vehicular combat
Vehicular combat games (also known as just vehicular combat or car combat) are a sub-genre of vehicle simulation video games where the primary objectives of gameplay include vehicles armed with weapons attempting to destroy vehicles controlled b ...
third-person shooter
Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...
video game. It was based primarily on the 1978
concept album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
''
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
''Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds'' is a studio double album by American-born British musician, composer, and record producer Jeff Wayne, released on 9 June 1978 by CBS Records. It is an album musical adapted from the sci ...
'', but also draws from the original 1898 ''
War of the Worlds
''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appearance in hardcover was i ...
Sony PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divi ...
in 1999. The game was never released in North America.
The game's visuals are based heavily on the album's artwork, which was created by Mike Trim, Geoff Taylor and Peter Goodfellow.
Though it reuses audio and graphical elements of
Rage Software
Rage Games (formerly Rage Software) was a British video game developer. Formed in Liverpool in 1992, its video games were marked by an emphasis on graphical effects with arcade gameplay.
Rage's first title '' Striker'' sold more than one mi ...
's PC game of the same title, and is set during the same time period, it is not a port, remake or re-release of that game, but an entirely different adaptation of the same source material.
Gameplay
The game is played from a third-person perspective. The player must navigate three-dimensional environments while controlling various
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
-style military vehicles, such as armoured cars, mobile anti-aircraft platforms, tanks, cannons, motorbikes, and observation balloons. Each vehicle has its own unique mounted weapon (with the exception of the oil tanker, which can only self-destruct). These must be used to combat the
Martian
Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s as the Moon was evidently lifeless. At the time, the pred ...
invaders, who pilot the fighting-machines, handling-machines, flying-machines and embankment-machines of the novel, in addition to various other advanced vehicles, many of which were created specifically for the PlayStation and PC games. The black smoke and
red weed
The Martians, also known as the Invaders, are the fictional race of extraterrestrials from the H.G. Wells 1898 novel ''The War of the Worlds''. They are the main antagonists of the novel, and their efforts to exterminate the populace of the Ea ...
also appear as obstacles within the game. At any moment, the player can bring up the sidebar – a rudimentary map of the level, showing all human and Martian units currently in the area. From here the player can instantly switch to any human vehicle or turret currently in their control.
The game features fourteen pre-set levels, with varied missions such as destroying a Martian base, stealing a Martian flying-machine, and managing the evacuation of a human village. Some levels are more focused on strategy than direct combat; the player is often required to transport civilians, engineers, or soldiers from place to place, escort armoured lorries, and collect scrap material to be used in the creation of new vehicles. The game is not compatible with the PlayStation
memory card
A memory card is an electronic data storage device used for storing digital information, typically using flash memory. These are commonly used in digital portable electronic devices. They allow adding memory to such devices using a card in a so ...
. In order to save their progress, the player must note the password given at the end of each level (excluding the final one).
Synopsis
Setting
The game takes place in 1890s Britain, and is faithful to the alternate-history setting of the source material. Throughout the game, the player gets the opportunity to explore numerous urban and rural locations, including
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
,
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, and the
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...
. The vehicles used by the human forces are generally appropriate to the setting, while the Martian war machines and installations are more fanciful and baroque, showing a
steampunk
Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or ...
influence.
Plot
The game features the same opening and closing cut-scenes as the PC game's human campaign. In the opening sequence, a group of military officials are taking part in an emergency conference. The previous morning, a bizarre craft had landed in
Horsell Common
Horsell Common is a open space in Horsell, near Woking in Surrey. It is owned and managed by the Horsell Common Preservation Society. An area of is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special ...
near
Woking
Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...
. This cylinder contained the advance of an invading army; its occupants began to attack civilians and soldiers indiscriminately. The officials then listen to the testimony of a journalist who witnessed the attack. (The journalist's dialogue is an edited version of the narration
Richard Burton
Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...
recorded for the album between 1976 and 1977.) It quickly becomes apparent that the invaders are aliens from the planet
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
. The advance attack at Horsell Common was suppressed, and the four Martian war machines were defeated by human artillery, enabling the journalist to escape and give his testimony. The officials learn that several other Martian missiles are heading towards Britain, and prepare a military retaliation with the aid of their chief scientists and engineers, and the knowledge that, if Britain should fall, the rest of the world is sure to follow.
In the game's first level, the player is given military training, and learns how to control vehicles and fire turrets and vehicular weaponry. At the end of the level, the next Martian cylinder arrives, and the invasion begins wholesale. Throughout the game, the player must take control of various vehicles, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and use them strategically to fight their way through Martian settlements, free humans from Martian farms, protect human cities and villages, and carry out various other missions in aid of the resistance.
The game's story resolution differs from that of the book and album in that the Martians do not succumb to the common cold virus. Instead they must be fought off with the use of military force and human ingenuity and cunning. Eventually the player reaches the
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...
, where the Martians have made their main base. (In the novel and album, the Martian base was instead located in London.) Once the player destroys the seven Martian Elders who are directing the invasion, the war ends, and peace is restored. The player's soldier character (now seen for the first time) escapes the destruction of the Martian base, and the journalist narrator wonders if the Martians might strike again some day. The album's
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
epilogue is omitted, leaving the game's conclusion closer to the open-ended ambiguity of the original novel.
Soundtrack
The game features an instrumental
techno
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...
/
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
soundtrack, consisting of seven remixes of music from ''
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
''Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds'' is a studio double album by American-born British musician, composer, and record producer Jeff Wayne, released on 9 June 1978 by CBS Records. It is an album musical adapted from the sci ...
''. These remixes were arranged, engineered, programmed and mixed by the musical group Max Mondo, along with Stephen Murphy, and were first heard in the ''War of the Worlds'' PC game released the previous year. Jeff Wayne oversaw the remixing process. The PlayStation game's score includes versions of "The Spirit of Man", "Brave New World", "Red Weed", "Horsell Common", "The Fighting Machine", and two versions of "The Eve of the War" (called the "Human" and "Martian" mixes). The player can pause the game and switch between any of the seven tracks at any time. The main menu of the game also features a music player. The remix of "Dead London" featured in the PC game is omitted. Part of the game's soundtrack was later re-released in the ullaDUBulla remix album.
Reception
The game received generally positive reviews. In June 1998, ''PlayStation Pro'' published a review, giving the game a score of 91%. In December 1999, PlayStation Plus rated the game at 8/10. ''PlayStation Extreme'' reviewed it in their 24th issue, giving it a score of 83%. In January 2000, German magazine ''Video Games'' reviewed the game, praising its variety and selection of vehicles, but criticising its controls and "average" graphics; they awarded it a score of 70%. ''NowGamer'' gave the game a score of 48, saying that " tsplausible tactical element and heavy dose of blasting just about saves it from extinction, but it was a close run thing". Others criticised the game's unusual mixture of the
third-person shooter
Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...
and
strategy
Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...