War of the Worlds releases on XBLA tomorrow with added Patrick Stewart

Whenever Halloween comes around I always look forward to the re-broadcast of a significant radio drama. On October 30th, 1938, Orsen Wells directed and narrated an adaptation of the classic H.G. Wells novel, The War of the Worlds. Because the show itself was on a radio station that never ran commercial breaks during their broadcasts, many people thought -- for a short period of time -- that we really were being invaded by aliens from the planet Mars. Soon we'll be able to play through these events with Other Ocean's The War of the Worlds that's set to release on PC later this year (next week for XBLA).



The game itself is a fusion of both the novel and the classic 1953 movie of the same name, with Sir Patrick Stewart serving as the narrator of the events. It's not like Bastion where the narrator seems to have a line for every-single-action in the game, but like that game, Worlds' narration serves to add ambiance to events taking place around the main character. And who better to provide this context than Stewart, whom I'm told was excited at the prospect of providing this narration to one of his favorite childhood stories. Apparently he reenacted the radio drama in his youth to refine his acting chops.

There's no denying that the game has a striking resemblance to Limbo, with its dark grays and blacks throughout the world and our hero traversing ever onward through these side-scrolling levels. Crumbling ceilings, hovering alien robots that shoot lasers (lasers!), and giant robots are just a few of the obstacles to avoid. The developers point to a series of other games that Worlds is drawing inspiration from like Prince of Persia and Out of this World. Like those classics, expect to play through a series of push and pull block puzzles along with a series of platform jumping segments.



And it's not just the giant walkers or crumbling buildings that the player has to avoid. Other staples from the novella such as the "Red Weed" and the "Black Smoke" will play integral parts in the level design. Two examples shown included smoke creeping through the building following the player (think the smoke monster from Lost), while the red weed works like the tentacles from Half-Life 2, reaching out to grab the player and pull them away.

Look out for this on Oct. 26th for 800 points

Nope

Looks like it is borrowing heavily from Limbo. Might try the demo on this