Video Game Review - Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story

Rob reviews Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story on Nintendo Switch...

H.G. Wells classic tale of alien invasion has had many different telling throughout its history. From Geoff Wayne's stellar musical to Rebellion's 'Scarlet Traces' comic adaptation, and even the latest Fox/Studio Canal TV series. Every iteration has added a new take to the Martian invasion, yet also brought something different to proceedings. 

This time around it's down to indie developer Steel Arts Software to tackle the million-to-one chances of something coming from Mars. Coming fresh from the studio's debut title - Welcome to Hanwell, Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story aims to live up to the classic tale, whilst adding a new layer.

The game opens with that classic shot of Mars as the narrator talks about the Martians and their planned invasion. This then fades to a passenger plane that suddenly develops a malfunction that our playable character - Harper - is travelling on board. As disaster strikes, we're then thrust 2-weeks into the past. It soon transpires that this trip into the past serves as a tutorial as well as a shopping trip for Harper. As we continue our shopping trip, Harper soon comes across a man lying unconscious with a strange aura surrounding him. Then it's yet another cut as we're back on the plane.

 Normally I'm all in for subverting the player's expectations, yet this opening act just feels rushed and unexciting. The plane crash is somewhat interesting, yet the scene feels incredibly empty and considering what's happening there's no tension or any sense of horror. We're then thrown into yet another tutorial as Harper is shown the fundamentals of crafting and stealth. The crafting tutorial is a massive step backwards as we're tasked with finding the sinister Red Weed. However this material is somewhat treated as a collectable than a resource and as such, it takes far too long to craft anything. 

The general gameplay of Grey Skies feels very much like a budget version of The Last of Us. The crafting style is pretty much the same, and the game encourages you to seek rather than tackle the various threats head-on. Another interesting addition is that Harper's health is displayed on the side of her rucksack. This is very much in the same style as that seen in Dead Space, and it works incredibly well. 

In terms of enemies, the majority we fight are zombies that the Martians are using as literal cannon fodder. Considering the main draw to The War of The Worlds is the Martian Tripods they don't feature too much. And yet when they do it's quite a way into the game. It would have been great to sneak about the destroyed towns with the Tripod threat ever-present. Imagine Mr Big or the Nemesis from the Resident Evil Remakes then you'll catch my drift. However, it's hard to blame Steel Arts Software on this decision as they're not a AAA studios with an endless supply of cash and experience. Yet the groundwork for something truly horrific is just under the surface. 

There isn't too much that I can say in terms of visuals. Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story is a Nintendo Switch title. The graphics aren't excellent but they're not poor either. The majority of the game takes place at night so expect to see plenty of overused shadows. Enemies are also very bland and are quite uninspiring. The Tripod however is a far different story. Whilst it's not as menacing as that seen in the Tom Cruise film, the classic look has been captured superbly. The pounding of the Heat Wave as the machine lumbers after you is quite an incredible sequence that pushes this machines ferocity to the player. 

In conclusion Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story is a somewhat mediocre game. With poor level design and uninspiring stealth-based gameplay, there isn't a lot to recommend. As a War of the Worlds fan, I didn't expect Grey Skies to re-write a classic, and it doesn't come close to doing so. It's a real shame as Steel Arts Software is so close to giving us a tense sci-fi horror experience, yet with the lack of polish and the issues already mentioned, this is one game I'd find hard to recommend. 

Rating 4/10 

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev