WORLDS AT WAR (Monitors & VR)

I bought this game on sale for $3.99. My hopes weren't the highest, but I still had fun and won't be refunding it. I will be honest and admit that the controls, mainly those for flying planes and the like, are very janky, that's something that can be improved. While the game may not have much substance like a campaign and the like, it's still fun to fly around and (try to) kick alien tail, especially at a discount. I can only hope that the developer keeps building upon this to make it even better.

Actually a sweet game. Visuals are a little dated, but still super immersive. Some of the jet flight mechanics feel broken (I've stalled out multiple times in shallow turns???) but the helicopter physics feel great. My video review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvpajmoHx2o

Recommended to play in virtual reality with FULL HOTAS, including flight pedals, if you have them. I haven't tried keyboard/mouse or gamepad in flatscreen mode though, but it seems doable. Keybinding/joystick setup is absolute trash, but once you get it working its fine. You have to reset the bindings every time you start the game, and every time you connect/disconnect USB ports. Definitely recommend binding a button on your joystick to mouseclick, so that you can use menus in-game, and I also recommend setting everything up in flatscreen mode before transitioning into VR.

Get it on sale and you won't be disappointed!

This may be the first VR game I have written about, and one I couldn't help not to. This game is NOT WITHOUT its flaws(of which can be very irritating and gating to a degree), but what it does right is rather mind blowing. I will try to keep this concise, but if you are looking for a GREAT arcade-ish helicopter flight sim in vr, this is your huckleberry. I can confirm HOTAS works, albeit after a little a calibration. This is NOT really a complete game, but more or less a dope ass alien invasion backdrop with great graphics that allows to fly a few different ships.

Pros: -Great graphics and sound
-full vr and hotas support
-loads fairly quick and didnt have many framerate hitches running on Oculus Quest 2 and VD wirelessly.
-offers helicopter, among a couple other craft to fly. The helicopter feels the best, with the warthog at a distant second.
-BEST feeling helo game I have found honestly for the money.

CONS: -Controls can be sluggish
-Might have the worst menu navigation system I have ever seen. (took a minute to really grasp how it works)
-There is no tutorial or real hand holding, which can lead to frustration if you are not patient.
-The aiming system, while novel, can be disorienting at times.
-There aren't any objectives really. You can shoot down certain ships, but there isn't any real gameplay advancement or story.

OVERALL: Amazing game with massive potential. Unfortunately, it seems the sole developer has gone MIA as there hasn't been updates or even correspondence from him in over a YEAR. That said, the guy knows his stuff(he worked on Battlefield and other games), as what he does offer is pretty great considering it was made by ONE GUY. If you are looking for a great VR game to throw your friends into with HOTAS and blow their mind, or maybe you just wanna fly around for an hour and shoot at aliens in a pretty environment in VR, well then this is a great investment. I paid $20, but wish I had waited til it went on sale.

I've been in search for a flight vr game and Worlds at wars has fulfilled my needs.
The first game which doesn't really give me motion sickness like others.
For those of you who watched Independence Day and wanted to play out the scenes, this game hits the spot.

Oh man what a great game! How is this so cheap, one of my favourite VR games at the moment, so much fun just flying and shooting. Need to get much better at this game to do it justice. Great graphics nice and fast and intense. Unbelievable VR fun, getting thoroughly lost in this one. Need to get back the carrier is under attack!!

Perfect arcade / reality mix. An amazing VR experience.

I really enjoy the epic scale of the alien invasion. A great mix of enemies, great pacing, good flight dynamics and a changeling game!

This game being developed by a one man team is an incredible achievement!

meh gameplay, crappy controller bindings, couldn't use controller as it made me roll left no matter what I was doing. HOTAS doesn't work, all round bad game

Unplayable in VR at the current stage (June 2020).

The graphics surely look nice in VR. But setting the game up is neigh-on impossible. You need to squint to read a tiny config screen, and then drag a slider while holding the mouse button to select the appropriate HID device attribute (e.g. Generic USB Axis 1" - and you better know which is which because it lists all possible axes as defined by Windows, i.e. 0-6 even if your joystick only has 2).
So, move your head right to move the slider, but keep eyes on the tiny left text, and remember which axis corresponds to what on your Joystick. Fun. Then enter cockpit (training: take off), try to fly and see if you got the correct device / axis combo. I tried to set up my throttle, and 20 minutes later gave up - I had finally hit the right axis/device combo (it was axis 5 on my usb generic throttle), but it needed to be reversed. There is no such option - and the A-10 reverse-thrusted off the runway. Yeah. The game may be great, but I'm not prepared to to subject myself to this user-hostile interface.

