Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds: Difference between revisions

[[File:ulla_791.png|frame|[[A God Is You|A Martian Commander is you!]]]]

 

{{quote|''We have destroyed many of them. But although their weaponry is primitive, we greatly underestimated [[Zerg Rush|the strength of their numbers]]. Success is no longer assured''|Commander of the ill-fated martian vanguard}}

 

 

''Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds'' is a 1998 [[Real Time Strategy]] game by British games developer Rage Software. As the name suggests, it contains a lot of the dialogue and music from the [[Rock Opera]] of the same name. It follows the invasion of Great Britain in 1898 by Martians who, exhausting all other options, have turned to conquest in order to escape their dying planet. Unfortunately, unlike in the original novel these Martians have [[Genre Savvy|remembered to take their flu shots]], and so must be fought off the old fashioned way.

 

 

The resource system also differed from the conventions of the time; there is no manual [[Resource Gathering]], and instead of the resources being used to build or purchase units, each unit and facility has an “upkeep” requirement (which varies depending on whether it is moving, building, repairing or idle). The speed at which buildings and units are constructed decreases if the requirements are not met, forcing the player to strike a balance. Each side makes use of three different resources and each sector of the war map has these resources in varying levels of abundance. The player can construct facilities to extract these resources in sectors they control, leading to strategic maneuvers to control high-resource sectors and thus support bigger armies. The strategy doesn't end there however, as reconnaissance, hit and run raids, pincer movements, infiltration of enemy buildings (to gain strategic intelligence) or sheer [[We Have Reserves|brute force]] are all options available to the player. The ultimate objective of both sides is to destroy the enemy headquarters in their central sector.

 

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* [[Action Bomb]] - Drones

* [[All Your Base Are Belong to Us]] - The Martians do this to most of Scotland within the first week of the campaign.

* [[Animal Testing]] - A Martian cow, mentioned in the novel but not featured in any other adaptation, is briefly seen in the intro movie being gassed with Black Smoke.

* [[Back From the Brink]] - Can be done, but it's extremely tricky.

* [[British Accents]] - Human units have a mix of English and Scottish responses, while the ships lean towards a British equivalent of [[Danger Deadpan]].

* [[The British Empire]] - The Human faction

* [[Bullet Hell]] - Attacking a well-defended human sector often feels like this. Once they get SPGs, they'll start bringing the bullet hell to ''you''!

** Justified, considering the name's origin as a code word used on transports.

* [[Canon Immigrant]] - Most of the Martian intro movie, which explains why the Martians are invading, was copied for Jeff Wayne’s live stage version. The game’s model for the flying machine was also used.

* [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard]] - In either campaign, the other side will start with more units and structures than you would if you were playing as them.

* [[Creepy Monotone]] - The Martians speak like this.

* [[Damage Is Fire]]

* [[Deadly Gas]]: The black smoke.

* [[Death Ray]] - Standard Martian weaponry is heat rays, which can be upgraded to microwave rays, which can be upgraded to ''x-rays''...

** The constrictors have [[Freeze Ray|freeze rays]]

* [[Easy Logistics]] - Mostly averted. Resource facilities have more effect if positioned closer to the sectors that need them. Sectors cut off by the enemy usually suffer crippling inefficiency. The more awesome units can take months to research and build.

* [[Geo Effects]] - Different types of terrain affect movement speed and vulnerability. Night time does not affect gameplay per se, but Human vehicles cast headlights, and the Martians view the battle through a green nightvision filter.

* [[Humans Are Ugly]] - "Many humans had gathered around, and the proximity of these hideous creatures made me aware of our vulnerability."

** "So, [[Kill All Humans|I cleansed the area]]."

* [[I Love Nuclear Power]] - The Martians’ machines appear to be nuclear powered, given that they all run on heavy elements.

* [[Infant Immortality]] - In one cutscene, a Bombarding Machine guns down fleeing humans, but briefly pauses over - and then spares - a young girl. Of course, see [[Human Resources]] for why this might not be as much of a blessing as it appears...

* [[The Juggernaut]] - Tempests.

* [[Mighty Glacier]] - Fighting machines, which are powerful but slow.

* [[Mind Rape]] - The Xeno Telepaths.

* [[Monumental Damage]] - Destroying the Houses of Parliament is the Martians’ victory condition.

* [[Moral Myopia]] - The Martians see humans pretty much as cattle, though they soon develop a healthy respect for their fighting abilities after their first pod (sent in a direct attack on London) is destroyed.

* [[Ominous Latin Chanting]] - In the Martian victory movie.

* [[People Farms]] - Literally. One of the Martian resource structures.

* [[Puny Earthlings]] - Invoked almost by name in one of the game’s cheat codes.

* [[Rock Beats Laser]] - In general, it is easier to win the Human campaign than the Martian one.

* [[Scenery Gorn]] - The Martian victory movie shows London on fire, and [[Camera Abuse|Big Ben crashing down on top of the camera]].

* [[Shock and Awe]] - Electric machines.

* [[Spider Tank]] - The game expands from the original [[Tripod Terror|Tripod Terrors]] to include Martian walkers with 2, 4, 5 or even 6 legs.

* [[Standard Snippet]] - The music heard in the Martian intro video is Gustav Holt's "Mars, the Bringer of War".

* [[Tank Goodness]] - 90% of the human arsenal.

* [[Tech Tree]] - Played with. Both sides have a broad range of research options, some of which have to be researched hierarchically. However, sometimes new technologies become available as counters to new enemy weapons - for example, after your first battle against Flying Machines, you are able to research AA guns.

* [[Telepathic Spacemen]] - The Xeno Telepaths.

* [[Units Not to Scale]] - Impressively averted.

** And for the humans, the first time you run into the iconic fighting machines.

* [[White and Grey Morality]] - The Humans are fighting for their home and their way of life. The Martians are fighting because ''their'' home and way of life is dying. This allows the player to have some sympathy for the aliens.

** They do however [[Kick the Dog]] a bit in their victory movie, what with gloating about how “soon we shall farm and feast upon these animals” while the camera shows a human girl cowering away from a Bombarding Machine.

** If the Martians lose, it is implied that his replacement meets the same fate. Which seems like a bit of a [[Blofeld Ploy]] given that the martian general in question was only your adjutant, and not the one calling the shots.

* [[You Require More Vespene Gas]] - A variation, where the amount of resources you are producing does not affect what you can build, just ''how long'' it takes to build it. The Humans use steel, coal and oil, while the Martians use [[To Serve Man|blood]], copper and [[I Love Nuclear Power|heavy elements]].

* [[Zerg Rush]] - An effective tactic for the Humans once you’ve got track layers.

 

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