Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2009) |
Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds is a title used for two 1998 video games published by GT Interactive. The first is a real-time strategy (RTS) game developed by Rage Software Limited for the PC[ambiguous]. The second is third person shooter developed by Pixelogic for the PlayStation.
The games are based on Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds — which is itself based on H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds.
Contents |
[edit] PC version
| Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Rage Software Limited |
| Publisher(s) | GT Interactive |
| Platform(s) | PC[ambiguous] |
| Release date(s) | 1998 |
| Genre(s) | RTS |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) |
| Media/distribution | 2 CD-ROMs |
The PC version is a real-time strategy game.
[edit] Gameplay
The player chooses to play as either the defending Humans or the invading Martians. It was unusual at the time, as instead of having pre-set missions, battles only take place when one sides' forces are sent to a sector occupied by the other. Unit building and the inter-sector movement of forces is done between battles, making the game one of only a few completely non-linear RTS titles ever. In this respect, it is somewhat similar to the computer game North & South.
The game is set in Great Britain and starts in the late 19th century. The map of Britain (the "War map") is divided into approximately 30 sectors. Each sector held by the players forces can be examined in detail in a separate "Battle map". The player can set up unit and structure building tasks and queues here. Time only passes on the War map. Research tasks are set on the War map as well.
Unlike most RTS computer games, units typically consist of multiple vehicles in squadrons of 5, except for highly specialised or utility units which consist of only one vehicle. Neither side uses infantry units. The Martians use large vehicles with powerful weapons, which can take a lot of damage. The Humans have smaller, weaker vehicles, but are capable of larger groups of units, quicker build times and also possess more territory at the beginning of the game. The humans rely mostly on mobile artillery, WWI-style tanks and ironclad warships. Some of the Human vehicles seem advanced for their age, such as submarines, blimps, and tank drills. When playing on the Martian side, the player can expect to be attacked by more than a hundred human vehicles in a single battle, on some occasions. The Humans can build water units, such as Ironclads, which can destroy Martian defenses, while requiring the Martian ground forces to wade out into the ocean to retaliate. The Martians can build a number of extremely specialised vehicles, varying from the mind reading and manipulating Xeno-Telepath, to the Tempest, an extremely powerful machine that carries two heavy Heat-Rays and black smoke canister launcher.
Resource usage is different from the trend of the time. There are no gathering units that manually gather resources, and the resources are not used to build or purchase units. Instead, each sector has three resources (Humans use steel for building structures, oil for unit sustain and coal for unit production whilst the Martians respectively use copper, human blood and heavy elements), in certain levels of abundance. Players can build facilities that will extract these resources at a certain rate. Each unit and manufacturing or repair facility in the game uses certain amounts of the resources depending on the resource type (Martian units need to feed on human blood, for example, while their buildings don't), and the action currently being performed. These resources are drawn from the sector the building or unit is in, and the sectors directly surrounding it. Deficiencies in resources will result in decreased efficiency, and increased time for unit/structure building and repairs.
Although it is single player only, a semi-functional form of multiplayer appears to be accessible, with some registry modification.
[edit] Units,Buildings and Defences
Human: Units
- Armoured Lorry: A light and fast attack vehicle
- Armoured Track Layer: The primary attack vehicle, each carrying two guns to attack.
- Tunneling Track Layer: A modified Track Layer with a drill to dig underground
- Self-Propelled Gun: A fast vehicle that can position heavy guns quickly
- Mobile Anti-Aircraft Array: It is designed to shoot down aerial targets
- Sappers' Lorry: A vehicle that carries engineers that build defences
- Ironclad: A powerful ship that can bombard enemies from the water
- Submersible: A submarine that must surface to attack
- Observation Balloon: A dirigible that can be used to spy on enemies or attack with bombs
- Construction Vehicle: Carries workers around the battlefield to construct buildings
- Mobile Repair Vehicle: Carries field engineers to repair vehicles and emplacements
- Mortar Bike: A vehicle that is used to infiltrate enemy positions, while also being able to attack at short range.
Buildings
- Command Post: Allows construction of buildings in the vicinity
- Repair Workshop: Repairs vehicles brought to it
- Vehicle Factory: Construct their land based vehicles
- Training Centre: A support facility that allows access to specialist units. Allows the construction of the main support units: The Construction Vehicle, Sappers Lorry, Mortar Bike and Mobile Repair Vehicle.
- Ship Yard: Manufactures the Naval forces.
