Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds is a vehicular combat third-person shooter video game. It was based primarily on the 1978 concept album Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, but also draws from the original 1898 War of the Worlds novel by H. G. Wells. The game was developed by Pixelogic and released in Europe exclusively for the Sony PlayStation 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'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-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 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 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. 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, Dover, Oxford, Glasgow, and the Scottish Highlands. 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 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 near Woking. 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 recorded for the album between 1976 and 1977.) It quickly becomes apparent that the invaders are aliens from the planet Mars. 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.