War World: Tactical Combat Preview

by on 15th May 2006


War World is a mech game, and a very fast paced one at that. Before each battle, you choose your robot (which range from small and fast to the large and armored), your weapons (you can use four offensive pieces at a time), as well as a shield and thruster unit. If a certain piece doesn't appeal to you, you can always spend your cash in another area.

Once out of the shop, it's every man for himself. Being well aware of your radar is essential - if you take sustained fire for more then a couple of seconds, you're toast. If you stay still for more then a few moments, a barrage of lasers, missiles, minigun slugs and mortar blasts will leave you as a sad little crater.

Generic reloads for your kit are strewn around the field and quickly reappear at short intervals, certainly faster then you can use it. Grabbing everything you can see works regardless as to whether you need it as it keeps it out of the hands of the other death dealers out there. Health packs are the only things in relatively short supply, as they only appear from the remains of slain mechs - I say "relatively" as there are always plenty of targets to choose from.

Each mech (which is roughly the same height as a tall human) can carry the same amount of equipment, and there are no weight restrictions to take into account. I invested in dual miniguns with a single thruster on the fastest mech, and found the heavy fire power and speed let me plough through multiple targets in seconds. And dead targets don't shoot back, right?


Your primary weapons (lasers, miniguns or both) are both linked together by default, but you can fire them seperately if you wish. This lets you blast away with the rapid fire minigun while conserving your powerful laser blasts for that clear shot (they take a small amount of time to recharge, but don't require you to take lead into account). Missile systems offer limited homing ability, while mortars or mines (you can't take both out onto the field) let you spring nasty surprises on your enemies. The controls are fairly well layed out by default, but you might find yourself changing them to suit the systems you want to rely on. But even if you're planning on fighting with everything at once, all you'll really need is a three button mouse.

Shield systems are thrown in, but you can't fire while they're active. For most mechs shields only delay the inevitable (if you really need to get clear of an area you'll want to use those thrusters), but it's handy to have them there if you need to make a quick break for that health or ammo pack. Mechs may still drop mines while shielded, discouraging those on your tail from finishing the job. You'll most likely be relying on your shields for capture the flag games.


The arcade mode of the game totals 100 levels, each of which puts you up against a varied number of foes. They attack in waves, usually spawning right onto the map, but sometimes a ship will land to drop them off (unless you blast it first). You'll want to use the terrain to your advantage to block line of sight from all directions except that of your target, as standing out in the open is usually suicide. Each level cleared gives you a few thousand more credits to spend on your mech, preparing you for ever larger battles.

Graphically, War World looks great, with various weapon blasts and explosives whizzing around your screen at any moment. You probably won't notice this however, as you'll be too busy trying to avoid it all and return fire. The weapons sound nice and meaty, but you'll be relying on your radar over your speakers to target enemies. That's if you can't see their weapon trails, mind, it's uncommon that you'll be wandering around looking for a target.

All up, it's a fast paced shooting game without all the annoying things that go with the genre, such as hunting for targets or saps camping the good weapons. It's bound to attract an online community of trigger happy fighters when this improved version is released in February (the original was only available in North America, and is no longer for sale). Along with the added LAN support, the new game modes look set to give you that "one more game" feeling.

Game Card

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Developer: Third Wave Games
Publisher: Lighthouse Interactive
Released:2006

Screenshots

Databank