Filed under: World War Zero: Iron Storm
this game doesn’t waste any time getting into the action. so, neither will i. World War Zero (née Iron Storm, – which despite their separate listings on Steam, are in fact the same game) is another take on what World War I could’ve looked like through an alternate timeline. this time it’s; “what if WWI hadn’t ended?” set an utterly ambiguous era of war against Russian Mongolians (+10 for sillies. second only to the Wasteland’s Chinese Remnants soldiers). actually, it is very in tune with Fallout 3’s, Operation Anchorage DLC (wherein they appear). it has the same type of energy. come to think about it.. it falls in line with a lotta different shooters. the fantasy to be thrust into war as it nears a penultimate fate.. a part of the frontlines tasked with making history.. a role of which would never be seized of its attribution.. is common for many. it also makes for great storytelling. once again giving you a frontline seating, this time to a whole different show. all the political turmoil, the beef between all the head-honchos and the countless factions working at their behest. that is today’s case. you’re a soldier planted in the midst of siege against Russo-Mongolians and their many different bases of operation. a tense arms race befalling many as corrupt political figureheads fight for control of a weapons market. by the time of the events in the game, weaponry had already been revolutionized. a night and day difference between WWI’s meek showing nearly 50 years earlier. the world is a clashing (endearing) array of steampunk weaponry against a backdrop of quaint villages, crumbling churches, and.. is that the Reichstag? with a giant Buddhist monk..?
i like when games keep the timeline ambiguous by way of differing themes. it becomes both familiar and entirely foreign. this lax flow of storytelling freedom gives the developers more room for creativity. so much more to play with. giving it a unique feeling. even though it’s just another World war.. again. all of the weapons are reminiscent to armaments from the time. but with a crappy, rusty slapped together look to them. but the locales are still stuck in the past. kitted out Russo-Mongolians in hi-tech gear seek refuge below a centuries old church. makeshift trenches that lead into underground fortresses. another thing keeping the games timeline ambiguous is the gameplay itself. you’re thrust straight into combat. there’s text scrolling above but the combination of garbled radio chatter and on-screen visual clutter makes it impossible to focus on. leading to a lot of missed transcripts. oh yeah, for some reason the subtitles are on the top of the screen. not on the bottom. i’m fairly certain we came to a consensus on this. subs must always go on the bottom.. sigh.. even in the main menu it’s hard to gauge your surroundings. the camera pans quickly through dim corridors as gunfire blares. even the sound indicator when scrolling mimics the sounds of an ongoing firefight. it’s a turbulent start. hellfire pours down as we (the one and only! the iconic..), James Anderson, start receiving comms ushering us to escape. my theory was that our character is awoken from a haze induced caused by a nearby explosion on their turf. be it temporary or not. men are dying all around us. the voice acted as an blaring in my mind to get the hell out of there.. push on! you cannot give up just yet!
it’s a lot like Killzones first mission. spawning straight into battle. into the bleak fields lined with barbed wire and wartorn trenches ripped straight from WWI’s late stages. and without a moment’s notice you’ll find yourself mowing down a near unending force of gas mask mooks. and just like Killzone, that’s the whooole loop. wham bam, thank you ma’am. i will say though, there was a fun variety of gadgets and novelties. a surprising variety actually. something i didn’t expect. here’s a quick example; during firefights enemy soldiers will sound an alarm, a fact true in most games. the alarm will trigger a turret, or two. only second to the final boss the turrets are a bitch to deal with and is a guaranteed death. “guaranteed” until you figure out you can turn the alarms back off deactivating them by pressing the same button as the soldiers. et voilà. now the turrets won’t bug you. it’s not much but first impressions tell you that it’s bottom of the barrell.. or at the very very least, really really old. but for its length (a meager 4-5 hours) it’s a fun excursion. that is if you don’t mind shooting enemies to a mind-numbing degree.. trust me this isn’t a slight. i guess i enjoy doing that, or i wouldn’t have this blog. yeehoo.. the games level design is built to be spacious enough to allow for backtracking. there are alternate routes (often hiding in plain view) that take you to spots you thought were impossible to reach. or make you go; “hrm.. i could swear i’ve been here before..” turning around to see that you were in fact here before. usually a cache of supplies is sat here waiting for you. a sub-mission, or even a new gun. sadly all these spare ventures are a waste of time. the loot, the weapons, even the sub-missions. you’re completely kitted out by the end of the first mission. you’d think you just stumbled into a homeless shelter with all the free handouts. it continues even into the late game. you’ll still find some new guns that make it worthwhile. and the sub-missions give you something new to juggle. but that’s all.. it’s made even worse by the fact all guns work basically the same out on the field.
