''The War of the Worlds'', titled on screen as ''Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds'' and on the cover as ''Jeff Wayne's Video Game Version of The War of the Worlds'' is a

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed and released by

CRL Group CRL Group plc is a defunct British video game development and publishing company. Originally CRL stood for "Computer Rentals Limited". It was based in King's Yard, London and run by Clem Chambers. at World of Spectrum They released a number of not ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

. The game is based upon the 1978 concept album, itself based on H.G. Wells' 1898 novel ''

The 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), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...

''. Gameplay required the player to visit a series of sites in and around

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 ...

, by moving a person using cursor keys or a joystick, and occasionally making choices such as whether to hide, run or stand still. The game was unpopular with reviewers because it ran very slowly and the player was often killed (hunger and thirst being common causes of death) and forced to begin the adventure from scratch. Despite this, the game peaked at number 8 in the weekly computer game charts making it one of CRL's highest charting titles. Original 2-page magazine advertisements stated 'available for ZX Spectrum' but also had a list of other formats the game was 'to be created for' including the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

Oric Atmos Oric was the name used by UK-based Tangerine Computer Systems for a series of 6502-based home computers sold in the 1980s, primarily in Europe. With the success of the ZX Spectrum from Sinclair Research, Tangerine's backers suggested a hom ...

BBC Micro The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an emphas ...

and Acorn Electron

but no other versions were completed.

Reception

In a 1992 survey of science fiction games, ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

'' gave the title one-plus stars of five, advising readers to "curl up with the book instead".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:War of the Worlds, The 1984 video games Cancelled BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games Cancelled Commodore 64 games Cancelled Oric games CRL Group games Single-player video games Video games based on The War of the Worlds Video games developed in the United Kingdom ZX Spectrum games ZX Spectrum-only games