I'll attempt to refund and perhaps try again in a year or two.

I bought this game to play in HTC Vive. The graphics are pretty awesome, but there is scarce instruction on how to use this game. In the 20 minutes I spent, I was able to figure out how to adjust throttle and how use the flight stick. No idea on how to use brakes, target selection, weapon selection, etc. If there was better instruction or documentation, this game could be pretty sweet (once you get over the nausea!).

Overall this game has awesome potential. Really feels like the independence day movie in VR. My only gripe is the lack of vr control. I am not a fan of vr games that want you to use a separate controller. Xplane VR is for me the best interface. Finding a balance between arcade and simulation is hard. The VR controls in this game could use some clean up. Maybe with a controller it's fine, but I don't have one, nor am I going to run out and buy one. Hope to see improvements in this area but overall I like the game, just can't fly anything worth a damn due to controls. Tried re-mapping but that seems more for joysticks not vr.

Tons of potential. The scale of the battlefronts is pretty epic. Really rough, needs a massive amount of work.

I am happy to support that process with my early access purchase.

The funniest thing at the moment, is getting my HOTAS rigged for flight, and then having to use the same bindings for a jet, a chopper, a boat and even WALKING around the carrier. If they can polish what they are attempting to do, it will be amazing.

Flight physics still feels a bit floaty.

Oddly I think well refined controller support would be a perfect for this.

Keep up the good work dev.

**NOTE - The Jan 2020 update destroyed this game and I will have to retract my review - the planes dont fly the same - and suffer from a terminal G force that cant be pulled out of, sadly the helicopter also suffers the same fate. This WAS a game I really enjoyed and championed, unique in VR, but since the update, its been basically unplayble. This game is absolutely what VR is made for. Jaw Dropping. You cannot get this experience anywhere else, and I'm shocked this game isnt more widely known about. 3 modern vehicles of war, Massive scale to the combat arena, Massive scale to the enemies, rendering VFX that suit the situations and are movie quality, on going day and night cycle during battles which adds so much with the lighting changes and the over all vibe. Its beyond my wildest dreams, and I had no idea this game was out here waiting to be found, a total gem. Not only is it a cool and detailed flight sim, its rendering and effects blow away 99% of the other games I've played, the clouds alone should win an award, and no other VR flight game has delivered the shear awe inspired moments of VR bliss as this one has, not even close, and for the money, its a total steal and for sure my Go To game when I need a rush. IF you own a VR HMD, you need to have this game in your collection, just outstanding, I plugged in an XboxOne controller and I was instantly good to go. Worlds at War is in my VR top 5 games of all time thus far. Mr Nobodys stamp of approval. 9/10

Very fun game! Over time, I've seen this game come up and so much content has been added since early release.

The developer Muddypixel is very active and is very open to suggestions to improving the game and adding more content [Still looking forward to multiplayer :) ]

I highly recommend this game if you love fast action arcade games and want an easier way to fly an airplane or helicopter in VR.

Can't wait to play this more once the new VR headsets come out.

6/7/22 update - hasn't been updated in awhile which is unfortunate. It had so much potential. I hope he creates another game like it with much more content. We need more Action games like this.

After the updates that add more content and after I switched to a game pad, I would definitely recommend this game. I'm having a blast. The Oculus touch controllers work great though. ( I simply prefer the pad).

Keep up the good work DEV!!! SO much potential here.

It's about time I left a review for this...

This game isn't perfect, it has some flaws. Menu and ground movement controls aren't the best, but I looked past them I found some of the most awe inspiring moments I have experienced so far in VR.

This game is awesome, literally. I have a lot of VR games, but few installed at one time. This game has been part of my installed library since purchase , and will not be uninstalled any time soon.

The dev, MuddyPixel, is constantly adding new features, extra levels and content, and listening to the community to correct any major bugs or add things that people actually want. Each time I come back to play this, it has been improved upon, I can't commend the dev enough.