- Aircraft Hangar: Constructs aircraft
- Munitions Factory: Provides specialist weaponry for vehicles. Allows the construction of the Self-Propelled Gun and Mobile Anti-Aircraft Array
- Construction Labs: Allows access to advanced vehicles. Allows the construction of the Tunneling Track Layer and Submersible.
- Steel Refinery: Processes iron
- Coal Mine: Supplies power to facilities
- Oil Refinery: Refines imported oil for vehicles
Defenses:
- Traps: Land mines that damage Martian vehicles
- Blockades: Fences that can be mounted with explosives
- Medium Gun Posts: Light defensive cannon that can be rapidly installed
- Heavy Gun Emplacements: A naval artillery gun
- Anti-Aircraft Array: Designed to combat aerial craft
Martian: Units
- Scout Machine: A fast attack vehicle with light armor and light Heat-Ray
- Fighting Machine: The main attack unit
- Tempest: A very powerful vehicle with two heavy heat-rays and a Black Smoke canister launcher
- Bombarding Machine: A vehicle designed for long-range combat with its canister launcher
- Electric Machine: A close-combat vehicle that attacks with powerful bolts of electricity
- Flying Machine: An agile aerial vehicle with a light heat-ray and poor armor
- Scanning Machine: A specialized vehicle that can detect hidden objects
- Constrictor: This vehicle uses a chemical foam to trap enemy vehicles
- Xeno-Telepath: An advanced vehicle with awesome psychic powers to manipulate its target
- Handling Machine: The Martian's construction vehicle
- Digging Mechanism: It builds the Martian defenses
- Drone: A kamikaze vehicle that deals large amount of damage to anything within the blast radius
Buildings
- Power Plant: Supplies energy to Martian defenses
- Communications Centre: Martian equivalent of a Command Post
- Repair Facility: Repairs the damaged Martian machines.
- Constructor: Manufactures most of the ground forces and specialists
- Energy Weapon Plant: Gives access to vehicles that require high levels of energy. Allows the construction of the Electric Machine and Scanning Machine
- Suspension Field Site: Constructs aerial vehicles and ground defences.
- Telepath Training Centre: Allows access to mind control units
- Biochemical Plant: Produces potent chemicals for vehicles that use them. Allows the construction of the Constrictor
- High Explosive Plant: Provides powerful weaponry for the more advanced vehicles. Allows the construction of the Bombarding Machine, the Drone and the Tempest.
- Human Farm: Processes human blood for the Martians
- Heavy Element Facility: Produces radioactive isotopes to power the vehicles
- Copper Forge: Refines metals needed for facilities
Defenses
- Blockades: Walls of plasma that repel enemy attacks. Requires the Power Plant to work.
- Rapid Heat Ray: A weak defense that can be constructed quickly
- Heat Ray Turret: A permanent defense with good shielding and a formidable heat-ray
- Projectile Launcher: A heavily-shielded canister launcher that bombards enemies from long distances
[edit] Music
Jeff Wayne himself produced the musical arrangements for the game, consisting of 45 minutes of material from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds re-scored and remixed in a newer electronica style with techno beats. The game's menu features a music player.
The remixes consist of the following:
- The Eve of the War (two different versions)
- Horsell Common
- The Fighting Machine
- The Red Weed
- The Spirit of Man
- Brave New World
- Dead London (PC version only)
[edit] Impact
It was one of the earlier RTS games to use 3D models instead of sprites for units. The game also features 3D terrain, which can be used strategically. The game suffered from significant performance problems initially, mainly due to the sheer number of vehicles on screen (often thanks to the Humans) as well as the fact there is no 3D hardware support. However, modern computers should have no trouble running it.
[edit] PlayStation version
| Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds | |
|---|---|
 The Playstation PAL cover of WOW |
|
| Developer(s) | Pixelogic ltd. |
| Publisher(s) | GT Interactive |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation |
| Release date(s) | 1999 |
| Genre(s) | Third Person Shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) |
A video game company (at the same year) published a third person shooter version of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds[1] but did not get much publicity[citation needed] even though it was published by the same publisher (GT Interactive). The version is a third person shooter whereas only the human mission is playable.
Unlike the RTS version, the TPS version has pre-set mission totaling 15 missions[2] and the player will be controlling 20 different WWI style military vehicles[3] with additional abilities to control martian weaponry.
Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds (third person shooter version) was only one of three games developed by Pixelogic ltd. the other two being The Italian Job (2001) and Crime Killer (1998).
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.pixelogic.nildram.co.uk/pages/wotw.htm
- ^ The page Password List shows 15 passwords for 15 missions.
- ^ WOTW > Features
[edit] External links
- Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds official site
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
