''Iron Storm'' is a
first-person shooter video game developed by
4X Studio and published by
Wanadoo in Europe and
DreamCatcher Interactive in North America. An updated version of the game called ''World War Zero'' was later released for the
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
and
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
. Set in an
alternate history
Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...
in which
World War I never ended, the game takes place in 1964, the 50th year of the war, and focuses on an
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
soldier's mission to stop the
Russo Russo may refer to:
*Russo (surname)
* Russo (footballer, 1915–1980), full name Adolpho Milman, Brazilian football forward and manager
* Russo (footballer, born 1976), full name Ricardo Soares Florêncio, Brazilian football defender
*Russo brothe ...
-
Mongolian Empire
The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...
from developing
nuclear weapons and his later efforts to end the war.
Gameplay
''Iron Storm'' displays a mix between World War I
siege tactics, such as
trench warfare and the use of
mustard gas
Mustard gas or sulfur mustard is a chemical compound belonging to a family of cytotoxic and blister agents known as mustard agents. The name ''mustard gas'' is technically incorrect: the substance, when dispersed, is often not actually a gas, b ...
, and some
World War II-style weapons such as
machine guns,
mortars,
tanks, and
rocket launcher
A rocket launcher is a weapon that launches an unguided, rocket-propelled projectile.
History
The earliest rocket launchers documented in imperial China consisted of arrows modified by the attachment of a rocket motor to the shaft a few in ...
s of that era, as well as more contemporary technology such as
helicopters,
wireless communication,
spy satellites
A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications.
Th ...
,
anti-personnel mines, and
unmanned turrets.
The player character cannot take much damage before dying, and there are many enemies equipped with powerful weapons such as
sniper rifles or
anti-tank rifles. Several in-game glitches and vague mission objectives could often force players to replay one level multiple times before finally succeeding. Enemies also behave erratically, as seen when several attempt to walk through walls, or when the player shoots a particular enemy multiple times and yet the enemy remains unscathed.
Plot
The game is set in an alternate year of 1964, in which
World War I never ended. The
Baron Nikolai Alexsandrovich von Ugenberg seized
Mongolia in 1921 in an uprising following the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
, and later invaded Russia itself to crush the
Bolsheviks. His plan was to establish a Russo-Mongolian Empire stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic. With the help of the United States, the
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
nations of Europe were reformed as the United States of Western Europe, or the Alliance, in 1933 to counter Ugenberg's plan.
Instead of the Great War ending in 1918, it was continued for almost half a century, with the battlelines drawn down Europe's center in 1929 shifting little for either side for the next several decades. As the USWE could no longer independently contribute to the war, the Alliance army was introduced into the American
stock market
A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange, as ...
, allowing private investors to speculate on the lives of the soldiers who carried on the war. The outcome of the war now depended almost entirely on the economy of the Alliance's member nations.
The player takes on the role as
U.S. Army Lieutenant James Anderson, only 19 when he joined the Alliance in 1943, and now a legend among the soldiers in the field. Anderson is recruited for a possibly suicidal mission: to breach enemy defenses and stop the Russo-Mongolians from developing a deadly weapon that could devastate the world. Captain Cecile Newcastle of the
Royal Highlands Regiment is Anderson's immediate supervisor and is responsible for guiding him through his mission. Colonel Mitchell is the commander of the operation, but has an ulterior motive for wanting the mission to succeed.
''World War Zero''
''Iron Storm'' was re-released in 2004 in the UK market for the
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
console under the name ''World War Zero: Iron Storm''. While few things were added to the actual gameplay, the graphics were updated and many bugs from the PC version were fixed, and some new weapons were introduced, such as the
flamethrower
A flamethrower is a ranged incendiary device designed to project a controllable jet of fire. First deployed by the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century AD, flamethrowers saw use in modern times during World War I, and more widely in World ...
and the
minigun. The PlayStation 2 version of ''Iron Storm'' was then ported back to the PC in 2005 as ''World War Zero'' and published by Reef Entertainment. This version of the game was released only in the UK and Russia. The additions in this third version consisted of support for
anti-aliasing and
anisotropic filtering, new save points, support for widescreen displays, and bloom lighting. Multiplayer modes were completely cut out along with the majority of the cutscenes, the quick-save feature, and third-person mode. Support for the native resolution of 17" and 19"
TFT screens (1280x1024) was also dropped. The levels were reworked and simplified, and character models were also improved.
Reception
The original ''Iron Storm'' received "average" reviews according to the
review aggregation website
Metacritic.
''
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' cited impressive overall gameplay and a unique storyline, but criticized the game's many glitches, overly-linear levels, and lackluster multiplayer mode.
''
Eurogamer'' thought the PS2 version of ''World War Zero'' was unoriginal and contained elements from many other video games. It was still regarded as a fun game, however, and the multiplayer element was said to be "highly commendable", though reminiscent of ''
Red Faction II
''Red Faction II'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by Volition and published by THQ for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox and Microsoft Windows. It is the sequel to ''Red Faction'' and the second installment of the ''Red Facti ...
''.
Sequels
The first-person shooter ''
Bet On Soldier: Blood Sport'' has been described as a spiritual sequel to ''Iron Storm'' by the game's developers. Many of the people who worked on ''Bet on Soldier'' had previously worked on ''Iron Storm''. Although it is never explicitly stated that the two games take place in the same fictional universe, they share many of the same themes and plot elements, and even similar character and weapon designs. Also ''Bet on Soldier'' takes place in 1990, making it an alternate history, and it is never described how the world of ''Bet on Soldier'' came about in the game except that the world had been at war for eighty years.
Concept art from 2003 indicates that ''Iron Storm 2'' was originally planned to be released. It depicts four levels: the
Paris Gun
The Paris Gun (german: Paris-Geschütz / Pariser Kanone) was the name given to a type of German long-range siege gun, several of which were used to bombard Paris during World War I. They were in service from March to August 1918. When the guns w ...
– a super
railway gun next to a military train station, a European stock exchange hub, a broken
tanker
Tanker may refer to:
Transportation
* Tanker, a tank crewman (US)
* Tanker (ship), a ship designed to carry bulk liquids
** Chemical tanker, a type of tanker designed to transport chemicals in bulk
** Oil tanker, also known as a petroleum ta ...
in
Alaska next to a base, and a heavily guarded Alaskan
oil pipeline
Pipeline transport is the long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas through a system of pipes—a pipeline—typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countr ...
.
References
External links
*
{{Kylotonn
2002 video games
Alternate history video games
Anti-war video games
First-person shooters
Kylotonn games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
PlayStation 2 games
Video games developed in France
Video games set in 1964
Video games set in Berlin
Video games set in Germany
War video games
Windows games
World War I alternate histories
World War I video games
Reef Entertainment games
Ubisoft games
DreamCatcher Interactive games