With narration by Patrick Stewart, a live orchestral soundtrack, and stunning visuals War of the Worlds seemed set to be an epic old school platformer, but in reality the moments of brilliance the game has to offer are smothered by poor mechanics, absurd difficulty levels and general befuddlement—all of which individually would have been minor inconveniences, but when combined lead to high levels of frustration.
Most noticeably, collision detection in the game is inconsistent, and Arthur C. Clarke (the game’s protagonist) is an absolute sloth. These two factors lead to awkward movement and unnecessary frustration for you as will inevitably find your efforts to jump or ledge grab at the crucial moment sabotaged by unresponsive movement mechanics. To make matters worse there is no health system, so each error made is rewarded with instant death—a prospect that wouldn’t be so bad if you felt that you had full mastery over your character.
There are definitely a few moments of exhilaration in the level design, and the game is at its best when you sprint across breathtaking vistas, pressed on by the urgency of heat rays and crumbling rubble — but these moments are rare, and the you will mostly find yourself screaming at the screen in an attempt to navigate the dozens of increasingly difficult “puzzles” that the game has to offer. Some of these rely on the behavior of AI to progress (such as the underground red vine segment), with your life relying on a random growth pattern. Others fall victim to Arthur’s overall “I’ve-had-too-much-tea-and-crumpets” clumsiness, and the already overwhelming difficulty of much of the game multiplies instead of being “fun”.
And as if to add insult to injury, difficult sequences are often preceded by small cut scenes featuring a clip of Stewart’s voice and the same recurring bit of orchestral music. This leads to a nightmarish scenario where — like a prisoner held captive in a hellish merry-go-round — you are exposed to the same narration and orchestral violin stabs endlessly as you desperately try to progress. A few times I had to mute the narration because I was dying so much that I couldn’t stand to hear Captain Picard’s — I mean, Patrick Stewart’s — voice anymore.
The other elements of the game are enjoyable, but still flawed. The visuals are gorgeous, but the foreground animations — while giving the game a cinematic feel — sometimes block the screen. It is also often difficult to differentiate between a crucial platform and a piece of visual scenery as the two elements appear too similar.
Also, with a majority of the narration and music located at the start and end of each chapter, the bulk of the game is eerily silent. It seems as though the spoken lines were recorded well ahead of time and jammed into spots where they could fit, instead of where they would have the most impact. If the game developers had added more frequent narration and sound effects (such as an exhilarated shout when you kill your first alien, or a bloodcurdling scream as you fall to death), Stewart’s voice would have felt more personal and immersive.
The game also seemed to lack a direction or sense of progress, with each level feeling like it could be moved around to any other part of the game and never really standing as an integral piece. Add to this the fact that because of the history of the book most players already know how the story will end (and the therefore minimal role of any individual in the defeat of the aliens) and you get a very insignificant sense of reward when progressing through prohibitively difficult challenges. Rescuing your family is important, but it never feels like it’s enough.
Overall the game is hardly playable because of the difficulty, and unless you are a masochist I wouldn’t call it enjoyable at all—which is a shame because I was so excited to play it. The rare moments of fun are encased in massive doses of frustration, forcing you to bang your head against the wall to see what cracks first: the game or your sanity.
This review was based on a copy of the game sent to SideQuesting by the publisher
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