War of the Worlds

Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds, catalogued here as War of the Worlds, is a vehicular combat third-person shooter developed by Pixelogix and published by GT Interactive Software. It is based primarily on Jeff Wayne’s 1978 concept album, with elements of H. G. Wells’ original novel, and its visuals draw heavily on the album artwork. Although it reuses some audio and graphics from Rage Software’s PC game of the same name, it is a separate adaptation, and it was released in Europe only.

The PAL release landscape is tidy and consistent. Five variants are catalogued, one each for the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, all of them Original releases, with the earliest dated 1999-11-19. Every edition uses the Full Jewel PAL case, contains a single disc and carries Hologram B on the case. Language coverage across the set runs to English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

For collectors, this is a satisfying and achievable set to complete, since the packaging is uniform and only the country and serial change. Tracking down all five regional editions is the real challenge, and the game remains an interesting licensed oddity from the late PAL era.