the flag”-types. The gameplay is focused on speed and maneuverability, with Bren able to quickly strafe and weave around enemies using a jetpack. Bren can wield two guns for his loadout, a main weapon (usually a rapid fire gun like an SMG or assault rifle) and sub-weapon (a slower weapon with less ammo, including grenade launchers, flamethrowers, or railguns). The guns, as well as Bren’s inherent elemental resistance, can be upgraded using money and materials dropped from enemies. There are no melee weapons in the game, though Bren can roundhouse kick enemies or perform a dash kick to knock lighter opponents back. Enemies frequently drop a substance called thermal energy (aka ‘T-ENG’), which Bren can use to recover health and pull off powerful super moves. There are also some light RPG elements, as Bren can level up with EXP gained from completing quests, which increases his health and unlocks additional combat abilities. During specific points in the game, Bren can fight while using Gingira, who attacks with long-distance power shots and a Star Platinum from Jojo’s Bizzare Adventures’-esque melee punching combo.

Outside of the story missions, Bren can explore the various NEVEC bases, chat with various NPCs, search for items on the ground and…go to the bathroom. He can even attempt to enter the girls’ bathrooms, which gets him kicked out violently. Food can be purchased to provide temporary combat buffs, and Bren can undertake additional combat quests using the bases’ VR portal. There are also several NPC’s in the bases who can be recruited by completing unique sidequests. Completing story quests and performing well in the VR missions nets Bren medals, which can be exchanged for unlockable outfits for characters and playable tracks in the in-game music player.

E.X. Troopers overall feels like a more casual (but not shallow) take on the “monster hunting” genre set forth by its contemporaries. The experience feels more tailored to handhelds, with most of the missions being beatable in less than ten minutes, in contrast to some later-end God Eater or Freedom Wars stages which can start creeping into the fifteen-to-twenty-five minute territory. It helps that the bigger Akrid enemies aren’t massive damage sponges and Bren will automatically aim his guns at enemy weak spots. There’s also a lot less material grinding involved in the game, since Bren doesn’t have traditional armor sets to upgrade like other titles in the genre. While there’s an element weakness system in combat, I was mostly able to ignore it since I spent most fights using the vanilla shotgun as my sub-weapon of choice. Even though the game overall is on the easier side, the combat is simply fun. Being able to zip around while spraying a hail of bullets or rapid blasting a downed Akrid boss in the keister feels good in a boomer-shooter kind of way. There’s an extra mechanic with dashing, where, if timed correctly, Bren can release a stun shot with invincibility frames if he fires his gun right at the end of the dash animation. Ending an Akrid fight with the stun shot was legitimately fantastic and one of the coolest things to pull off in-game.

The overall visual presentation of E.X. Troopers is excellent and striking. In contrast to the more semi-realistic style used in its parent games, E.X. Troopers uses a cell-shaded style with thick outlines on the 3D models, akin to Borderlands. The lower res screen of the 3DS makes some of the visuals harder to see, but it works really well in the game’s dialogue sequences. The pre-rendered cutscenes and dialogue segments are even portrayed as cycling through individual panels in a comic. Chisato Mita’s colorful and unique character designs really shine with these visual flairs. The general plot and setup of E.X. Troopers, while taking a lot of familiar nods from mecha and sci-fi anime, courtesy of Dai Sato’s writing, feels comforting rather than cliche. Combined with the visuals, it makes the game feel more like a playable shonen anime OVA. Of note, Bren himself is a fun protagonist in all of his hot-blooded himbo glory. Whether it’s his excited shouting after eating food or his inability to pronounce technical words correctly, Bren is a certified Good Boy™ and the game is all the better for it.  

Pros: Combat is fast-paced but satisfying, and uniquely focuses on maneuverability and speed. Larger enemies aren’t gigantic damage sponges per the norms of the genre. Individual missions are briskly paced and can usually be finished in under ten minutes. Unique visual style, character designs, and catchy soundtrack. Feels like a playable ‘comfort food’ shonen anime OVA.

Cons: Occasional frame rate slowdown when many enemies are attacking at once. Camera screw-ups can happen often on tighter stages. Weird lack of variety of main weapons and too many variants for sub-weapons. AI party members are mostly good at drawing enemy aggro. 

E.X. Troopers was available for the 3DS and PS3, and the fan translation includes patches for both versions. E.X. Troopers is one of those rare games that come around where I am genuinely sad that there simply isn’t more of the game to play, a rare observation given that I usually complain that a game is too damn long. E.X. Troopers can be beaten around the 15-hour mark, in contrast to something like God Eater, whose campaigns are more in the 30-40+ hour ranges. It says a lot that E.X. Troopers is such a polished package (especially for an early 3DS game) that it was so bittersweet the game eventually ended. Unfortunately, the Lost Planet series in general seems to be on ice (ha) for the foreseeable future, so a follow-up game is unlikely. It’s a shame, since E.X. Troopers is a good candidate for a remaster or a full-blown sequel to expand on the game’s mechanics and characters. Nonetheless, I’m happy that Fan Translations International went through their labor of love for this game, as it has quickly become one of my favorites for the 3DS.