Please keep it up because I really do think this is heading to be one of the base games in VR, and one I will return to time and time again.

I don't remember the last time I had this much fun with an early access VR game. Graphics are top-notch, controls are fun, the entire experience was pretty immersive. Kudos team - can't wait to see the full release of this title.

I'm very on the fence about recommending this game.....It has some really compelling graphics and is absolutely fun to play....In the A10 warthog, and to a lesser degree the helicopter but the boat gives me nausea. One major complaint I have is the lack of manuverability of the A10, since many negative reviews mention this I don't understand why the devloper chooses to ignore the widest point of criticism. What I love about the game, well the first time I played and took the A10 up in the sky and flew a wide circle through the clouds around my naval fleet....It felt and looked amazing....Why oh why is there not more flight sim in VR?!?! Anyway, I do recomend this game and hope that as it gets developed some of the detracting elements get refined as it progresses through early access.

i7 7700k
GTX 1080
16 GB RAM

It would be really bad if this doesn't go anywhere. It's such a terrific VR Flight concept that one would think the development would continue, but alas, no news on when!

[EDIT] That's what I said on Sept.2. Now, more levels have been added and 3D clouds to fly through! Thanks for the latest patch. Everything works great on my Lenovo WMR and GTX 980. It works well w/my Thrustmaster also.

Of course ... you know I'm going to ask for more! The game needs missions to accomplish, other than being eventually killed by an overwhelming Alien force. And, why not give us more power to kill those Aliens?

More "graphic" levels are good but making it a real mission oriented game would be great!

Hey, why not over land somewhere?

Thanks for your efforts either way!

[12-31-18] : This game just keeps getting better and better! A terrific VR "shoot 'em down in flames" game! If you can't have fun with this one you have no "fun" gene. I'm using a Samsung WMR set with a 980 - everything's working perfectly! Thanks for the continued development! : )

[3-10-19] : I have to say, I do not like the direction the game has headed! I was so optimistic with it initially but now it's a mish-mash of time trials and lack of fun. Instead of flying around and shooting down the "aliens", now it's follow the leader before you can play and when you can play it's timed! NO FUN ANYMORE - THE THRILL IS GONE!

Wow, definitely worth $12 at the moment. I have only a few comp[laints, but they're superficial.
This game is like a Battlefield 4 minigame that never happened. If you're itching for a chance to fly an A-10 warthog, but your ASFAB scores and lack of education wont let you, this is as close as you'll get.

The controls are a little sluggish at times, but implemented very well. For instance, the cannon on the Apache is aimed by where you look rather than the orientation of your helo. As many other reviews state, I recommend turning off flight assist, as it slows yours turning and tries to keep you right side up (barrel rolls are essential). I almost forgot to add this, the attention to detail blew me away. I had taken a hit to my left wing and began to notice that my ability to rotate right was severely hindered. Despite this ruining my Warthog... I cracked a smile.

The graphics are damn good for an early access title and are actually optimized at the higher end. Even with my rig (7700k + 1080) some VR titles still drag at the top end, but I can bump this game up and barely raise my temps.

The only complaints I have are small in scale compared to the core gameplay. The biggest one for me is the difficulty in getting pickups to replenish resources (fuel, ammo and the like). The drops are rather small and difficult to make out in a big fight, and the hitbox to pick them up feels too small for me.
Another issue I found is that the tracers on the main cannons dont seem to match up with where the rounds are actually going, which could also be the speed of the rounds.
The final beef I have is the helicopter being exceptionall sluggish compared to Battlefield 4's equivalent. This could be due to this dev going for a more realistic feel than Dice, or vise versa.

Overall 7/10 at its current state. This game is solid so far, but as with every EA VR title out there, it just needs more.

Game is unplayable - dodgy frame rates, controls not responding.

edit: found an issue with fullscreen and window in focus, if you have issues like me with fps tanking try using ALT-Enter and use windowed mode.

Working with the developer we also found that the controls were not working in the menu due to the game window not being in focus.

1: Make sure game window is in focus
2: make sure game screen is windowed - press alt enter (the game auto fullscreens upon making any menu changes)
3: graphical anomolies - try changing post processing setting - worked for me
4: Set the flight / Game to advanced flight controls to make it more realistic, pitching and turning is really slow otherwise and hard to play.