This is now quite an old game (1998?) so the graphics are a bit less than perhaps they could be. But it still works because because the game is such fun. As always, gameplay matters. Martians have landed and established their base in Scotland, while the humans control the rest of Britain. Both sides have to accumulate resources, develop technology and build forces while attempting to dislodge the enemy.
The strategy employed is upto the player, there are no set battles - you choose which forces to commit and where. Battles switch to a more detailed terrain map where forces can be maneuvered and given instructions, defenses or factories built.
The Martians are initially few in numbers, but have far superior machines. Even a few fighting machines will stomp all over the human defenders. But humanity have numbers and can produce quicker and eventually they begin to grind down the attack.
The game can be played as either Martian or Human but to be honest its much more fun as the Martians, if you win you get the chance to demolish London!
My first goes at the game years ago were enjoyable but a little too easy, however some registry hacks can tweak the game for a far tougher fight and breathe new life into the game. Also on the disks are some excellent remixes of the ‘war of the worlds’ musical sound track.
Hacks: install the game then use regedit to change the following settings under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Rage\Jeff Wayne’s ‘The War Of The Worlds’.
\Research\Human Open Rate 100\Tweak\AI Aggression Value 9.9\Tweak\AI Frontline Attractor 12.0\Tweak\AI Outnumber Force 0.5
There are plenty of others to play with, but its a guess as to what the all do. Some discussion is on the web. Jeff Wayne site fan site discussion of registery tweaks