Original War review | In-depth look

This is a review of Original War a game made by a Czech studio. It's almost forgotten, or rather unknown outside of Poland and the Czech Republic.
Table of contents:
1:08 - Games story intro
7:05 - Character classes
21:46 - Factories and tanks
24:40 - Perma-death
27.30 - Materials
37:19 - Soldier specializations

[@null_subject]

This game still looks great! The dynamic grass is a stand-out detail.

[@onlywithbuts1781]

Good games are always fun to replay and this is one of those games, thanks for covering it in such detail!

[@ltgchris693]

Glad you liked it, this game deserves more credit then it gets.

[@YonHASH]

This is by far my favorite game to replay once in a while. I absolutely love to play it on the highest difficulty with no saves. I love the Czech voiceover as well, goofy, sometimes funny, mostly excellent. One of my favorite games!

[@ltgchris693]

True, it has that special kind of something. It's a pity that it's pretty much unknown.

[@perahoky]

the german speaker are much much better than the originals .... i just heard the english version and couldnt believe my ears

[@ltgchris693]

@@perahoky Didn't hear it, unfortunately.I played it in polish, which has also phenomenal voice work.

[@tahnadana5435]

damn, even the tiny not vary good art talking heads are still animated

[@KorpiklaaniLordi]

Thanks for covering this game. I got it from score magazine (back in the 2001 or 2002) when visiting family in Czechia. Played the hell out of it, and still replay it at least once in a year including arab campaign added by modders based on developer notes and plans. I can see, why you find it hard to believe at 30:00, that american base was attacked by mercenaries and lost. But don't forget, the base was in siberia, not in USA or its allied country (this is revealed on US mision 1 loading screen). So I invision the base as small civilian one with minimal military presence deep in siberian woods. Not sure how it would be made possible, but if the stakes are high enough (like unlimited source of energy in the enemy hands), anything seems to be possible. And given how mercenary armies can be and are present in russia, they could bring much more personel and arsenal than undercover US base could repel. And since the base was deep in the russia, US couldn't addmit defeat, ask for help or send reinforcements. EON was simply lost and project canceled. The technologicaly advanced russians are also a bit more likely than americans, simply because there were much more russians (and among them scientists that worked with siberite and EON). Russians created whole army group and sent it back in time to stop known enemy, so they went there prepared for war. Americans went there to mine and as far as we know, the only scientist that specialized in siberite and EON betrayed americans and went with arabs in mission 10, and others that gained interest in siberite betrayed and went with aliance. Russia also lost a lot scientists to aliance, but much of them stayed loyal - as seen in russian mission 12, where one of the 6 bases is "science focused" on siberite, while other group of scientists betrays. In the mission 13, where you say, that dialog bugs out and warns you about mine contamination before it happens, it is not a bug. There is another siberite mine on the map (north of your base in the hills) and this dialog happens right as this mine is contaminated. Regarding siberite not being radioactive, but bomb explosion creates fallout. Bomb simply splits atoms, which is siberite made of into other atoms, which at least some of them are radioactive isotopes. It can be done by introducing siberite into critical enviroment by means of extremely high temperature or pressure (as in atomic bomb, where the "atom spliting" is initialized by TNT explosion), or by introducing some catalyst, in which presence siberite decomposes into radioactive meterial (with a really short half life, since radiation stays just couple of seconds). The catalyst version is probably used by arabs to destroy siberite mines (no explosion, only radioation).

[@ltgchris693]

That's, quite some comment :) I always assumed that the base in the beginning was in the USA, also assuming that EON could just throw them into siberia (accounting for continental drift).But if it was a covert base, this would make much more sense. As to the point on how advanced the russians were, it is true that they came prepared for war. Rather than the more scientific expedition that the Americans had. As to the scientific advancement, my point wasn't that this is wierd. Just that it is rather fun that the shoe is on the other foot, taking into account that in most games the US or allies are the advanced ones. Even if the russian operation hadn't more scientist,they at least seem to have a head start and this alone would explain the advancement. I didn't know that about mission 13, i just assumed that it is a bug. As i always set up the base in the same place.

