Review Score:

Let me start off my review with a short anecdote: Worms 2 on PC was my favorite game growing up.  My friends and I have enjoyed 500+ hours playing that little game for the past 12 years or so.  We still play it.  I kid you not.  Having said that, you may assume that I’m going to be extremely biased towards Worms 2: Armageddon (I’ll just call it “W2A”) for Xbox Live Arcade… and you would be right; but I won’t be petty about it.  I’m going to keep score.  I’ll either nurse my nostalgia a bit or I’ll have ridiculously high expectations.  Either way, don’t you worry; it’ll all balance out in the end.

For starters, I have to say that W2A is the game that Team 17 should have brought out to XBLA two years ago.  Worms HD (as I will call it) was a good game, but it lacked all manner of weapons and customization.  I’ll be polite and say that it was a good warm-up round.  Now that they’ve realized they could have done better, we have the glorious W2A to make up for it.  If you don’t like reading, you can stop here and go buy this game.  That’s my word.  If you like reading witty prose by biased, handsome, educated people, continue on.

Now that I can get into the meat of the game, I’ll begin with graphics.  I have to say, I don’t see too much different between Worms HD and W2A. There are a few more effects added such as fire and smoke, the sprites are smoother, but nothing was really done to take advantage of the hardware.  The game is still rocking the HD resolution, but I’d prefer if it were native 1080p instead of 1080i.  The PS3 got the 1080p treatment, why didn’t Xbox? Not cool (+1 con-bias!).  I’ll assume it was the archaic size restrictions Microsoft still employs on XBLA games and not lazy developers (+1 for pro-bias!).

In terms of sound, W2A had me cracking up.  There is nothing funnier (on a Tuesday at midnight) than a tiny worm screaming as a stick of dynamite sets to explode in its face.  The voice-work in the game is exceptional.  The flawless comedy brought to the Worms games over the years is in full force here.  I have my team set to the football/soccer theme and it’s brilliant.  The audio is full and the explosions gave my subwoofer quite the workout (+2 pro-bias!).

For those keeping score, I’m two up on the pro-bias side.  Unfortunately, I’m afraid I’m going to have to be a bit harsh on Team 17 for gameplay.  How’s the control?  Mediocre.  For example, the ninja rope, my favorite mode of death dealing, doesn’t always let you flip over obstacles.  If you’re on the side of an obstacle and you bounce back and forth, you’re kind of stuck there unless you have a jetpack.  That’s not very ninjesque (new word!) if you ask me.  Worms 2 PC had it perfect, why change it?  There isn’t a whole lot of moving around in a turn-based strategy game, so more care should have been taken to perfect the times when movement was critical (+1 con-bias).  What about computer AI?  Let’s just say there is no reason for computer opponents to execute their own team members one moment and land a flawless cross-level bazooka shot at opponents the next.  Unless the worms are schizophrenic psychotics, they shouldn’t be turning on teammates like that (+1 con-bias). It’s not all-negative nematode news though. Single player gaming is really just practice for getting online, the vast selection of weapons is amazing, and the gameplay customization is very cool (+1 pro-bias).

Speaking of customization, one of the reasons I loved Worms 2 PC was the extreme level of customization.  You could change every little detail about each weapon and arena.  You could even import BMP images and have the game map a landscape over it.  W2A does offer a tweak feature, but it’s time-limited for online play.  There really is no reason why a simple paint interface wasn’t included to create and save custom maps offline that could be used online.  I hope this is added via free DLC later (+1 con-bias).  I did manage to create a very challenging mode called “Nadenookas” where you only get grenades and bazookas to start and everything else comes in crate drops.  This coupled with the team customization options (hats!) makes the game heads and shoulders above Worms HD.  Worms 2 PC was always about customization of weapons, terrain, and teams.  W2A got 2.5 of the 3 right so that’s passing in my book (+1 pro-bias).

In the end, is there any room for improvement?  Considering how long Worms has been around and how simple the game is, there hasn’t been much room, or need, for improvement and I like it that way.  Worms 3D was awful in my opinion so I’m ecstatic to see Team 17 only pumping up the game’s most core qualities and leaving out the gimmicky fluff.  I really do hope that Team 17 releases a patch to fix the handful of bugs in the game (my worms can stand on the steel walls of vertical levels?!?) and drops a few DLC presents our way.   As you can see, I was only one point pro-biased so I can confidently recommend that you go buy this $10 gem.  Cheers!

David “Whet Wetty” Wetty

Special thanks to Team17 for providing a review copy of the game!