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[Stumpokapow]

War of the Worlds (XBLA, PSN: 800 points - $10 USD)

Basic facts:
- Genre - 2D "heavyweight" survival platformer. By heavyweight, I mean that movement is "clunky", you don't stop on a dime, your jumps feel very heavy. Some people hate these kinds of controls. Limbo, Prince of Persia Classic, Blackthorne, Out of this World / Another World, and Exit would be five major examples of this kind of physics. If you don't like these, you won't like the game.

- Strong horror elements; the visual presentation is a ruined London, you can't fight back against the aliens (later you do obtain a weapon of sorts, but treat this as something closer to Clock Tower--you are not a fighting machine!), some stages feature running away from constant alien pursuers. You have no health, injury is death. You can die from falling, burning, electrocution, alien attack, etc.

- The game is a retelling of Orson Welles' radio play, War of the Worlds. It is not based on the Spielberg / Cruise disaster from a few years ago. The script for the new adaptation was written by a professional novelist. The entire game is narrated by Patrick Stewart. The script is very visual and descriptive, which works well to enhance the presentation and help a little go a long way.

- Very difficult. Expect to die often. Partly this is because the heavy physics and controls necessitate perfect jumps. Expect to have to run to the very edge of a platform before you jump, and even then expect that you'll only barely grab the edge of the platform you're jumping to. You die in one hit, as I mention above. The game has fairly aggressive checkpoints, placed about a minute of gameplay between one another, so you shouldn't expect to lose any progress, but you will feel punished.

- How long is it? I have no idea. I haven't finished it yet. Reviews don't seem to mention. There are achievements for "finishing in one sitting", so presumably we're looking at 3-6 hours, but that's a pretty wide range.

Reviews:

There are only three reviews on Metacritic so far, I've quoted from the highest and lowest rated ones.

OXM 8.5/10

In many games, the constant trial-and-error and mandatory practice runs that War of the Worlds demands would grow horribly tedious, but not here. This action/adventure constantly rewards you with offbeat visual treats to goggle, tricky new obstacles to overcome, and the opportunity to take some measure of revenge with a scavenged axe...

While you’re actually playing, though, you’ll find yourself captivated by skillful art direction that mixes inky darkness with bold splashes of color. Patrick Stewart’s evocative narration draws you deeper into the world, and subtle cinematic flourishes keep you there.

Even if you ordinarily shy away from a daunting challenge, give this one a shot. As difficult as War of the Worlds is to conquer, it’s also more than satisfying enough to be worth the struggle.

Games Radar 5/10

In style, class, and atmosphere, The War of the Worlds nails it. There are exciting setpieces where you run from gigantic walkers as buildings collapse and heat rays vaporize civilians around you

The rest is composed of dying repeatedly due to poor controls, poor visibility, cheap enemy ambushes, and ambiguous clues as to where you can hide safely, and then randomly getting screwed by checkpoints.

Based on what I've played so far, I agree with some of that--it can be difficult to figure out where you'll be safe from alien death rays, but it is exhilarating when you survive. For the segments where you're not running for your life, being methodical and deliberate will prevent many or most deaths. I have not personally experienced the controls to be poor, but rather as I described above, "heavy". I really feel like this will not be a game that everyone likes, but if you can appreciate the difficulty and the weight of the physics, it is very rich and atmospheric, the script unusually good--not for a game, in general--and Patrick Stewart's narration refreshing.

Screenshots:

Try the demo!

I took screenshots from the Xbox.com page, the three reviews on Metacritic. The banner is from a site called XBLAFans but I assume is an unedited piece of art released by the developers.

 

[V_Ben]

Worth mentioning that it isn't out on PSN yet, before people go a looking. Also, it'll be coming to PC at some point I think.

 

[Snuggles]

Dang, I did not know this exists. I love "heavy weight" controls in platformers, and I like the idea of evasion over combat, so this is definitely on my radar now. I'll buy it on PSN unless they state their plans for a PC version before then.

 

[Gomu Gomu]

Make sure you watch Giant Bomb's Quick Look EX: The War of the Worlds
Even though the game isn't exactly my cup of tea, that video is great and well worth watching. I appreciate the developer's honesty.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

I reaaaallly like the way this looks. It reminds me a bit of Out of this World or Abe. I'm not sure I'd like the controls, but I feel compelled to try the demo.

 

[Grisby]

Did not know this existed. I always wanted a open world 'WOTW' survival game.

 

[Maddog]

This looks awesome and narrated by Stewart? Definitely gonna check it out.

