The premise of War World revolves around giant mechanical men (or, as everyone calls them, mechs) controlled by real men who hate each other. To find out why they hate each other, go to www.warworld.net, but the point is every so often they love to get together and throw down at random places around the world. Best of all, these aren’t tiny battles. Up to eight players can duke it out online, or a single player can jump in with many AI mechs to test their skills.
The single player portion is the most fleshed-out mode, but at the same time it always just feels like a very lonely multiplayer game. The Arcade mode pits you in pre-determined battle scenarios, one after the other. Each scenario is easily something you can create with the multiplayer customisation tool – except the mechs don’t come all at once. Large dropships (which can be destroyed, but they are very tough) circle around the arena and distribute various enemies for you to dispatch. Occasionally, the level may feature a one-on-one against a single mechanical Leviathan of immense strength and power – but at the same time, this can be achieved through deathmatch customisation. Arcade is also run on the same maps that are used in every other mode – so after about 20 battles (out of 100 to win) it becomes pretty tedious. To mix things up, after every battle you earn credits and are taken to the Mech Customisation Shop, which lets you upgrade your weapons, armour and model of mech.
If I blow this up, does that make me a terrorist?
Speaking of these varied options, the game handles different weapons very well. Tools can be equipped to five separate areas – so in theory, you could be blasting the enemy with five weapons at the one time. Best of all, the weapons feel different. The most powerful minigun gives a greater sense of satisfaction than the basic model, and looks cooler to boot. Mortar and missile launchers are all pretty much the same, but every weapon will give detailed statistics, so you can clearly see what advantages you're receiving. There's also a shield which can be used, and when activated your mech becomes invincible. The problem is that when activated you can’t fire, so the only thing to do is to run around like a moron until it wears off – giving time for the enemy to line you up perfectly.
The mechs themselves are split into the standard categories; fast with small armour, good all-rounder, and slow yet big on firepower and defence. You can change the colour though, which is nice. I personally found the large mechs to be vastly inferior, as the extremely fast firing rate and combat speed of enemies leaves them as sitting ducks. They are all played in a third-person viewpoint, but control the same as any PC first-person shooter.
Also typically for a shooter, though unlike some mech titles, the combat is fast and fluid. The aiming crosshair is smooth and accurate, and within a few minutes anyone with basic knowledge of mouse and keyboard controls should be fighting like a pro. All commands can be issued to any key (not the any key), and this is particularly handy when you're toting five separate weapons simultaneously. So, expect a flurry of explosions and death at the touch of a button. Map all weapons to a single mouse click for some real carnage.
I thought the blue light means a good guy.
The carnage is also very pretty - and even at medium settings, War World holds its own against recent big-name PC titles. Letting fly with multiple rockets and mortars results in amazing streams of colours, culminating in epic destruction. Keep firing, and you'll add another ten enemies into that pit of death for some real action. What should be mentioned above the technical aspect is the visual style. The combat arenas are as good as, if not better than the majority of shooters out there. A multi-leveled, post-war city ruin is the true standout, but also expect various jungle, desert and tech facility settings. The only problem here is that there just isn’t enough levels, and it would have been really something to experience the fantastic colours and designs of War World on a larger scale.
Getting down to the dirty now – War World is repetitive. There's no real incentive to try and beat 100 levels in Arcade mode to unlock all the goodies; you simply need to create a single player deathmatch game, and this begins with hundreds of thousands of credits at your disposal to pimp out your gear. Once the best mechs are used, with the best weapons in the best maps, there isn’t much to keep players coming back. Most of the single player games, be it Arcade mode or deathmatch feel pretty much the same and are equally enjoyable. The online play could very well increase the lifespan of War World exponentially, but without more players it might die out before the game’s true potential is reached.
As a full game, War World hasn’t turned out as well as hoped. Of course, the indie development must be considered, and nothing as in-depth as some titles can be expected – but small team or not, a quality game is a quality game. War World is an above-average game, for a below-average price. With all things considered, it's a pretty good deal for those with more than a passing interest in the genre. If one is committed to checking out all the community benefits over at the official site, and openly supporting online play, there'll be many hours of fun to be had.
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