ic-games Review - Worms (Xbox Live Arcade Download) - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

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Worms (Xbox Live Arcade Download)

Information
Reviewer: James Collins
Developer: Team 17
Publisher: Microsoft
Reviewed: Xbox 360
Genre: Turn-based Strategy
UK Release: 07th Mar 2007
Article Date: 07th Mar 2007
Difficulty: Easy
Retail Price: 800MSP (around £7)
Price Comparison:
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Score Breakdown

Experience:
Game Play:
Graphics:
Sound:
Overall Score: 78%

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Pros

Pure brilliance online

And offline too

Cons

Why so few backgrounds and voice packs?

Screenshots

3 of 3

Worms is probably the most addictive team based multiplayer game ever devised since the days of ‘tanks’. The premise is simple enough; each team has a set of worms on the map. One at a time each team controls a worm and has a certain amount of time to move around and fire a weapon before either the time runs out, or a weapon is discharged. Then it’s simply onto the next team who gets to do exactly the same thing back. The winner is of course the team that survives to the end.

The best game ideas are always the simplest and Team 17’s Worms is almost certainly a testament to this ideology. Obviously the basic idea comes from that classic 80’s game of ‘tanks’ where two opposing players fired a missile and according to how close they get to each other would make alterations and fire again until one of the two players is wiped out. In a nutshell this is how Worms plays with a few minor, albeit important changes. The tanks are the Worms; there can be more than one per side, and instead of the restrictive single weapon, this time Worms brings multiple weapons to the proceedings.

The tutorial does a good job explaining the basics of firing weapons, judging wind speed and weapon velocity and a few other tactics although the vast majority of gamers out there will probably already know the basics. That’s because since its conception on the Amiga many moons ago, the series has now been featured on just about every format known to man throughout its fifteen year history. Thankfully Worms on the Xbox 360 has been kept simple, in fact almost as simple as the original title that spawned off countless sequels, although the graphics are now a little more pleasing to the eye. This basically means none of that silly 3D nonsense that Team 17 have been releasing that so detracted from the original gameplay, even calling the game ‘Worms’ was an insult to the original.

Multiplayer was always going to be the most important part of the series and thankfully it’s pretty easy to setup an online or local game. Playing an offline local game with the team’s sat around a single Xbox just involves a hot seat affair with players taking turns to move their individual worm and if they desire, use a single special ability or fire a weapon. You can have a maximum of four teams with four worms so in theory matches involving 16 players sitting around a single Xbox are possible and in this rare instance highly recommended. Taking the time to rename the teams and individual worms is a must to garner the most fun from this title. Xbox Live games are even better suited as teams and players can be situated anywhere around the world. Private matches allow you to set up the equivalent of an offline local game with teams and players that you personally invite. The create, custom and quick matches are standard Xbox live fodder and allow you to fine tune your game exactly how you want.

The online and offline statistics also make a welcome return and can be the most interesting part of any hard fought out round. If you take your time to name your individual worms then knowing that ‘Kieran’ was worm of the match, ‘Catalina’ had the best shot and was the most accurate worm and ‘Sarah’ survived the longest then these details actually become quite interesting.

As mentioned the graphics have been updated but still pay homage to the original (and more fun) 2D titles of yesteryear. The action is still flat, although Team 17 has done their best to add a little more life into the environments with some nice animated 'backgrounds' and effects, although having only three 'themes' on offer from the start does seem tight (London/Egypt/ice). It seems then that some of the madcap backgrounds that you might remember from the original are set to return in future downloadable packs. For now though the original 'codes system' return again allowing you to enter a code string to produce a different battleground. You can also randomise the background until you find one you like, and if you want, write down the code to use again at a later date.

What the 'themed backgrounds' also provide is some individual and unique cover areas. For example the 'London location' is set across an animated background featuring the London Eye and Big Ben with useable but fully destructible cover areas such as Telephone Boxes, Traffic Cones and the Crown Jewels. To add some strategy, some playing areas are not destructible (for example iron girders) which means far more tactical play will have to be considered. That being said there were simply not enough of these backgrounds for our liking. No doubt this is one area that both Team 17 and Microsoft will exploit in downloadable extras. To add insult to injury a large proportion of the voice packs were also not available, leaving just basic language packs for the initial 800MSP download. This does leave us thinking that Worms is heading the same way as 'Lumines' with a playable yet crippled basic pack initially being offered with more to come (at a cost later).

Still, what else can we say? Worms on the Xbox 360 marketplace is a match made in heaven and will undoubtedly help sell the already popular Xbox Live matchmaking service. If you only ever have 800 points to spend, then the wise would surely invest in some invertebrate madness as the reasons are simple; multiplayer has never been much better than this. It’s a shame that some of the backgrounds and voice packs seem to have been limited for that trademarked MSP exploitation later on, but even in its most basic form, Worms is still highly recommended.

*Please note, Team 17 have promised free and competitively priced downloadable content shortly for Worms. Microsoft has just increased the arcade download limit to 150MB and, according to Martyn Brown, Studio Director of Team 17, 'If Worms had of been released under these new guidelines much more content could have been added for free, without the need for extra, free, packs'. 'Any paid packs released in the future will be competitively priced, although Microsoft deal with the pricing structure'.

Worms will be re-evaluated at a later date, but at the moment, without any packs released, the score is still reflective of what you get for 800MSP. As it stands the new 150MB rule seems perfect for a game like 'Worms' and we look forward to its introduction. The 20GB HDD might be stretched for hoarders though.

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