i’ll forego the weapons ranking this time around. you’ll only be judging them on the basis of whatever has a faster TTK. because their stats don’t mean crap. in fact, your harder hitting guns i.e. shotguns, snipers, are outranked by anything full-auto. the smallest of sprays can wipe out a whole group of Russo-Mongolians nary a reload. while their small magazine of 4-5 shots per reload is not nearly worth racking between every shot. though the sniper can still be useful in long range engagements. similarly with explosives. which there are a lot of. aside from taking out tanks and choppers, they’re too sluggish to employ in most normal firefights. you’ll start feeling so guilty for not using them that you’ll cave in and use them in a panic. just to instantly regret it. this here is the problem. it’s not prudent to use anything that isn’t an AR or SMG. the real star of the show though, is the game’s LMG. the Vivda KSK heavy machine gun. soo, a HMG. it’s a lot like Vice City’s M60. one shot and a high res scope. it’s ultra satisfying to snipe enemies with. what’s not to love? that goes for all of the guns to be fair.. i’m being dramatic when i make them sound s0o0o0o0o0o0o awful. they were always fun to fidget with. i think the lack of recoil gave the game a Counter-Strike feeling. like pre-aiming corners ‘n stuff. it was a newfound novelty, and made it kind of challenging. thankfully my enemies were only a peg above ‘braindead’ mode. lastly; our loadout consists of different throwables. tacticals, grenades, you name it. it’s business as usual until you get to the hallucinogenic gas grenade. one of the two types of gas grenades, this one is unlike the standard model. instead of dispersing gas that slowly ticks away at your health, this one gives the player some.. adverse effects. inverting the camera controls and screwing with your FOV. ghastly voices fill the air around you. on some Amnesia: The Dark Descent crap.. after that initial wave of curiosity, to say it got on my nerves real quick would be an understatement. i never opted to use these. they gave you an endless supply. at best you’ll block your way forward. or at worst.. you walk into the gas, suffering its effects. the way it messes with your controls is so annoying. i could swear it bugged out a few times. lasting so much longer than it should’ve. silverlining is the AI never used it (or very rarely).
earlier we left off on our immediate assault against the Russo-Mongol’s growing empire. it’s a strict funnel through every last one of their frontlines. these are the last of their encampments before you near the Reichstag. their HQ. mostly unchanged from its real life counterpart. well except for the giant Buddha statue sat in the middle of the place. this is where the bad guys convene (as seen in the penultimate cutscene). in fact, that cutscene is the first time we see the place. same with the enemies. pretty much everything relevant to the story. unless one of my cutscenes just got up and walked away – granted they were easy to skip.. – i can’t really explain the pacing of the story. you take control as soon as they game starts so the voice in the intro gives you a rudimentary understanding of what’s going on. “final stand..”, “get outta there!”, “Mongolians..!”, “secret weapons market..”, etc. at one point you’re on a speeding bullet train towards a final base à la Killzone 2. or the other way around.. considering this game came first. hrm.. (crap.. i’ve been meaning to finish that write-up. sorry for the wait.. to all of my biggest fan(s).. err.. soon™) and before you know it you’ve arrived at the last level. all of my screenshots run in order. it probably took twice the length due to a lack of a sprint mechanic making backtracking more gruesome. the whole time the game will give you sub-missions. sometimes destroying a base, weapons cache, or taking out “mini-bosses”. soldiers with a unique name/backstory. one even had a villain monologue, in a cutscene! sadly none of them would amount to much. often dying before the objective alert finished scrolling across my screen. all except the last boss..
the final moments are chaos as everything comes to a head. on the roof of the Reichstag right after a duel between the head Baron of the Russo-Mongolians and that of a ‘new’ faction called the Consortium. one also clearly opposed to former. one of the two are able to escape just barely out of reach. replacing him is a giant mechanized boss. looking around its now obvious the roof will be our arena. finally.. i’ve been hankering for a real fight (◣_◢ ) 凸 *fast forward a few resets* i can confidently say this is the one and only encounter you can consider to be a bossfight. his hulking appearance isn’t just about looks. he’s quite the tank. the duel was tough but well earned. ending on an surge of adrenaline. just before a bittersweet ending wherein one of the antagonists (?) has escaped and the aforementioned weapons market’s been flooded by some new taboo weaponry. that boss was probably a showcase of the new armament and why it’s most likely not a good thing. those dual-wield LMGS are some serious melt-machines.
if you’re looking for a cheap thrills FPS unencumbered by a long interwoven story, this is your game. even if it’s way short there’s fun to be had in mowing down a buncha enemies. while flat, the guns are fun to play with. i was happy with the galley of firearms and found them to be serviceable. a rotation between different missions nulling their futility as the game progresses. some you can take an easy approach with. or some, the ‘go ham’ approach. guns ablazing. not unique by any means but it’s graphics, novelty, and charm is up to the eye of the beholder. so if ya like this sorta thing.. *wink* admittedly though it’s shortness may have been a major saving grace. there wasn’t time for it teeter on that ledge of being annoying (something you’ll rarely hear me say). games like these often have an extreme audacity about them. when you consider just how simple their loop is.. spray, pray, repeat. it’s like.. c’mon. you know you’re on borrowed time, right? this one kept it brief. and for that, it stays on my good side. seriously though it’s a fun game. the acclaim isn’t roaring from the hilltops but the adoration can be felt in every forum post. this is a game i’ll have a hankering to play again come next year. lax time that kills a couple of hours.