 

[legbone]

i really enjoyed the demo of this. and good call on blackthorne comparisons. the jumping really reminded me of blackthorne. this is definitely a good thing. i am contemplating picking this up. but one thing about it, the demo was moderately difficult in places. i have a feeling this game may get pretty hard in later levels. makes sense since out of this world was such an influence.

 

[Neuromancer]

Didn't they use rotoscoping to animate the dude? Rotoscoping is awesome.

 

[Stumpokapow]

i really enjoyed the demo of this. and good call on blackthorne comparisons. the jumping really reminded me of blackthorne. this is definitely a good thing. i am contemplating picking this up. but one thing about it, the demo was moderately difficult in places. i have a feeling this game may get pretty hard in later levels. makes sense since out of this world was such an influence.

The second level (the level that starts immediately after the demo ends) is incredibly hard. I died 25 or 30 times and I consider myself quite good at platformers. That level was a bit of a difficulty spike, since there's a gigantic alien chasing after you and evaporating you instantly. The next few segments after that are relatively subdued (some have no action at all, like the first few Hyde Park segments).

In the Quick Look EX posted from Giantbomb, one of the game's producers or developers actually ends up using debug codes to skip the second level because the end part is too hard for them.

The good news is that the game feels really rewarding when you succeed. If something is chasing you, you MUST RUN RIGHT NOW HOLY SHIT, but if something is not chasing you, you're generally encouraged to be very slow and methodical. Many deaths in non-chase levels are from just running out of cover and getting blasted unexpectedly. Take your time on those segments and it'll be a rewarding type of difficulty rather than a frustrating one.

 

[Shiloa]

I love War of the Worlds, so I'm definitely going to try it out. It doesn't look very spectacular though.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Didn't they use rotoscoping to animate the dude? Rotoscoping is awesome.

It looks like it. He's a little rough around the edges--actually, all the games visuals are. It looks great from an atmosphere and composition point of view, but the assets themselves are a product of their budget, but yeah some of the humanoids seem to be rotoscoped and it's pretty cool. Probably helped deliver higher quality animation than they would have otherwise got based on the budget.

 

[Sectus]

I haven't tried the game yet, but based on the giant bomb quick look I'm disappointed how linear the game looks. They talk a lot about Flashback, but some of the primary things I loved in that game was all the exploration and variety within the gameplay. This really looks too much based on trial and error.

I actually also prefer the animation>responsiveness of Flashback and Prince of Persia, I don't really like the instant jump. Prince of Persia completely fixed the problem of "pixel perfect jump" by automatically delaying your jump to the closest tile, I always thought that was a very smart design decision. It made jump feels less responsive, but it also removed a ton of potential frustration. It's been ages since I played Flashback, but I'm fairly sure it treated jumps the same way as PoP.

 

[toythatkills]

It seems to have the same kind of "trial and error" that people complain that Limbo has, in that if you don't pay a lot of attention to your surroundings you'll die a lot and then blame the game for your own shortcomings.

The achievement for completing this in one sitting without dying is going to be incredibly impressive if anyone manages it, based on trial impressions alone.

I'll probably buy this. It's a little rough around the edges and some of the animation is outright ugly, it's a little buggy (narration cuts off half way through if you die and then doesn't restart again) but it feels really nice.

 

[Fox Mulder]

The demo locked up on me a few times, and the narration cutting off when you die sucks, but it's got some charm. I went ahead and got it with some of my tmobile ms points.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Just reached a level where I had to cross an office building called "Chahi, Cuisset, and Mechner". The game wears its influences well.

The achievement for completing this in one sitting without dying is going to be incredibly impressive if anyone manages it, based on trial impressions alone.

That achievement will be impossible. It would be significantly more difficult to complete this game without dying than finishing all of Super Meat Boy beginning to end without dying.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

God a strong Flashback feel off it more than anything, but that may be my nostalgia talking.

Not sure if it's for me right now, would require too much devotion.

Just reached a level where I had to cross an office building called "Chahi, Cuisset, and Mechner".

Heh, nice.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Just so the giant bomb video. The stop motion type animation tribute of harryhausen they did with the giant tripod legs is just amazing.
The game looks incredibly cool.

 

[jgkspsx]

Downloaded the demo. I might pick this up full price, would definitely buy at 400. Exciting idea for a game, I hope somebody takes on a Jules Verne novel next!

 

[Radogol]

Just reached a level where I had to cross an office building called "Chahi, Cuisset, and Mechner".

Bought.

Spoiler

I was planning on getting it anyway.

 

[d0c_zaius]

looks interesting. I love the original Wells broadcast and I love Patrick Stewart.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[jgkspsx]

looks interesting. I love the original Wells broadcast and I love Patrick Stewart.

