Game: Worms Reloaded (PC)
Publisher: Team 17
Developer: Team 17
Genre: Turn-Based Strategy
Price: $19.99
Verdict: Fun at first, but can quickly become frustrating
Pros: Beautiful HD environments and fun new weapons in classic 2D Worms glory.
Cons: Frustrating learning curve. Frame rate and sound issues at launch on some PCs.
Acquired via Publisher
One of the first PC games I ever played a little game by the name of Gorilla. It came alone with QBasic in DOS, way back on my Dad’s Windows 3.1. It involved two King Kong sized Gorillas on top of skyscrapers hurling exploding bananas at each other. It’s a famous formula made famous by Tank back in the 1970s. The Worms series from Team17 is following along the same lines, and Worms Reloaded has just hit steam. This is the first 2D worms game on the PC since Worms World Party way back in 2001.
Those of you who have had a chance to play Worms 2: Armageddon on Xbox LIVE Arcade will feel right at home. The premise of the game is pretty simple. You get a team of worms that you can personalize and bring into battle. Your team gets its own hats, victory dances, tombstones and other features you can tailor to your own liking. Most game types involve you pitting your team against another team, in a turn/physics based mortal combat. In these battles you use your arsenal of 47 weapons and utilities to to shoot, blow up or drown your opponents. 14 of these weapons are all new to the series. Each worm has a brief time limit that gives them a chance to navigate the terrain, pick a weapon, and fire at the enemy. After firing you have a few brief seconds to move away before the enemy worms get a turn.
Being relatively new to the series, I started with the brief 3-step tutorial and dove right into the campaign. Early missions go easy on you, setting you against few opponents with a fraction of your worms’ life. Even if you spend most of the time blowing up your team mates, you should be alright. Missions gradually increase in difficulty and require more creativity to survive. The missions are punctuated by the occasional puzzle and timed obstacle course which help you train your navigation skills and familiarity with different items in the game.
Unfortunately the learning curve is pretty steep. Early missions are quick and easy, but about halfway through the enemy worms become frustratingly good at placing their shots. This can be pretty frustrating after blowing quickly through the early missions with such ease. Some attacks are downright ridiculous and take advantage of the wonky physics and damaged terrain to get grenades on top of you the majority of the time. I could probably play enough to get that good too, but it just didn’t seem worth it to me.
There are several other single player modes of varying interest. Quick match throws you into battle against another evenly matched team. Custom games involve up to 4 teams in a variety of match types. On top of the standard campaign there is a Warzone mode for the truly skilled worms. That would not be me. Lastly, Bodycount gives you a single worm who must defeat as many enemy worms as possible. The enemies will respawn and become increasingly difficult, and leader boards allow you to brag to your friends about how long you lasted.
New to the series is a shop system for unlocking more guns, tools, landscapes, forts, hats and missions. You earn coins by completing tutorials, missions, and skirmishes. Simple system, but it adds some drive to get the next awesome thing. Steam achievements are a nice little bonus too. There is also a landscape editor which allows you to create your own war zones.
Multiplier is probably where the most fun will be had. You can play public, private or ranked matches on the network or over a LAN. Ranked matches are straight one on one battles for worm domination. Playing online will probably be the best place to learn new strategies by having them used to annihilate you. Battling with a buddy who is just as terrible as is is where Worms thrives rather the writhes. All of my friends are all playing StarCraft 2, which is probably where I belong anyway.
For me, worms was a quick blast of nostalgia that faded into burning frustration. Adding to the frustration were the controls which almost have to be remapped, the clumsy use of the mouse as a camera and the fact that my top of the line computer apparently can’t handle running the game’s sound. The HD PC reboot will satisfy hardcore fans and casual players who won’t take it seriously, but it wasn’t my cup of tea.
GrE Grade: C
Popularity: unranked [?]