[@afterburner94]

Having never played the game back , the only thing I distinctly remember is the cover art and drawing of that screaming soldier on that big box cover . This looked like it was taken straight from a European comic book. It looked gritty. So glad I stumbled upon your brilliant retrospective, it made me discover a hidden gem! Will definitely get it on GOG!

[@ltgchris693]

Thank you :) True, the box-art is really misleading. When i was making the thumbnail,i was reminded how it looked, nothing about it screams RTS, it far more fits an FPS. It is what it is. But it takes nothing away from the game.

[@cymaddux3131]

Thank you for your review- well done

[@ltgchris693]

Thanks :)

[@Drakon0Blade]

Nice video, glad to see there are still people talking about it today, I was hooked on the demo as a kid, finally bought it last week since it was on sale for a dollar😂 I'm really hoping somebody will actually resurrect this game someday, the concept has loads of potential for new factions and game mechanics.

[@ltgchris693]

There seems to be little chance for that. The only hope are mods.Original War was too niche of a game.

[@Drakon0Blade]

@@ltgchris693 I think a modding group could really do something with Original War. The old Command & Conquer games are alive and well thanks to the CNCNET group, with not only the original games but entirely new standalone games made from the engine of mostly Tiberian Sun. So there is hope, if enough people can just discover the game and get interested, there could really be something amazing made out of this. I'm just a nobody, but I'll share this on Twitter all the same to try and get more eyes on your video and this game.

[@ltgchris693]

@@Drakon0Blade Appreciated. I am still surprised how few videos there are about this game.While i found some things in czech and polish, there are almost no reviews in english, maybe some let's plays, it honestly surprised me.

[@moto_guy34]

Playing for first time in2024 I love it

[@ltgchris693]

This game is well worth it.

[@moto_guy34]

@@ltgchris693 I got it on steam for less then $2.00.

[@preventivniuder4352]

THANK YOU ! ONE OF THE BEST GAMES IN THE WORLD !

[@ltgchris693]

Very true

[@ChmielTHE]

It makes sence for US to have less developed syberite weapons as they struggled to get any until taking Ovsjenko mines

[@ltgchris693]

True. My point was that it was a somewhat fresh approach,that the russians were further along the way then the Americans. As in most games it is the other way around. Even though i still think that the US has the more futuristic look.

[@benjaminsente7430]

You didn´t get the introduction right on this one. I would have suggested some meaningfull questions and provokative statements about the major (primary, secondary) themes/subjects in this game, before droping the title. After that, procced as you have done. Still - I did not know this one, so thanks for your Analysis ! ! ! 😲🤠

[@ltgchris693]

Yeah... sometimes i get lost on my way from here to there. Thanks for the tip. As for the game, it's well worth playing.

[@benjaminsente7430]

So what´s up @@ltgchris693 ? I was afraid you would become the next *The Pink Man* and vanish.

[@ltgchris693]

Oh i didn't vanish... but have way to much work since a year ago, more or less. But i have a video in the works, so at least it's going forward, even if slowly.

[@jiripekny3905]

This game is so good. But it had so many problems with bublishing. Pretty much nobody knew this game outside czechia / poland.

[@mitythor666]

It somehow also made it's way to Dubai where I grew up playing it! Bought it on steam a while ago just for nostalgia and was surprised to see it's been kept up to date and mods are well supported even today! It's definitely a big part of my childhood and I wish more people knew about it, it has it's flaws but I enjoyed the game back then and I'm enjoying playing it again now

[@alisamartinez7645]

Wtf!! Ist this game Brocken or what!? I downloadet but i cant installed the game because fucking installieren error flying into my face!!🙄

[@ltgchris693]

Where did you buy it?

[@alisamartinez7645]

@@ltgchris693 steam...🤔

[@owsupport3650]

What error did you get?