Wells is the author, Welles is the broadcaster.

 

[d0c_zaius]

Wells is the author, Welles is the broadcaster.

I had a feeling it was off but was too lazy to check. busted.

I bought the game and it has a great feel to it. As mentioned, fans of old school Prince of Persia, Flashback and Out of this World should definitely try the demo. Even though he sounds like hes phoning it in sometimes, Patrick Stewart is amazing. When he starts talking and I die before he can finish, I feel like I let him down

I can see it not being for everyone, but so far a good buy for 10 bones.

 

[Label]

God a strong Flashback feel off it more than anything, but that may be my nostalgia talking.

I will have to download this when I get home then!

 

[Stumpokapow]

Beat it. 5th in the world on the leaderboards. 37 total people have beat the game out of 1195 who have purchased.

It was very hard. Oddly, I don't think the game ever got as hard as the initial "run for your life" level (the 3rd segment of the game). That required more precision than any other area. So if you can get past that, keep going.

Once you get the axe, you can fight back against certain enemies, but your powerlessness continues throughout.

About half-way through the game you pick up a radio and Patrick Stewart takes a break for a little while as you get to hear a radio announcer from around Britain announce the news. It was kind of funny in a tongue in cheek way. You hear about reports of attacks in France and Germany--and the announcer says something like "The Germans have taken up arms--they seem to like doing that". Hahaha. Also weird to hear about alterna-history Prime Minister Winston Churchill. There's another comical broadcast about a Welsh MP who wants to teach the aliens Welsh.

The ending was nice and had a few little painted storyboards.

I ended up with 100/200 achievement points. There's one ten point achievement I didn't get (make it through Hyde Park without being spotted), and then the two achievements worth 90 points for finishing the game without dying. I sincerely believe that no one on Xbox Live will ever obtain either of those two achievements. There are several parts in the last 3 levels that require so much precision that I can't imagine anyone, no matter how skilled, would be able to get through the areas without dying. The checkpoints are closer together in the later levels so the actual frustration factor of the harder segments aren't as bad.

Anyway, great game. Given the reservation I put in the OP--that the game is only for you if you like tense, difficult games where you're powerless with heavy jumping physics--I felt like it was a great experience and one of the most richly atmospheric games I've played in years. It has my stamp of approval.

Total completion time ~4:15, but I have no idea if that includes deaths or not. I restarted the game this afternoon after work and it was about 10:30 PM when I finished, and I had the game on pause while I ate supper and watched some TV, so it probably included deaths. Despite the short runtime and lack of collectibles, I think it could be interesting to replay. Even though a no death run is impossible, it'd be interesting to see if you could, for instance, get past the Alien Ship Bombing in Hyde Park South without dying.

 

[Neuromancer]

Thanks for your impressions Stump. I'm definitely going to try this when I get back to my Xbox. The sheer challenge does concern me though. Is there even a difficulty setting?

 

[Stumpokapow]

Noticed Eurogamer reviewed the game (3/10). Although I disagree with their thrust--too hard, too clunky, checkpoints not well spaced--certainly I can see that they would count themselves as part of the group for whom the design direction of the game doesn't work. There's a major factual error about the game's setting in the first few paragraphs, which is unusual, because the game reminds you what its setting is in three separate radio broadcasts in the middle of the game, so I'm guessing that the reviewer didn't get that far. LOL if I busted someone reviewing a 4-5 hour game without finishing it.

Thanks for your impressions Stump. I'm definitely going to try this when I get back to my Xbox. The sheer challenge does concern me though. Is there even a difficulty setting?

No difficulty setting. You will die. I have 200/200 on Super Meat Boy. I've beaten Bit.Trip Runner no problem, I don't find VVVVVV hard, etc. I love hard games. This was hard even for me, even compared to those.

 

[Neuromancer]

Oh boy. Well, I'll give it my best.

 

[RooMHM]

From the Xboxyde review, I'd say this is Limbo done right.

 

[Fox Mulder]

finally got around to finishing it tonight, goddamn.

I'd really like to see if anyone can beat this without dying. It may be possible if you can restart chapters, but it looks impossible to go through it straight. There's a bunch of luck involved early, later levels throw some unforgiving hazards at you, and plenty of pixel perfect platforming throughout.

There was some constant death frustration and questionable level design, but it's got great atmosphere and was fun overall. I found this far more entertaining than Limbo, which I got bored of quickly.

 

[Neuromancer]

Played the demo, pretty cool style and I liked the narration (that's 3 games with narration during gameplay this year!) but I think it's a bit too hard for my blood. Going to have to pass on the full game; Godspeed to the brave souls who take it on though.