Girl Gamer Score:7.5
Users Score:
Critics Score:
...and much cursing ensued.
By GG-AngelThanatos on Nov. 16, 2011.
The War of the Worlds is a unique and interesting take on the H. G. Wells classic and horrifying tale of survival. Unfortunately, the difficulty of some levels can be equally as horrifying. Not for the easily discouraged, this game offers a dark and challenging way to experience a world in turmoil. And hey – who doesn’t love Patrick Stewart?
8.0
Gameplay
Throws you right into the action and you WILL die a lot.
3.0
Replay Value
Very low unless you're a glutton for punishment.
9.0
Visuals
Stunning use of color and lack thereof.
8.0
Controls
Frustrating reaction time but otherwise intuitive.
10.0
Sound
Patrick Stewart. 'Nuff said.
7.5
Overall
Frustrating as hell, but visually awesome.
RUN! RUN! OMG, NO DON’T CROUCH, YOU (beep) (beep) (beep) (beep) aaargh!!!! Yeah. That pretty much sums up the soundtrack for Other Ocean’s The War of the Worlds. However, if you’re stubborn like me, you’ll keep playing and yell even MORE expletives at the aliens once you beat the level. If you’re a rage quitter, I would probably skip this one. However, if you’re into Patrick Stewart narrating a sci-fi classic in which you must cross levels and levels of England in ruin, well…you’re gonna love it.
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I must say that I’m rather surprised and impressed at the thought of War of the Worlds as a platformer. When I first heard about the title, I assumed that it would be some sort of FPS or more likely an RPG, since people can’t really fight back against the aliens. Contrary to what some of us speculated, this is NOT a video game version of any of the movie adaptations. You won’t see Tom Cruise here. What you WILL see is a dark world of silhouette, ash, rubble and devastation everywhere you go. Other Ocean used this concept to create a platformer as you move over the ruins of London. Along the way, you’ll be chased by aliens who will shoot at you, blow you up, crush you and snatch you up to your doom.
Let’s just say there’s a LOT of running involved.
Visually, War of the Worlds is awesome. The only similar game out there is LIMBO, and I think the story behind WotW lends itself well to this art style. The controls are intuitive, which is good, because you don’t have any sort of tutorial. If you’ve played any sort of platformer before, you’ll get the concept immediately. The main rule of platform gaming is trial and error – you WILL die a bunch of times. Just accept that going into the game. I did find that Arthur didn’t react to my controls as well as I thought, i.e. you have to time everything perfectly to achieve damn near anything. This is no Super Mario Brothers.
As frustrating as War of the Worlds can be, you’d think that the achievements would be a little easier to obtain. Nope! In fact, if you sit and beat the game in one sitting without ever dying, you get a measly 50 points. I’m a total achievement whore but these just don’t seem worth the time and frustration to get them, in my opinion.
Overall, the game is not for everyone, but definitely cool. There’s a free demo, so you’ve got nothing to lose by trying it. Good use of environment and story to make a platformer more interesting. Did I mention Patrick Stewart narrates it? He does. It rocks. The music is cinematic and the visuals thought-provoking. Give it a try and see if it’s your cup of tea.
