It’s been a long time in the making but the Star Marine module is supposedly finally coming. It was supposed to be out a while ago but was delayed incessantly as they integrated new features and fixed up some of the core mechanics. Well, during a schedule report, they released new footage of the Star Marine and a behind the scenes look at one of the star ships.

The four minute video for Star Marine focuses on a Domination game mode where two teams attempt to take control of certain points on the map by hacking computer nodes. The map they’re playing on takes place both inside of a space station and outside in zero gravity space. You can check out the gameplay footage below.

We get to see a variety of weapons on display, including assault rifles, pistols and shotguns. The shotty looks good but it didn’t appear to be very accurate or powerful in the video. Maybe there was just some latency issues when it came to hit-detection? It did appear as if hit-detection was a bit off, but it’s a work-in-progress so we’ll see how it all comes along in future builds.

The procedural destruction looked really good. Being able to shoot out the glass and make new entry points was spot-on. Parallax bullet decals and blood splatter were also on par. The rag-doll effects are solid, I was impressed with how weighty the models are when they die. In a lot of games they have floaty rag-dolls – I guess for the extra effect of being funny. But here the rag-dolls looked good when getting hit and falling over.

I was sort of expecting more muted sounds when firing in space compared to when they’re in the station, but at least the guns sound like actual guns. When you compare the sound effects to a game like Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare it’s a huge world of difference. The guns in Infinite Warfare sound like they were filtered through a wet cotton blanket and are more muffled than Bane speaking through the face mask. Star Citizen’s guns sound like they pack a righteous punch. That goes a long way in making the weapons feel meaty and authentic.

They also released a new 10 minute behind-the-scenes video for the Caterpillar, a new multi-crew ship type. It’s considered a modular pirate transport. They plan on allowing players to customize the ship with a lot of different add-ons and modules.

They explain that 50% longer than the Retaliator and it has two levels, features a habitat and multiple compartments.

The interior of the Caterpillar is very impressive. It’s big enough where it can actually carry other smaller ships. It can also carry Dragonfly transports with ease.

They also talk about a couple of other ships in the video as well, smaller ships that can be used as escape vehicles or data transports.

The detail put into the ships are impeccable…. just impeccable. The fidelity of the final render looks on par to what you would see in the CG sequences for most other games. It’s a high benchmark and they’ve nailed as far as the graphics are concerned.

Playability is a whole other issue, and they still seem to be working out the kinks. Nevertheless, we’re starting to slowly see some of this stuff come together, like the procedural planet generation and the emergent quests.

I’m definitely interested in seeing how well this game works when the persistent world is updated to include more of these smaller data-running ships, as well as when more transports and quests make their way into future builds.

You can learn more about Star Citizen by visiting the official website.