The idea of this project is to transport you back in time to the trenches and horror of the First World War, which is a very cool concept. One of my favorite parts of the experience is being in a Zeppelin looking hot air balloon on a cloudy, gray evening while watching an animated map of the war. This environment is very well executed. However, I don’t think animation serves this project well.

The idea of the story is to immerse you in the horrors of war. You are there in the trenches, then in a bunker with shells and bombs dropping all around you, and the noise is supposed to be horrifying – only it isn’t. Then when you are in the trenches, the images are supposed to be horrifying – there are dead rats stung up seemingly to be eaten later, and dead horses, and lots and lots of dead people. Typing this out, it sounds horrific. But the animation doesn’t do the horrors of the story any favors. 

It feels like a gimmick. It feels contrived. And it does not feel like you are in a battle zone because you know the real world looks nothing like this.

This narrative is told through narration and at some points, the narration is directed directly at you. The narrator even references you not being able to remove your VR headset when you are actually at war. That would be impactful, except the sounds of bombs dropping doesn’t have an impact because the space feels fake. Sure, the 3-D animation is cool; it is always cool to see 3-D objects and environments all around you. But the sounds of bombs dropping would have made more of an impact if we were in the dark and flashes of light were going off randomly around us. 

My favorite part of this project actually was the end credits, where Dan Carlin reads a letter a soldier from The Great War wrote to his wife or girlfriend back home. In this letter, the soldier attempts to explain to her the horrors of the front line. 

I really love the concept of this project. I just wish that it had been historical footage and not animation. 

Technical Specs:

360 Degrees

3D Animation

Voice over narration

3DoF – cannot walk around, but you can move your head to look around