War of the Worlds – It’s Almost Impossible to Survive the End of the World

[gameinfo title=”Game Info” game_name=”War of the Worlds” developers=”Other Ocean Interactive” publishers=”Paramount Digital Entertainment” platforms=”XBLA (PSN and PC details at later date)” genres=”Cinematic Platformer” release_date=”October 26, 2011″]

If the Earth is ever invaded by aliens from Mars I sure hope I can move better than Arthur. That’s one of the many thoughts I’m left with after playing War of the Worlds, that and frustration.

The beautiful destruction of the world, begins with you playing as Arthur. You’re riding a train heading into London for a wonderful family visit. When destruction rains from the sky in the background of the scene. Your train derails and you’re left with the only option of heading into London on foot to make sure you’re family is okay.

From the beginning to the end, the story is narrated wonderfully by Sir Patrick Stewart as he hails from the USS Enterprise. I’m pretty sure the voice-over was recorded on the USS Enterprise. That’s besides the point. It was executed perfectly.

Along with the amazing narrative, comes some pretty spectacular visuals. The colors of the game are consistently made up of hues of gray, black and green. But besides that, it comes together wonderfully to create a world which is being destroyed but also great to gaze upon. War of the Worlds is strictly 2D, but has an added depth of feel to it coming from the incredible layering of the background. Some examples of this would be the levels in which you begin to run away from the terror that is a Tri-pod. You’ll find yourself running down the street while your view is sometimes blocked by others running from the Tri-pod, who will seem to be just a few feet in front of the camera. Or when you’re jumping from building to building escaping the certain death coming form the Tri-pod destroying the buildings you’re running on. Escaping the menace of the alien invasion would be more enjoyable and less frustrating, if not for the controls. The controls, oh the humanity.

You may find you are able to speak another language while playing this game. One consisting of only curse words, grunts, sighs and shouts. This new language will be brought on almost exclusively by the controls with some help from the long play times between checkpoints. Too many times to count you’ll be forced to replay and replay a section of a level, for a number of reasons. One, you’ll have only moments trying to figure out what to do next before you die and have to start over. Two, you’ll die do to trying to get up a flight of stairs, when the controls have you double tapping jump just to get on the stairs. Three, you have absolutely no idea what to do next. For instance, a black fog is chasing you down and you need what I can only fathom is a gas mask. It’s found underground between two buildings. You’re not told what you need to pick up or what the “gasmask” is even after you pick it up. I all know is there’s an obscure object I pick that allows me to run through this “death fog.”

Difficulty is something I quite enjoy in a game, if it’s done right. Meaning you learn from your mistake and each death helps you to become a better player. But when a death occurs and a hour of deaths occur in the same section and you still have no idea what to do something is wrong. I enjoyed the game as I got into it, but towards the end it became almost unendurable. This game will take everything you’ve got mentally to complete. Not from complex puzzle solving, intense platforming or the like,  just from shear willpower and faith in yourself that you will one day, complete it. Good luck surviving the end the of the world and if it’s anything like War of the Worlds, you won’t.