The War of the Worlds

 Xbox 360
Metascore
55

Mixed or average reviews - based on 30 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 30
  3. Negative: 12 out of 30
  1. GameSpot
    Nov 14, 2011
    45
    The War of the Worlds adapts H.G. Wells' classic novel into a visually appealing platformer that unfortunately falls short in a number of key areas.
  2. X-ONE Magazine UK
    Dec 8, 2011
    40
    We were both bored and angered by it. [Issue#79, p.100]
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  3. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Dec 6, 2011
    40
    Teeth-grindingly frustrating platforming. [Christmas 2011, p.111]
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  5. Gameblog.fr
    Nov 24, 2011
    40
    This adaptation of the best-seller, narrated perfectly by Patrick Stewart, but the visuals and animations are clearly sub-par. For a platformer reminiscent of Limbo, it's particularly bad, since it makes the levels hard to read, and the poor gameplay doesn't help at all, making it frustratingly difficult. Too many shortcomings for a title that could have been quite nice, too bad.
  6. Vandal
    Nov 9, 2011
    40
    The game is affected by several problems that make gameplay repetitive, through a hard level design and a flawed control. The atmosphere is great, but the experience is not.
  7. IGN
    Oct 31, 2011
    40
    War of the Worlds hurts its notable successes with its drive to make you fail, and it proves to be a hugely disappointing test of tolerance.
  8. Joystiq
    Oct 28, 2011
    40
    The War of the Worlds has the trappings of a solid game. But because it's such a frustrating chore to play, in the end it only proved extremely effective at stressing me out with little reward. Good games just don't do that.
  9. GamePro
    Oct 28, 2011
    40
    For someone interested in videogame design or history, The War of the Worlds is an interesting case study. But is it fun? Dear god, no. Just, no.
  10. Game Chronicles
    Nov 7, 2011
    39
    If you favor frustration over fun then you might enjoy this game, but bring along lots of lube because this game is going to screw you more than an alien anal probe.
  11. DarkStation
    Nov 10, 2011
    30
    Even with the talent of Patrick Stewart the game is just not playable in a way that would make for a fun and enticing experience.
  12. Eurogamer
    Oct 28, 2011
    30
    A visually stunning, dreadfully fussy and cruelly unsatisfying hardcore game - one that does very little indeed to reward the near-infinite levels of patience required to get anywhere close to the value of your time or money.
  13. GameShark
    Dec 4, 2011
    25
    Say what you will about the 2005 Spielberg film adaptation turning the invasion literature into an explosive action romp, it probably would have been a better starting point for the game adaptation. Then again, maybe this is a project that should never have got off the ground to begin with; after all, some pages are better left unturned.

User Reviews

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User Score
5.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 7 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 7
  3. Negative: 3 out of 7
  1. PC-Gamer-Fan
    Oct 26, 2011
    6
    Best looking XBLA game ever made to date. Incredible atmosphere & amazing graphics combine with Patrick Stewart's voiceover to give a veryBest looking XBLA game ever made to date. Incredible atmosphere & amazing graphics combine with Patrick Stewart's voiceover to give a very strong atmosphere which is very cinematic & involving. You really want to find out what's coming next.

    Unfortunately the game has massive problems which is such a shame as it really does look fantastic & plays like an interactive 2D platform game movie in the best possible way.

    The problems I am talking about are as follows:

    1: Unforgiving ridiculously difficult gameplay.
    2: Constantly dying & only progressing through trial & error as the objectives are not clear at all.
    3: Poor checkpoint placement so you have to backtrack a lot on certain sections.
    4: Very hard to attain achievements for completing the game without dying make this virtually impossible to ever get all 200GS on. Most players will struggle to get even 50GS for beating it once as the achievements are very poorly written & do not give enough reward to players for beating the game. It should have given all the achievements for beating the game once! let alone without dying!!!
    5: Hazard animation timing is too severe/critical so this contributes to you dying a lot.
    6: Pixel perfect unresponsive controls.

    Such a shame as I can see no way this can be fixed or tweaked with any patching. Casual players will avoid as its too time consuming to replay the same section over & over for hours just because the game does not make it clear how you can progress.

    If it did not have these problems & was an easy to play/progress game with more checkpoints/gameplay options (there are no difficulty selections) then I would give it 10/10 its really a stunning looking atmopheric game which is faithful to the original HG Wells source material & without a doubt an alltime great 2D platformer if only it had enough QA testing these problems would have been ironed out before release. As it stands its a tragic release as the game promises so much but the unforgiving gameplay, poorly conceived checkpoints/achievements & unresponsive pixel perfect controls cause nothing but frustration to the player & add nothing to the experience only remove you from the game as you start to question why on earth they did not make the game much easier & more about experiencing the story/presentation instead of fighting against the poorly tested finished product.    … Full Review »
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