Worms Armageddon is probably the most fun I’ve had with a PC game. Whether it be alone or with friends, it’s great fun and everyone likes it.

Finally we get a sequel to what is most likely the best Worms game. I actually haven’t played another Worms game SINCE Armageddon. How does it hold up? Is it worth buying? Read the review and be sure to check the Save Factor!

Developer: Team 17
Publisher: Team 17
Date of Release: July 1 2009
Platform: Xbox 360, coming to PC eventually

Genre: Strategy
Players: 4 (only 1 controller required)

Looks and Sounds
The worms look pretty much like in Armageddon. They have a slightly different color, and are a bit more detailed, but overall they look quite similar. What IS changed on them is  the fact that you can give them hats to differentiate your worms from the other teams’ worms.

The environments look great. The animated backgrounds look awesome, everything looks colorful and vibrant. The visual effects are a step up from previous worms games. The explosions are great, and the destruction they cause on terrain is no longer JUST round, but has bumps and looks more “imperfect”, making them look a lot better.

Sound-wise the game is standard Worms fare. There’s not TOO much music but what is there feels right. The important part here is the worms’ voices. You have a TON of wacky voices to choose from. Irish, British, salesman, robots, whatever fits your fancy is probably in there.

The presentation for the game is really good, no doubt about that.

Gameplay
Well, the gameplay of Worms has never really changed in all those years. There’s been different quirks from time to time, but overall it’s always the same thing.

Your worms are randomly placed on a randomly generated map. The maps come in multiple themes, each theme with a different background, different looks for the ground and different “props” which will randomly be placed around the stage. Stages can be close up to, preventing certain aerial weapons to be used like air strikes and bunker busters.

So basically each turn(which has a time limit) you press B to choose the weapon you want, you can walk around, jump, backflip (short distance back jump) and use your weapon weapon. Using a Ninja Rope or Jet Pack enables you to use a weapon when you’re done using them (if you have enough time left). The Ninja Rope works just as well as before, though the controls are a bit less precise with the controller than they were with a mouse.

Using weapons is as intuitive as ever. Aim in the direction you want, then hold the fire button to charge how strong you want to shoot the weapon, and let go to throw/shoot. The weapon then follows an arc depending on direction, power, and certain weapons take the wind’s direction and strength into account as well. Mastering the aiming is greatly satisfying, especially since the computer players are almost too accurate with their weapons… sometimes. It’s a great feeling when you get a really tough shot to hit.

The game has a few modes. Single player includes quick matches and a campaign. The campaign gives you a bit over 30 increasingly hard missions. They start easy, but after the first… 10 missions I’d say, they put you up against terrible odds, give the opponent more worms with more life than yours’, group your worms up together to make a larger target at first and make your shots harder by placing obstacles in front of you and such. There’s a few slightly different missions, some that require going to a target as fast as possible, or obstacle courses with enemy worms at the end. The campaign is really fun in general.

The multiplayer is where it’s at though. Choose a game type, enter every team you want to have in the game (there’s an icon that shows if the team is computer controlled or player controlled) and start the game. The game starts with a few game types. Standard, beginner, pro are basic matches with a different selection of weapons. Fort is really fun, putting each players’ worms on a different island. It plays like a basic match, but with unique worm placement. Crazy Crates is a mode where each time a turn ends, a bunch of crates come down. Crates have weapons, utility and health in them. The Crazy Crate mode gives you tons of ways to cause mayhem, but the turn time is really short so you have to play fast. There’s also a ninja rope race mode which I didn’t try, and you can make your own game modes. Want a Banana Bomb-only game? Make it! You can set starting weapons, how many turns until each weapon becomes usable, crate spawns, fall damage, whatever you want. Lots of customization on that end. The best part is that you only need 1 controller for 4-player mode, which is beyond awesome.

Otherwise, there’s online, and a shop to buy in-game stuff(levels, hats, weapons) with money you get from the campaign.

The one problem I have with the game is the lack of new weapons. There’s Bunker Busters, Lightning Strike(it actually heals worms, and apparently starts sentry guns and electro-magnets back up), Sentry Guns, Buffalo of Lies and Electro-magnet (which is really useful if used properly). They’re cool but I expected more. More weapons from Armageddon are back, but some are strangely missing, like the Homing Pigeon, Super Banana , Old Women, Mad Cows and a few more are nowhere to be seen. Not a REALLY bad thing, and there’s actually a DLC pack planned as of the writing of this review, so I can’t wait to see what we’ll be getting.

Overall
This is a solid game. If you’ve ever liked playing Worms you’re sure to like this one. The only big problem with the game is the slight lack of new weapons, and the fact that it’s missing some good old weapons from the first Armageddon.  It’s a small step down on this aspect.

But otherwise it’s great fun, and being able to play with 3 other people using only 1 controller is great. The local multiplayer alone is enough to justify buying this.

Pros/Cons
Pros
- Same great Worms gameplay as before
- Awesome HD graphics
- Good customization
- Only 1 controller required for multi-player (you just pass around the controller)

Cons
- Slightly lacking in the weapons department. Not much new, missing some good stuff from the previous game.
- Online has some glitches (or so I hear)

The Save Factor
With a starting price of 800 Microsoft points, 0r $10, the Save Factor for Worms 2: Armageddon on the Xbox 360′s Live Arcade is:

$20 (twice the starting price!)

jobocan Console, Games, PC, Review, xbox 360