A troubled past is something that World War Zero knows all too well. Originally it began life on the PC as a third person shooter that some may remember as Ironstorm, but success was not easily found and it wasn't long before it was left to fill that bargain bin in the sky. It was later released for the consoles as a first person shooter minus some of the problems that led to its original demise. Coming full circle, Ironstorm is making a return with a new name and a new style, a PC conversion of a console conversion of a PC game!

The overall premise of World War Zero is no less muddled than its own history. Set in an alternate version of the Sixties, the First World War never ended; in fact, it's still being bitterly waged throughout Europe, plunging the world into utter chaos as the good old boys from the West try to defeat a megalomaniac leader from the East. Despite some absurdity, the setting does make for a nice change from the usual FPS fare. Mixing modern day technology with early 1900s trench warfare is an odd combination, but it is used to create a suitably atmospheric game, well at least for the first half anyway.

The opening levels take you through some bitter and bloody battles, beginning in a network of trenches, you'll first find yourself in an allied base being bombed by the enemy. Blasts going off left, right and centre, sending soldiers unfortunate enough to get caught flying in every direction, helicopters buzzing overhead, the sound of fiercer battles being fought elsewhere; it's impressively bleak, though it never quite reaches the same level of harrowing realism as Call of Duty's Stalingrad level or Medal of Honor's Omaha beach landing sequence.

It also fails to really give you the sense of being a small cog in a huge machine. Though the game is supposed to be set in a time and place where everyone with two working arms and legs are handed a weapon and thrust onto the battlefield, you are still very much a one man army and the outcome of the war is still in your hands alone. Though occasionally you do get to fight alongside other allied troops, they are often too few in number and too stupid to navigate the terrain without getting stuck in it. The enemy AI is no better, sometimes showing a sliver of intellect by hiding behind walls and peeking out to take pot shots at you, they often fail to provide much of a challenge, running around each level like glorified targets for you to shoot.

The action is arcade simplistic. Though lacking in any really challenging opposition, it does throw up masses of enemies to compensate, turning the game in a twitch based affair where a quick trigger finger will win out over any fancy tactics you may otherwise employ. It works well enough and with a slight added realism in how head shots equal instant death, there's still fun to be had in a 'leave-your-brain-elsewhere' type of way, although that's nothing that countless other games haven't done before, and better.

Weapons wise there's not a whole lot in World War Zero to get excited about. You get the basic FPS package; pistol, shotgun, machinegun, rocket launcher and so on, but disappointingly many of these weapons feel less than satisfying to use, a problem Ironstorm also suffered from. The pistol is useless, the shotgun feels underpowered, while the flamethrower though devastating in the damage it causes has a poor range and with your sight often blocked by the flames themselves, it can be difficult judging the distance between you and your foes. The grenades are the only real interest, with variations such as gas and hallucinative at least boasting some imagination in WW0's rather lacklustre selection of arms, but even these aren't that enjoyable to use, as they rarely seem to effect enemy soldiers in any way.

And while I'm moaning, I'll also take this opportunity to point out how disappointing the second half of the game is, as it eventually leaves the atmospheric trench warfare that makes it so unique in the beginning and settles for the more humdrum selection of levels set through rather uninspired weapons factories, deserted towns and the done to death running around on a moving train level. Some boss battles pop up from time to time, but are so easy to get past they're barely worth mentioning here.

Above all else the game is easy, painfully so. Aside from the fact that enemies can be killed with one well placed headshot, a disadvantage you yourself do not suffer from, soaking up lead like a giant bullet magnet, the overly generous selection of health packs throughout each level practically guarantee your survival right to the end; in fact, I can't recall ever quick loading the game at all. You don't have to be a hardcore gamer to get through this in one short weekend and after that there's little to go back for.

Negativity aside, World War Zero is a budget game being released at just under £20, so it's not as if it was ever going to scale the heights of Half-Life 2. It's not an essential purchase; in fact, even if this were the only FPS in the shops I'd still venture across the road and see what other shops had in stock before even considering it. There's no multiplayer mode, it has little replay value and there are already a lot of games out there that do the whole historical war theme better. Still, for a budget game it's enjoyable enough for an hour or two of mindless shooty action, with the added benefit of some impressive level design, though that alone can't really salvage it from its various problems. It's enjoyable budget game nonsense, but little more.

Reviewed by Kieron Giacopazzi for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).