World War Zero: Ironstorm review

I was stupid. I wasn’t careful and I got caught. I’d secured the area, entered the lift that led down into the complex and I thought I was safe. But they pumped it full of gas and I collapsed to the sound of laughter and the disc whirring into the next level. A minute later and I woke up in a glass tank. It was horrible. They had taken my weapons! How could they?! It was all I could do to find a simple way out, grab the nearest gun and start the laborious task of trying to regain my arsenal and get back on track. Unbelievable.

As unbelievable as the fact that this is yet another first person shooter, one originally just known as Ironstorm on the PC, to use such a lazy and inconsequential plot device to tell its story seems to beggar belief. It’s such a shame because it all looks so promising. A First World War that didn’t end when it should, dragging on into the fifty year mark, plastering its tired, haggard features on the people and cities caught up in the conflict. The ironic twist being that the war has gradually turned into a business interest with soldiers traded as stock, their value going up and down with each success and failure.

Drunk with fatigue

Like I said, it sounds like a good idea. That’s probably how they got the project the green light in the first place. Just think of it: a 1960s culture going slowly insane under the pressure of warfare; a population spending all their time inventing ever more outlandish weapons and fortresses to rally against an enemy that they’ve forgotten why they’re fighting. A twisted, yet recognisable world skewed by the twin evils of murder and commerce, not safe for anyone.

Why, then, do we end up with a second-rate linear shooter with average weapons and uninspired locations gradually tearing the joy out of this promising premise. Again, this promise is shown in the first few levels, with nice touches such as advertising posters on the walls of your base and a sky made bloody against the sound of warfare. But again, press on and it loses its sparkle, abandoning the wide open spaces for a generally claustrophobic corridor shooter, squeezed dry of any new ideas.

An ecstasy of fumblin’

The problem is that they’ve concentrated on the story too much. As a lone commando, you’re tasked with retrieving an experimental device from the enemy by heading to and infiltrating their base. However, while taking in standard locations such as cities and large trains, it neglects the whole conflict for a battle in the token evil villain’s base. As such the player in this single episode in the war never really gets the big picture as to how this world survives and what drives it. Not to spoil things, but there’s actually no conclusion or firm resolution to the thing and the end leaves an unsatisfied whole as the greedy promise of a follow-up is instead dangled in front of the screen. No matter, the world just isn’t interesting enough to make it a requisite.

Desperate glory

The story goes hand in hand with the soldiers you have to kill. From the first level to the sixteenth, each uses exactly the same tactics, with only the quickness of their trigger finger creating any change in difficulty level. Apart from the two or three tanks scattered around, only the last level proves some kind of challenge with a boss that doesn’t fall down easily. Well, easily enough in that I took him out by hiding behind a corner, popping out to shoot rockets at him between his volleys as he just stood there. The secondary objectives – not too much strain since they’re only scant metres away from the linear path of the primary – require tasks such as killing generals or destroying command centres. Tasks that are so unnecessarily easy and superfluous that you wonder why they bothered in the first place (apart from some attempt at extending longevity, of course).

Dulce et decorum est

Weapons, too, are your usual mix of shotguns, sniper rifles and grenade launchers, with nary a whiff of an alternate universe weapon that would distinguish itself from the usual first person shooter armoury. Thankfully they play well and ease of control isn’t an issue that should be complained about, considering all the other problems. It’s an experience that can be sat through quite pleasantly despite its anticlimactic feel and judicious use of save points makes sure it doesn’t outstay its welcome. Nevertheless, World War Zero’s bland linearity and its seen-it-all-before locations give rise to the idea that it could have been a lot better than average. As it stands, it’s another flat-rate competent shooter that does nothing to stand out from the crowd despite having had the perfect opportunity to do so.