This War of Mine: The Little Ones Reviews
This War of Mine remains a striking, if limited, exploration of civilian wartime survival. Compelling and gritty, it needles deep.
This compelling exploration of war's human cost is also a tense strategy game, with kids giving it real heart. Proof you can make an engrossing game, no matter how bleak the subject.
The war comes to consoles, but might have lost something along the way.
A game like no other, and even though it can be hard to play at times, it still offers a unique and rewarding challenge.
This War Of Mine: The Little Ones is more than a game, and can be considered one of the most effective anti-war tools ever created. This is not a game you play for fun or to unwind, and the addition of children for the console release makes it even more poignant, as the realisation dawns that all over the world people are living through these hellish conditions. This War of Mine: The Little Ones doesn't just drive home how desperate people get in times of war, but also makes you take note of how lucky so many of us are to live in a more stable place.
It is disappointing to exert such caution when recommending This War of Mine:The Little Ones, especially to people who may not have a worthwhile gaming PC (low spec requirements notwithstanding), but the limitations of the port's controls compel me to do so. For what it's worth, this is still a good game, and the exclusive addition of the children survivors makes it a more compelling experience at that. But really, if you can play the PC edition instead, it's easy to sacrifice all those kids for a much smoother experience.
A daring, and largely successful, attempt to show the civilian side of war, that succeeds as an interactive drama even when it occasionally fails as a game.
Saying "You should play this game, but don't expect to enjoy it" makes it sound like homework. It's homework of the human spirit that I think will enrich your life and broaden your horizons, but still homework. It's up to you if that seems like something you want to take on.
The endurance of This War of Mine: The Little Ones is limited and is certainly not something you'll want to play several times over and that's perfectly fine. It's a hard-hitting and unsettling look at the coldness and cruelty of the human condition and how the removal of social constructs unravels people so quickly that'll haunt you for a long time to come. Its premise is so bold it can often outshine its delivery, the idea it's conveying never feeling fully realized beyond the brief dips in pace. It's the most real feeling simulator of war out there and that in itself makes This War of Mine: The Little Ones quite terrifying and truly memorable.
While the new console release of This War of Mine: The Little Ones does not really bring anything new to the table from the most updated PC version, the surprisingly emotional situations and impressive scavenging and survival system is worth checking out for anybody that missed out on the original release.
This War of Mine: The Little Ones forces you to make tough decisions throughout and the real consequences from these actions are seen in the game. Whether you choose to steal from the hospital, an old couple on medication, or a homeless man's squat, you are made to feel guilty. Consequently, you feel good for helping out a stranger. Keeping track of all your supplies and having enough of everything to keep your people alive is not an easy feat, and it feels like the first story that you are given is a little too hard. The ability to create your own scenario is a great addition and it allows you to tweak the game to your own survival ability. Whilst the days can get a little repetitive and boring if you have to catch up on sleep and not much else, the game challenges you, your morals and your survival instincts against the backdrop of the serious subject of war.
A relentlessly savage take on survival that puts players in control of the fleshy collateral damage that other war games merely gloss over, This War of Mine is a bleak, grim and ruthlessly entertaining affair quite unlike any other.
This War of Mine: The Little Ones throws you into a beautiful and compelling hell. Experiencing war as a group of civilians whose lives rest in your hands with only your conscience to guide you is a refreshing change of pace from pretty much any other game out there. This is brilliant mix of harrowing survival interspersed with moments of joy. Having fun really isn't the point here: this is a game that will challenge anyone desensitised to the real sufferings of war – and that's a bold move.
This War of Mine: the Little Ones is pretty fully featured. While not for everyone, it offers a decent experience of survival, base building, and time/resource management. The combat can be weak, and the story or at least the one it's trying to convey is weak. Still, for the fans of survival games like Don't Starve, there's something to be had here.
This War of Mine: The Little Ones adds more to the game that makes it both wholeheartedly enjoyable and deeply distressing. Its survival mechanics are impressively weighted, and the events throughout the war are harrowing. This feels like a game everyone should experience for themselves.
It's depressing and filled with tough decisions to make, but This War of Mine The Little Ones is one of those games that you have to play.
As This War of Mine enters the lives of console gamers, we should rejoice that this experience is allowed to reach an even greater audience. It's a game with something to say while providing an emotional experience to the player.
When I step back and think about This War of Mine: The Little Ones, I am left with thoughts of a profound and meaningful experience, in spite of its limiting structure, and one that will make you feel like you never had before. This War of Mine: The Little Ones provides an essential illustration of what is the inescapable fact of our existence: we are all human.
It's interested only in presenting a near-pornographic level of human despair in a warped attempt at edifying players.
But ultimately I've invested so much time in this game that my few niggles are also rendered mute. 11-bit Studios has created an exploration of the desperateness of wartime human experience and made it into something you can't help but find compelling. The addition of children into the original mix is a way of enhancing that, making the reality all the more visceral.