The Strange Case of World War Zero... or Iron Storm

What if the Great War never ended? What if it continued into the 1960s? How would the world's history unfold? Welcome back to THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM, and today I'm going to be talking about a PC First Person Shooter entitled Iron Storm. Or is it World War Zero? Or is it World War Zero: Iron Storm? This game has quite a strange history, involving closed down internet service providers, movie compression tolls, and, theoretically, FlatOut as well. But not FlatOut 3. We're not talking about FlatOut 3. So, let's start off at the beginning. What is Iron Storm?

Iron Storm is a First Person Shooter released exclusively for the PC, developed by 4X Studio and published by WanaDoo Edition. Both of those names will probably sound quite unfamiliar, so I'll explain. 4X Studio was a games development subsidiary of 4X Technologies, mostly known for middleware software (video compression, game engines, etc.), formed in 2002 and shut down only months after. Iron Storm was their first game, and two other games were also in development, Stalingrad and Times of Trouble. These games, however, were never released, as 4X Studio shut down soon after the release of Iron Storm. WanaDoo Edition was a subsidiary of French internet service provider WanaDoo (now part of Orange), who began publishing games in 2000 until being bought up by Microids in 2003 and eventually stopping publication of games in 2005. What happened next?

Lovely game.
Image credit: Z Mighty 1 / Fandom

Coinciding with the release of Iron Storm was a browser Flash game, tentatively titled, well, Iron Storm, but it's not really great. Just a typical Flash shooter. What is interesting though is that Iron Storm was meant to receive a sequel, most likely titled Iron Storm 2, that was in development in 2003. Due to 4X Studio being shut down, this game was never released, but many of its assets were used to create a spiritual successor under a new name. After the closure of 4X Studio, its employees moved on to create a new company, Kylotonn, who are well known for their various racing games, including their upcoming Test Drive Unlimited Solar Drive game. However, in 2005, when they were but a new, unknown company, Kylotonn released their first game, an alternate history FPS by the name of "Bet on Soldier: Blood Sport".

Just another Flash shooter game.
Image credit: ironstormpc / ModDB

While Iron Storm focused on a "What if World War One never ended?" scenario, Bet on Soldier: Blood Sport puts the spotlight on a World War set during the 1990s, where soldiers fight in 1v1 deathmatches that are televised worldwide as "Bet on Soldier", a popular show that money people gamble on. What is interesting is that the game makes many references, both verbally and visually, to Iron Storm, even saying that this world has been in a war for 80 years. Ironically, that's around the time of World War One. BoS then received two expansion packs which act as prequels to the main game, centering on the stories of two characters from the game. This was the end of 4X Studio/Kylotonn's war story, but that's not the last of Iron Storm.

Gambling for survival? You tend to shoot more than gamble in this game.
Image Credit: GameFaqs / GameSpot

A year before the release of Bet on Soldier, in 2004, Rebellion Developments, the people behind the AvP First Person Shooters, the Sniper Elite series and its spin-off series, Zombie Army, developed World War Zero: Iron Storm for the PS2. World War Zero is a remake of Iron Storm, featuring two new things: enhanced graphics and a couple of new weapons. Is that it? No, the remake removed quick saving, it removed third person mode, it removed most of the cutscenes, and IT REMOVED THE MULTIPLAYER. Now I will tell you that World War Zero received a PC port the next year, but you know what? It is still missing quick saving, still missing third person mode, still missing most of the cutscenes, and still missing the multiplayer. 2004 had Half-Life 2, it had Far Cry, it had Halo 2, it had Doom 3, it had CS:S, it had UNREAL TOURNAMENT 2004. Do you think PC shooters should have omitted multiplayer at the time? Of course not. That's enough of my ranting.

I thought it was just called AvP.
Image Credit: Rebellion / Valve

Well, that's the story of Iron Storm. Or World War Zero. Or both. In case you're interested in actually knowing what the game is like, rather than the stories surrounding it, I would recommend watching Jarek4's video here. I think that's enough for today. But just as a head's up, next time I have something EDF-related planned that may make some people happy... Well, that's a wrap on THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM!

**Iron Storm is available on ZOOM Platform, GOG and Steam**

**World War Zero is available on Steam**

**Bet on Soldier: Blood Sport is available on Steam and GamersGate**